Alas my skills can't help in this case :(

Must be something that was updated. To note I have the base Win7 install without any service packs, and disabled all services I don't need running for the system(s) here.

Is it possible to make a game not need rundll32 to launch? Can this be changed in a shortcut command line somewhere?

The rundll32 is an unfortunately common problem in windows 7, when attempting to execute older games, this happen because windows try to add to the "games" section of the system the new executed program. Problem is older .exe are incompatible with the reading method used to acquire the basic info form windows 7, either fully or in part

Only solution to permanently avoid this problem is to disable the "games" folder of windows by removing and un-registering the .dll responsible for running the scan. It's possible to undo the changes later of course

There are 2 dll responsible for the scan in the 64 bit version of windows, assuming your windows drive is C, located in:

32bit:
C:\windows\system32\gameux.dll
64bit:
C:\windows\SysWOW64\gameux.dll

In the 32 bit version only the first one is present

You must first un-register both dll using the command line option

regsvr32 -u c:\windows\system32\gameux.dll
regsvr32 -u c:\windows\SysWOW64\gameux.dll

Then remove both dll from their respective folder and place them somewhere else, usually making a new folder in documents and moving them there is fine

Restart the system and your OS "games" folder should be unavailable, but the scan preventing older games to run should be disabled

Is it possible to just unregister these files without having to remove them?

Technically yes, but it doesn't always suffice. If windows find the dll in their expected folder, some update or sometimes even on it's own, windows register and re-enable the dll back

Removing them form their respective folder is the only way to reliably prevent this from happening. Don't worry, those dll do nothing but enabling running the "scan", and register .exe files in the window "games" folder; beside these two things, they are unused by the system, at all

But what about the rundll32 file? Doesn't that have to be removed as well? This is the only file I see in Process Explorer that keeps "sitting" there and preventing the game from launching.

Yes, rundll32 is nothing more then the...how to call it, executioner of the scan, it's the dll that allow the "reading" of the .exe info on the "behest of window"

Without the gameux.dll however, the attempted scan and the interference form rundll32 does not happen at all, as the necessary instruction to run the scan in the first place is missing

I am not saying that un-registering the dll solution is elegant, but it's effective and do not have any side effect on the system nor the games

To answer your question, NO, Do Not Touch the original rundll32, that one IS actually necessary to run windows properly

So I'm assuming if I unregister all of the gameux.dll files, that means other Windows games like Solitaire and Minesweeper won't run at all? Aren't those somehow dependent on the "Games" folder?

So I unregistered both of those gameux.dll files and the delay is still there. :( Is there anything else that can be done?

The original linking of the default windows games is directly tied to the games folder and those two dll yes, and those particular games may not run anymore

If you wish to keep those game running, then no permanent solution is possible in windows 7, and i can only suggest a 2 possible temporary one, both involve leaving gameux.dll intact, and both need to be redone, either every time the game start or from time to time, depend on what settings are active in windows:

1) Delete a registry key

- In the start command line write "regedit", without the quotes and press enter to load windows default registry editor

- Navigate to "[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\"

- Backup the folder with the export function under File. You can restore the backup with the import function. Save the files wherever you want

- Inside this registry folder, there should be an encoded file, should be called "LastSupportedGameInstallTime"

- Delete that file. If more files are present in that folder, delete them as well

- Try to run your games again

2) Every time you start your older games, start them twice

- Open the Task Manager, you can right click on the windows start bar, not the button, or the simply use CTRL+ALT+DEL and select Task Manager

- Try to run the .exe of the game directly without using launchers, and when the game seems to freeze, verify that the .exe name is present under the process tab of Task Manager, along with the infamous rundll32

- If so, run the game .exe again and it should start, as rundll32 is occupied with the other .exe

- If the procedure worked, return to the Task Manager and stop both rundll32 and the frozen .exe of the game

- You may try to just stop the frozen .exe, in most cases seems to be enough

- It's possible to know the correct .exe by looking at the CPU and Memory usage of the process. The frozen .exe should have little to no usage of CPU and very little reserved Memory, far below the actually functional .exe anyway


I personally used the 2nd solution before i got tired of it and removed the gameux.dll, choice is yours
Both un-registered, removed them from their folder and restarted the OS?

It's not letting me move or rename the files. It keeps returning an error saying: "You require permission from TrustedInstaller to make changes to this file."

I see, windows is denied you access due to the UAC security implementation. The damn thing is responsible for so many problem i lost count

Alright, there are more then one solution available to you, i will describe here the technically simplest:

- Before starting, make sure that both .dll are undregistered using the command i gave you before. If widnows tell you that there is no such registered .dll, it means it worked

- Shut down your system and restart in safe mode. For Windows 7 and most motherboard, it mean simply issuing a restart, and before your bios fully load at system startup, repeatedly press F8 on your keyboard. Gently, and not too fast mind you, once every second or so should be more then fine

- If the procedure worked, windows will show you the boot up manual menu, it permit to override the default windows startup parameters with new ones, usually temporarily

- From the menu select "Boot In Safe Mode", Do not Use "Boot In Safe Mode With Command Console", you don't need it right now

- When the base driver are loaded, navigate to both dll folders

C:\windows\system32\gameux.dll
C:\windows\SysWOW64\gameux.dll

And move the files somewhere else, the documents folder or even desktop will do for now. In safe mode, nothing should prevent you from doing so

- Restart your system normally and try to open the "games" folder, if it doesn't open without giving any kind of error, the procedure succeeded


Tell me if it work. If windows somehow still deny you access, shouldn't happen tough, a more heavy handed solution may be necessary

So after much trial-and-error and after trying all these different suggestions it looks like I finally found something that works. I've tried the batch file from http://ubeogesh-things.blogspot.com/2012/08/resolve-it-finally-game-explorer-aka.html and that seemed to finally fix the issue! From what I can tell, the batch file takes the gameux.dll file located in "%windir%\%wd%\gameux.dll" and then renames it. But I'm not sure what the %wd% does in the path. As a result, now when I launch a game like UT2004, I no longer see "rundll32" in Process Explorer!

As a side-effect of using the batch file, the Solitaire and Minesweeper games can't be launched from the regular Start Menu anymore. But by navigating to the "...\Windows\winsxs" folder, the binaries for all of those games are located there and they can be launched from there.

I wanted to thank EnforcerSunWoo for the batch file website and everyone else for their help in fixing this issue! :)

Good for you, try to put into evidence the batch file that helped you, editing your first post, others in similar situation may benefit

Which is why there's 3 commands to do the job. Takeown removes ownership, then there's a second program that gives ownership to you, then renames it. I recall trying this when we were talking briefly via PM. I then posted here in this thread that the batch file was completely safe to use (no malicious code).

Anyways, glad to know the first post and batch file was the best answer, no thanks to installing UT2004, not having issues, and then losing interest after 5 minutes in a bot match because the matches are getting too long and uninstalling it (Maybe cause I had it on normal mode, or I was occupied trying to chat at the same time).

*sigh*

Anyways good luck with it.