Hello Simmers I am totally surprised I have been using Window 7 for years I decided to lay my beloved Window 7 to rest and upgraded to window 10.
Using Microsoft Media tool and follow step by step I was sure to check save all files and icons before the process.
I know in the past people have said they had problems with window 10 but everything was intact when I enter the Sims2 game.

My original screen and icon remained the same I am a little surprise I only upgrading because Window 7 was now an open field with no updates
It took me from 2011 when I first had my computer custom build to 2025 to change to window 10.
The free download of window 10 is said to be close but to my surprise it accepted my upgrade because I had a legit Window 7 license.
Or may it was just luck so far all is working. I just wanted to share this with you all what do you think. ( I still miss my Window 7 after all I had it for years. )

NOTE: Just so you know my Sims 2 is NOT the new so call release Sims 2 it all EPs and Stuff I have had for years.
I am still trying to figure out Window 10 and how to use it, as long as I can play my Sims 2 with my mods and check my E-mail etc I am good.



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Just so you know, Windows 10 support ends in October 2025:
https://www.which.co.uk/news/articl...er-aZV723o24RP9

What Simsample said-and I know it's scary to think of it, but (and I'm not that thrilled with the required upgrade) Win 11 can be made to work with the game, as long as you eliminate or isolate the cloud configuration and remove any anti-virus program it has. (New computers are all installed with it.)

I eliminated it totally, as I don't want the lords of the cloud to know what I have on my computer, and wreck the game totally.

Just leave the old Windows on your existing computer. It will work better. I would always try to install oldest Windows possible that has all the essential drivers, or buy a new computer a genertion behind to have this compatibility.

What you call an "open field" I guess is a fear of viruses. This fear is artificially created by companies to drive sales. If computer software was a like a well made appliance from the past, it would last for twenty some years, and the companies would be out of a job. So they try to constantly trick you into buying a new version with some new eye candy (or eye sore flat design).

I disagree with you strongly @jonasn
I worked for many years in IT support and have seen first hand the problems that can occur when people use out of date and insecure software for internet access. If the computer stays offline, that's fine- but if the user is sending emails, logging in to bank websites and making purchases, secure software is absolutely needed.

I am also very surprised how people around here subscribe to modern ideas and values despite being of many years, not sure how to put it politely. This and the other things that come up in the unpopular opinion thread, and reluctance to learn any 3rd party software. But I guess the idea of throwing stuff out and buying new is not that new in the West.

Security on the computer is mostly imapacted by the choices you make, the links you open and recognition of scam pages. I don't think you benefit in the long run by signing off all care to some company that demands regular payment. It's like paying rent for an AI surveillance system, and keeping your front door unlocked. If you've owned a computer for many years, you should know the basic pitfalls.

I'm rather annoyed that support for Windows 10 is ending, because my computer has been flagged as unable to handle Windows 11.

Just to add something that might be helpful: if you buy a new computer, and want to keep your old game files intact, remove the hard drive from the old computer, buy a shell to house it, remove it and put it into the shell.

Hard drive housings are fairly cheap and they come with the cable to connect to the old computer. That was how I saved all my files and backed them up.

What? No idea what exactly you are implying about me there.

You can use Win 11 for free unactivated. You can upgrade from Win 10, or use a Win 10 key to activate it. You can use Linux, many people here play Sims games on Linux and there are many good distros. There are many, many good free antivirus programs to download, and I don't know of anyone who pays to download third party Sims 2 programs. So who's signing anything off to some company?

Using outdated software to send emails, log into banking websites, send personal data and make purchases IS stupid. And I don't appreciate the implication that because I recommended this to a fellow simmer, I am a frivolous westerner who has more money that sense. Being careful about what you click on is NOT enough to protect against viruses and malware, this also requires use of scriptblockers, up to date browsers and proper virus and malware detection. None of which will be present and working correctly on an outdated OS. I stand by my recommendation. Of course, if the computer is used offline, all is well.

I agree-I knew that while I was running not only win7 and XP without any updating I was potentially exposing my computer to viruses and worms just waiting to climb aboard and infect the machine-but: Windows does and did keep the security updates current for almost all current OS's for at least a year, and believe it or not it's been stated that far from being useless, Windows Defender is still very potent to keep on hand.

Simsample is correct in saying it takes more than just not clicking on those phising emails-it means you have to be very proactive on keeping your machine virus free and that perhaps it's' better when we're forced to upgrade because hackers don't stand still, and they're always looking to hack into your system whether or not you do the 'wrong thing'.

That's why from time to time the FBI and their computer geeks do their takedowns of known hackers-because there are threats everywhere and you don't know all the tricks they employ to do it with.

I use NoScript, Privacy Badger and Ublock Origin to keep this machine out of the hands of people who would love to use it to make it into a botnet computer.
BTW, here's the FBI's site where it details what they've done in the most recent cases.
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber/major-cases

Using an unsupported operating system connected to the Internet is only possible if you are a person with a lot of knowledge to protect your computer, not for casual users. What bothers me a lot about them stopping supporting 10 is that it is clear that it is an operating system that could coexist with 11 for a very long time. Also, it doesn't let you install it on new computers that don't have a special chip that all computers now come with. Which is speculated to be for spying. So what to do with my desktop computer with licensed Windows 10. I have read that there are tutorials to bypass the restriction. I have to try to do it before the date. xd

@FranH I agree I have always had an outer hard driver shape like a medium size box that sat on my desktop, been using it to keep certain files like the Sims 2 ( If I understand you correctly )
I had my computer build it cost me over one thousand at the time back in 2011 it was build, but at this point in the future I will probably buy a new one from the same people who build it.
This computer in all the year NEVER gave me any problems it run and work well and still do today. I really miss Window 7 I was told I can uninstall and go back to 7 that OS was easy to understand and work with.
This window 10 is turning my brain upside down to figure out to tell the truth I not in love with 10 for now it is what it is.

