Parental Control Access Denied PLEASE HELP

[scottboy76]

OK,
I've donwloaded my copy thru STEAM but it's not a STEAM issue because I posted a thread with the same issue yesterday but with the DEMO.
Now the FULL VERSION is doing the same thing.

When I load the game it comes up with a Vista Window saying "PARENTAL CONTROL ACCESS DENIED. THE GAME WILL NOW SHUT DOWN"

I think I need help from someone from 2K. I received replies from ppl yesterday trying to help when they didn't even read my post all the way thru and didn't even know what Parental Control on Vista does.

What I have done so far:

1)Installed PC DEMO using Typical settings - This first of all gave me no option to add ICONS to desktop, nor did it tell me where it had installed it (had to find it in Explorer under 2Kgames folder. ALso on load of exe comes up with "Parental Control Access Denied"

2)Uninstalled and Re-Installed using Custom settings - This time it gave me option of adding ICONS, but still gave me "Parental Control Access Denied" error window.

3)Tried to change Parental Control settings in Control Panel, but as Administrator, Parental Control features don't apply... so technically I shouldn't be getting this error.

4)For the sake of trial and error I created a new user account so I could force the Parental Controls to turn OFF, still got "Parental Control Access Denied" error message

5)Gave up on DEMO

6)Today tried loading the FULL VERSION I purchased thru STEAM and I got "Parental Control Access Denied" error message.

7)Proceeded to pull hair out...

My Specs, not that I think they should matter in this case cos the game doesn't even load, but if I don't put them someone will ask...

Intel Core2 Duo E6850 @ Default 3Ghz
Nvidia 8800GTX running latest Beta Drivers
Windows Vista 32bit Ultimate

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COULD SOMEONE FROM 2K HELP!!!!!!!
thanks

[scottboy76]

my message keeps getting lost in the crowd....*sigh*
reply if you're having the same issue even plz

[scottboy76]

please someone from 2K please read this aaargh

[scottboy76]

gotta keep movin to the top, must be heard!!!

[scottboy76]

come on guys i wanna play

[DrkRaven]

Oh snap, thats going to be a good one
Looked at :
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/turn_on_parental_controls_in_windows_vista.html

Or setup second account as "admin"
Login as second account
Disable Parental controls on primary account
log back in

Enjoy?

[scottboy76]

did that, can't change parental controls on primary account, it just wont open that account in the parental controls window cos its administrator (even tho the new account was admin also)
i set up another account and just called it scott and tried to start the exe from the steamapps folder in explorer and this it said something about failed to retreive application serial from steam (the window was from securom)
sigh

[DrkRaven]

Yea you need to setup your steam account in the other profile too champ, that'll fix that problem.

Also side note : There is no account called "Administrator" (well built in account by MS like XP and 2k have.) :P sorry had to throw that in there to save confusion.

[scottboy76]

setup steam account in other profile, it did some updates on steam for a second, ran bioshock , exact same problem, all Parental Controls switched OFF
seriously pulling my hair out with this one

Account 1 is called Administrator - Can't change Parental Controls, not even from antoher admin priveliges account
Account 2 is calle Scott - as a standard user I can make it have Parental Controls OFF from 'Account 1', but if I give it Admin priveliges I can't touch parental control because the default is OFF, doesn't apply to admins

can run steam on both accounts, comes up with same error on both accounts.
think were barkin up the wrong tree of technical issues

[DrkRaven]

Seems so...

As Scott:
Run Steam (so you get the task tray applet)
Goto the Steamdir/blahblah/bioshock
right click "run as Administrator"
should prompt with a few bodgy Vista click to continue

Try that.

