Hi, We had a copy of 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate (Signature Addition) that we received for our Windows 7 Launch party running on a custom built system: ASUS M3A MoBo AMD Phenom 9500 Quad Core ATI Radeon HD4870 Graphics 2G DDR2 1066 RAM The system dual boots into either Win7 or Ubuntu (using the WUBI Windows installer). We installed Age of Empires II this morning and started the game without rebooting. The game froze and we did a hard reboot. Upon rebooting, the system indicated that Windows 7 was basically an illegal copy and shut down a bunch of services (no network, no anti-virus, no audio drivers, areo theme disabled, etc). We attempted a recovery with no luck, and its looking like we will need to completely rebuild the system. Oddly enough, when I look at the "My Computer" properties, it indicates that Windows is activated. Is there any advice anyone can give us to avoid having to do this? Is this typical when an older game is installed on Windows 7? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hello, Age of Empires II is compatible with windows 7. I think some system files were corrupted after you did a hard reboot. So Windows determined that the copy of the windows is not illegal. Have you tired a system restore in Safe Mode? If the issue persists, I recommend we perform an in-place upgrade to repair the corrupted system files: In-place Upgrade ============= 1. Insert the Windows 7 DVD in the computer's DVD drive. 2. Click Start and choose Computer. 3. Please find the "setup.exe" file in the DVD-ROM and double click it. 4. Click Install now. 5. When we are prompted to input the product key, please click Next without inputting any key. The setup wizard will prompt and ask if you agree to install Windows Vista without the key. Please choose to confirm. 6. When you reach the "Which type of installation do you want" screen, click Upgrade to upgrade the system files of Windows 7. Thomas77