Thanks mate! I hope this works.

S!

Also and oldie: run as Admin the installers of any program.

Same problem here - "Launcher has stopped working" immediately I try to launch.

I don't have great specs but I expected to be able to launch the game at least;

Core 2 Duo E8600 @ 3.33 GHz
4MB RAM
ATi 4870 (latest drivers)
Vista Home Premium

I've tried re-installing everything as suggested above :(

Disappointed.

Success! Thanks for posting that above.

IF you bought the game off Steam as I did, you will need to:

1) Browse to your game folder and find the folder 'redist'.

I found mine here :C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\redist

2) Try running the Direct X installer. ( This was the problem for me, but I had tried running other installers in there too).

So, I'm now in slideshow heaven, but it works!:D

Im having same problem:
Launcher is crashing. Game installed and activated without problem.
But when trying to run it, the launcher crashes.
All other games (including steam-games) works fine.

I have installed from a DVD, but also tried to DL the whole thing from STEAM.

I have reinstalled DirectX from the \redist folder.

(((FIXED: Problem I cannot reinstall the VCRedist (vcredist_x86.exe) for some reason.
Also DL that from Microsoft. Its "trying to use a network resource that is unavailable"...that its pointing to a path where "vc_red.msi" is supposed to be, but is not. Cannot find vc_red.msi anywhere on my PC.
No idea if this is why the launcher fails though...)))

MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5E3 Premium/WIFI-AP@N, X48,
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 3,00GHz
RAM: Corsair TWIN3X 1600MHz DDR3, 4GB
PSU: Cooler Master Cosmos Silver m/850w
GPU: Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PhysX w/270.51 (unclocked)
OS: Win7 64bit

I had the same problem. Turned out that AVG thought that the game was a virus. Disabling AVG worked for me.

Im using AVast antivirus.
Have turned OFF all shields etc. Still same problem.
No way to turn it completely off afaik....Right clicking on taskbar - no turn off option.

Uninstalled AV...still same problem!
Sigh...

I have the dvd uk version , delivered today
Installed
Steam update
varification confirmed
pressed play and ... preparing to launch il2 cliffs of dover ......
and nothing a quick flash and thats it

Tried reinstalling , steam varified files and reinstalled 3 files and same

system is

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
windows XP

any help appreciated

had the same problem.
right click on il2-cliffs of dover in your gamelist
open properties, local files, and run integrity game cache.
it found one file missing for me.

I now have it working :)

I removed all the CloD files (DELETE LOCAL GAME CONTENT) and re-installed.

I also uninstalled AVG (I have Avast instead now).

Not sure which one caused the success but hey...