[scottboy76]

did it, still came up with same error. only thing it did different was a lil window came up saying steam is preparing to start bioshock, but that was cut off by the parental message

[DrkRaven]

Argh, ok what Version of windows Vista (ultimate etc) (will be about a 2 hour delay, going home from work :P)

[scottboy76]

Vista Ultimate 32bit ( i made sure i said that in first post :P )

[scottboy76]

p.s. appreciate all ur help :) nice to have someone talkin to me bout it

[scottboy76]

___this message is here to bump it back to top of list cos some noob is spamming forums with crap___

[scottboy76]

___this message is here to bump it back to top of list cos some noob is spamming forums with crap___

[scottboy76]

_please help if you can_ or post to let me know ur havin same issue

[Matze009]

_please help if you can_ or post to let me know ur havin same issue

Hi,

I have the same problem, so you are not alone. But I still don´t know how to fix the problem. :mad:

Greetings from Germany.

Matze009

[VeefourLFC]

Turn off UAC in admin tools and restart

[Matze009]

Turn off UAC in admin tools and restart

Sorry, but what is "UAC in admin tools"? I have the german version of Vista. Where can I find the admin tools? Could you make a screenshot?

Thanks.

Matze009

[yogibbear]

UAC stands for User Account Control.

But that's all I can help you with... don't have vista. Sorry mate.

[IrrationalJake]

Yogibbear is right... its the UAC which is causing the problem.

To turn UAC on/off, you need to do this:

1. Logged in with account with Admin priviliges
2. Go to 'Control Panel'
3. Click on 'User Accounts' (If you are in 'Classic' view, switch to Vista view and you should see the 'User Accounts' option in the top right hand corner)
4. Click on the icon for the account you are logged in with
5. Now look for the option to 'Turn UAC on/off' - it should be in blue text just below the User - I think from memory it is just under the icon and user name in the top right of the screen that comes up.
6. You will be told you need to restart, and upon restart it should work fine.

Also, you can try using Vista help and doing a search on UAC - there is a tut there on how to turn it off.

The reason you are having a problem running the game is because the UAC is preventing BioShock from writing data to the c:/program files/2k games/bioshock folder

[scottboy76]

tried that and it didn't werk :( i did a dual boot of xp today and its workin tonight, game looks beautiful! have to use fov trainer tho, makes it look less crowded on my widescreen monitor.
thanks guys

[scottboy76]

must say aswell, bit sucky that i had to install xp just to play one game, and i reboot vista to do everything else. sigh

[Matze009]

Just I am playing in XP too. Any changes in UAC couldn´t help. :(

Bye.

[Astralshade]

No Jake, it's most definitely not UAC.

I have the exact same problem

Vista Ultimate
Purchased on Steam
Account is Administrator
UAC is off

I tried everything, even running the game under a standard account with all parental controls off. I even changed the rating systems for the parental controls, no luck.

What the hell is going on here? It's so frustrating not being able to play the game we purchased

[Astralshade]

Update:

Got the game to actually run by right clicking the EXE and running in windows xp sp 2 compatability mode.

Got into the game ok. Unfortunately it runs like crap and is almost unplayable. My keyboard commands seem to "queue up" and he'll continue running or doing things long after i stop hitting keys. Then the game freaks out and the computer beeps loudly (presumably from keyboard command overload). This all may be unrelated to running in compatability mode though as i have yet to try a lot of things.

[Kek]

I had this same problem (parental control not allowing me to play) tried everything, then i thought it might be because i installed a custom package/dvd of vista (pocket vista, less bogus and things u dont need), so i got me a normal install disc and voila, it works perfect now. Its either that, or wait for someone to make a vista fix that sort this problem with custom installs ( not likely to happen).

[nerionx]

Ive had this problem with a few games, an i using a custom install of vista.. basically u need to restart the perental controls service to make them work

1> Click Start
2> Type in Services.msc
3> Find Perental Controls in the list
4> Right click it and choose start

That should enable the game to work, you can also change the default option from manual to automatic to make it work from now on.

Hope this helps enjoy bioshock

I know this is an old post but when i was researching a fix i wasn't able to find one and had to work it out for myself and I figure this is the best place to put the result.