Huh, wasn't it supposed to end last year?



Or add it a secondary drive. I did that when I upgraded. You'll still need to reinstall the game though.

Oh, I did. works like a charm. Nothing missing, nothing wrong.

This is a bit of an exaggeration. I've used windows 11 for 3 years now and have never disabled the 'cloud' nor the windows defender antivirus. Game runs and has run fine for 3 years. Outside of the typical configuring your graphic rules, there isn't much else you need to do to get the game running fine on 11. Despite being a near-21 y/o game, it runs amazingly well on 11 without all the jumping through hoops you're suggesting.

But, this next part might irritate some, and I expect to get an abundance of disagrees from those that refuser to open their eyes, but even if you disable the anti-virus and the location search setting, MS still knows what you're up to. They've known this since 7 days. XP was the last OS where you had freedom from MS 'overlords'. So going through these hoops to disable all of this is just stupid unnecessary steps as it doesn't effect TS2's playability.

Started playing Sims on XP.

Went to Win 7.

Went to Win 10 and the UC.

Went to Win 11.

Still playing on

I've been playing on Windows 10 for years now with no problem after the initial setup. Assuming my computer is compatible with Windows 11, I'll switch there and it'll probably work fine, except for the part where Windows 11 is super ugly and has made my work headset stop functioning because of a bug that still hasn't been fixed and makes is so most USB headsets aren't recognized. Maybe they'll have fixed it by October?

Anyway, just wanted to say please don't listen to the "never update your software" person, regular software updates exist to fix bugs and close security exploits. These days most hacking and phishing stuff comes from people clicking on bogus links and opening weird mail attachments, since not even Windows has an eternal supply of exploits for hackers to discover, but unless an update breaks your existing software, there is absolutely no reason not to keep it updated.

I usually haven't had issues with TS2 not working with the initial setup (after various fixes, though most of the time it's been GraphicRules or similar that's needed a bit of work), but I have had issues with Windows in general. Win7 and XP felt like the more stable ones. Had some issues with Vista, though I was never quite sure if the main problem was a hardware issue or the Windows setup on that computer, but most likely hardware.

Windows 10... OMGWTFBBQ it to pieces! Laptop came with the thing, and I've never had so many bugs related to an OS. It hogs memory out of nowhere, it hogs the disk for no reason, it slows down the computer to a crawl when updating or when particular processes are running (or whenever it feels like - took me a couple years at least to smooth out that issue, had to nuke at least 2-3 processes for good just for the computer to be usable, or I'd spend an hour just glaring it to get out of the "slow" phase), updates continuing to fail and causing even more havoc (had to set updates to once a month just to avoid a constant update loop, and this happened on two separate occasions), everything partly freezes, bluescreens out of nowhere... and that's not even the complete list of issues. When it works, it's fine, I guess. When it doesn't, which seems to be at the rate of at least one strange bug a month or so - *le sigh*. I've had to expand my computer knowledge with this one, that's for sure.

If 11 is even half as bad in that department, I don't want it.

In my experience 11 runs the sims 2 better than 10, but I don't want to say for sure either since the computer and its parts probably had more influence in my case.

I eliminated the cloud option and the antivirus because I don't like the idea of my game being automatically saved to the cloud, and I don't need their antivirus for it, either. They also charge you for both. It comes standard on Windows 11 in all new computers that have the OS.

I know MS knows what I'm doing all the time, as it requires a connection to the internet for updates. I just don't want them screwing up the installation, and from what SimSample has written it's necessary to keep the install from going south.

Yes, it does play amazingly well but I haven't had any problems yet from what I've done to disable the options. I trust I'm smart enough to know what I'm doing.

I was forced to upgrade to Win 11 when my laptop with 7 died. I had no problems installing Sims 2 and so far have had no problems playing it at all. (No pink soup, knock on wood!) I disabled the cloud as well, just to make sure there'd be no problems with saving. I'm not sure if it's made a difference or not, but everything's working ok so far. I've never used Win 10 so I can't speak as to the difference between it and 11 but I'm satisfied with my current setup.

I use Windows Defender and I still have another antivirus as well (Malwarebytes). And even with not clicking on dodgy links etc. it still comes up telling me that it's blocked trojans or suspicious sites. Happens a bit when you're searching for old Sims 2 stuff, when a dead site has been replaced with something dodgy.

I disabled OneDrive because it was a PITA and I'm glad I did that because of all the stories of crap that it's done.

Not sure why Microsoft would want to spy on me lol. I'm not that interesting.

I have targa drives that I keep my backups on.

I use an antivirus that's much less annoying than the previous ones I've tested out, plus adblockers and various modifiers in Firefox - which is probably the most effective, since a lot of the iffy stuff tends to be hidden in suspicious ads, trackers, overlays on links, etc. these days. Oh, and a good portion of common sense, plus a hefty sprinkle of caution.

The antivirus probably blocks something suspicious every 3 months or so if that - but it's nearly always when I'm least suspecting anything, or in a moment's loss of caution, so it's effective, and I have yet to see anything come through the defenses (as in something the AV can't deal with when blocking).

I tend to be careful with the old/dead sites, as that's where iffy stuff likes to hang out...

Malwarebytes has browser protection and that's what flags the most stuff for me.

Yes, you have to uninstall a bunch of junk from Windows now when you install it, that's just the new reality of Windows OSes. There are guides in various places, but I don't have a ready link to one right now. I've never had an issue with Windows 10 after uninstalling the junk.