Desperate.... IL2 quit working...
 

Background:
Been flying Il2 since the demo, on multiple machines and configs. Currently a quad core i7, 4gigs ram, ATI 4850 video. Plays the game maxxed out very nicely (or did) on XP SP3

Current Situation:
I tried to do a clean install of Win 7 which was a disaster. I eventually got IL2 to install but not run. Trackir1 won't work under win 7 either, so I gave up. I did a reformat, and reload of XP, and applied all the latest patches. I loaded IL2 off the disk, but it WILL NOT RUN. I have NO idea why and can't figure it out. I've reloaded this thing dozens of times without any problems. It starts to go, then in the task manager it just disappears. I didn't try patching up to 4.09m, but I'll try that next.

Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.

explore the files on the game disk and right click on a.exe (I think that's right) and run as administrator.

You should be able to right click on short cut and do the same thing.

The copy protection of il-2 is the problem, look for a "no cd il-2" in Google.

What problem did you experienced with the Win7 install?

Check here first

https://support.securom.com/analysis.php

Thanks.. I have USA version.. thought it didn't have secure rom? - After all, I've been installing it every rebuild for what, like 6-8 years? This wouldn't just start happening would it?

Win7 installed, but IL2 wouldn't work with compatibility, as administrator etc.. just would not run. would start up then die off. now, same thing is happening under winXP very odd. I have backups too, so its not the disc, since neither install method works.

Did that, thanks. It installed ok, and has always worked before, but now won't run. Latest WinXP patches maybe?

With Win7, don't install it in Program (x86) files and it should be ok.
I created a seperate folder for PC games and installed it in that using the a.exe as above.
Run as administrator in XPSP3 compatibility. Turning off UAC helps too.
That's for 1946.
Forgotten Battles you can install in (x86) and it runs fine.
I can't load the original IL2 at all, but then it has no TrackIR capability anyway (Download latest TrackIR drivers from Naturalpoint).
There are some serious driver issues posted elsewhere if your card is ATI, which can prevent the game running if you manage to install it ok.
This might be your XP problem also.
If none of this works, posting on M4T is a good bet, there's a guy called MaxMghz on the tech help who is invaluable.
It took me ages to get the thing running in Win7 too, for what it's worth!
Good Luck!
P.S. It's always worth getting a new disc anyway as they're so cheap now, one of my problems was solved by doing this. Don't ask me why, it's too long a story!! (And a bit embarrassing!)