# Fallout 3 installation problem Windows 7
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [January 20, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662 "2010-01-20T05:30:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/1 "2010-01-20T05:30:49Z")
Has anyone here installed Fallout 3 on a Windows 7 platform? I’m getting about 95% done and then the install blows up. I’ve tried changing the compatibility mode to XP SP3, but it doesn’t seem to help any. This is the same hardware I originally installed the game under, so I know it’s not the hardware.
Anyone have similar problems, or know a fix?
-XT
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/2 "2010-01-20T05:37:08Z")
Hmm, try running it in compatibility for Vista and in administrator mode. It installs fine for me, but I used Steam.
Edit: It seems this can be caused by not having the latest update of Games For Windows Live, so try updating/installing that as well.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/3 "2010-01-20T05:50:31Z")
I installed the client for Games for Windows Live, but it didn’t seem to help. I’ll try loading it in Vista compatability mode and see what that does. It’s giving me a dat2.cab error, but the DvD seems fine, and I can access it. It’s not a drive fault error in any case.
I wish I could load it from Steam (or download it from Games for Windows Live), but I have it on DvD. ☹
-XT
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/4 "2010-01-20T05:58:48Z")
I’ve also found some stuff where an error on the data.cab files happens when you have failing memory or HDDs, so try the usual chkdisk/memtest86 stuff as well.
ETA: Can you post the exact error message?
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/5 "2010-01-20T10:11:38Z")
Have you switched from 32 bit to 64 bit? I’m wondering if the Securom copy-protection mechanism is using a hardware driver that needs updating for W7 64.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/6 "2010-01-20T15:50:10Z")
It was a CRC error…I don’t have the exact error atm, but I’ll try another install this afternoon and get it. Thus far nothing I’ve tried works.
AFAIK, neither the memory or hard drives are failing. I’ll do some scanning when I get back, but I don’t think that’s it.
Thanks for the help so far. Will try and get more data and post when I get home.
(And no, I’m still using the 32 bit version of the OS)
-XT
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/7 "2010-01-21T21:11:11Z")
Just to re-open this thread to ask a couple more questions before it falls off the first page. Does anyone know if you can copy the DvD to a hard drive and install from there? Or if there is a way to register a DvD copy of the game with Windows Live and actually download the game? I tried to register it with Steam, but of course that didn’t work since I didn’t buy it through them. I don’t want to buy the game again, but would really like to figure out how to get it up and working. Any help would be appreciated.
-XT
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/8 "2010-01-21T23:01:45Z")
Silly question, but why don’t you just try it?
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/9 "2010-01-21T23:04:24Z")
I did…and the problem seems to be with the DvD. During the copy it failed on the data2.cab file, which is a pretty good indication that this is where the problem is. I put in a trouble ticket with Bethesda, but thus far no joy. I also tried to simply copy the game from my old XP hard drive, but that doesn’t seem to work either. Attempting to run the fallout.exe file basically gets nothing…no error message, no anything. I’m sure there are a ton of registry keys you need in order to run this thing, so I wasn’t expecting that to work very well.
-XT
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-installation-problem-windows-7/525662/10 "2010-01-21T23:06:10Z")
Odds on that it’s the copy-protection. Try asking SecuRom.