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Bad serial number given in setup - use this thread for help

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Well when you manually delete the registry entry does it delete fine with no permissions error? And when you reinstall does it create the registry key properly with your CD Key and when you run the game are you running it as Administrator?

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no it gives me an error and yes i am running as admin

It would be nice if you could give this info without prompting, so we don't have to guess. Don't you think so?

Try this, people say they have bypassed similar problems.

Download PsExec and unzip in a folder.

Open cmd (command shell) as administrator, and navigate in the folder where you unzipped psexec.exe.

Execute the following command "psexec -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe", this will run regedit in the system command.

Delete "ArmA2 OA" under "[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bohemia Interactive Studio]", if it fails please do say what the problem is.

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I have looked at many of these solutions tried all of them bu they dont work im still getting the bad serial number i got this game on steam 3 days ago and the first time this happened i just ran the games in a different order and it worked but the next day neither of the games would work are there any solutions

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because my original steam key for arrowhead got stolen, i bought this yesterday on greenmangaming and downloaded it with their capsule since they dont have steam keys

i have uninstalled and reinstalled a dozen times, tried everything here but it simply does not generate the key into my registry which leads me to believe they did not even provide me with a key and their support is very slow. is there anything at all you can do on your end to help me

i will happily provide any and all proof of purchasing info that i possibly can

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2 days ago i decided to buy Combined Operatiosn on Steam seeing that DayZ has been released on it and I thought it was time to play. This is my problem:

I downloaded Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead to my computer smoothly, but when I tried to launch Arma 2 it gave me the Bad serial number given in setup error. This was before I even downloaded DayZ from the store and I have never played Dayz or any Arma 2 before this (obviously). I do not understand how this happened. Most people say it happens after you mod or hack in the game but I couldn't have if I don't play it. I am now thinking some virus or whatever stole my CD Key because in regedit there is no key displayed at all and then when you click on it to edit it looks like this : 0000. But how could someone or something steal my key before i had played the game at all. I download stuff here and there but most of it is verified by my anti virus software (Kaspersky 2010). Could I somehow contact steam and get a refund for the game not working of the install?? Please help me

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Did you install Steam as admin? Do you run Steam as admin? If you read the thread you will see that not doing those is a common cause for Steam/Arma not writing the CD Key entries in your registry.

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Hey guys,

Been doing these trouble shooting things for over 30 hours now, I'm fed up...

Nothing works, but this is interesting...

My friend remote accessed my PC and compared it to his files...

In the Regedit I have some interesting files

I have a file name called "key" = Type REG_BINARY which should hold my encrypted CD Key right?

This is Zero length and when opened displayed "0.0.0.0"

This is present in both my ArmA 2 and ArmA OA Regedit as descriped in the Trouble Shooting

Simple right? request CD key from steam by right clicking on the game... Draws a blank, thus I end up stuck in a loop... stuck in a loop... stuck in a loop

I have a steam copy... but I'm wondering if my key got nicked from a dodge server then used for w/e reason thus I'm unable to find it again.

Any ideas?

Tom

Edit: just seen the post above; Does this mean I have to reinstall steam? Or just relaunch as an admin? I've done this multiple times...

I have put in a support ticket...

It was working 2 weeks ago...

Edited by Thess

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I am really angry at the moment, here's why.

I bought Arma 2 Combined Operations on Steam, to find that my Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead didn't work (My Arma 2 works fine). So I took a look at Steam support, and tried the two solutions they offered but none of them worked.

So I contacted their support members, they basically suggested what they had in their support:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

-If you are running in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8, please completely exit Steam, and right-click on the shortcut which you use to launch Steam and select "Run as Administrator."

-If you are running in Windows XP, take the following steps:

1) Exit Steam.

2) Go to the "Start" menu, select "Run", type "regedit" and click "OK".

3) Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\VALVE

4) Right click and select "Permissions"

5) Check the boxes for "Admin" and "System" to "Full control" and "Read".

First, verify the GCF Cache for the 'ArmA 2', 'ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead', and 'ArmA 2 British Armed Forces' entries in your Library list:

Title: Verifying GCF Cache Files

Link: support.steampowered.com /kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335

Verifying the GCF Cache solves most CD Key issues for most users.

If it still does not work, please try deleting your ArmA 2 expansion entries:

Go to the "Start" menu, select "Run", type "regedit" and click "OK".

Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bohemia Interactive Studio\

Note: In 64-bit operating systems, this path may begin as: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\

Right-click on the entry "ArmA 2 OA" and select "Delete". Do the same for "ArmA 2 BAF". The entries may appear as a folder.

Exit regedit.

Load Steam using the following instructions:

-If you are running in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8, please completely exit Steam, and right-click on the shortcut which you use to launch Steam and select "Run as Administrator."

-If you are running in Windows XP, take the following steps:

1) Exit Steam.

2) Go to the "Start" menu, select "Run", type "regedit" and click "OK".

3) Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\VALVE

4) Right click and select "Permissions"

5) Check the boxes for "Admin" and "System" to "Full control" and "Read".

From the Library list, right-click on "ArmA 2" and select "Properties" from the menu.

Select the "Local files" tab and click the "Verify integrity of game cache..." button.

Steam will verify the game cache files (GCF's) - this process may take several minutes.

Once the process is completed, the "Check" window will automatically exit.

Do the same for "ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead", and "ArmA 2 British Armed Forces".

You should now be able to launch your game.

I then said that none of these actually worked for me, and they eventually referred me to Bohemia Interactive.

I came over to bistudio.com, clicked on support and tried their contact form multiple times. It didn't seem to work so I contacted Steam saying that BI support wasn't working.

Then all they said was:

Hello,

A staff member has replied to your question:

Hello Morgan,

Steam Support cannot assist you with this issue.

You can find information regarding this issue here: battleye.com/

Technical support and CD Key issues for this title/mod is handled by a third party support department

You will need to contact Bohemia Interactive if you have questions/ need further assistance with this issue.

Their support link: bistudio.com /english/support

So they had contacted BI and BI replaced their contact form with a couple of email addresses.

12 days ago I contacted BI via support@ bistudio.com and I still don't have a reply.

Using common sense I headed for the forums. I found this topic:

forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?135736-Bad-serial-number-given-in-setup-use-this-thread-for-help

I tried EVERY SINGLE METHOD there. Some I even tried twice. None worked.

So, what do I do?

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Ok, so I just bought the game, through steam...i was getting that rediculous error about bad serial #'s (yes I have read the thread, and yes I have also made sure everything has been run as an administrator) after getting fed up over such bad coding I decided to reinstall the game and realized that when i downloaded the game it came has 5 seperate patch files, One which was Arma 2 (original) the seccond one was Arma 2 OA followed by Arma 2 OA Beta and then PMC along with british addon...is there a specific way to install this with out screwing up the game??? because when i downloaded it, it looked like the smaller patch files installed first.... I didnt actually know what REGEDIT was with out doing a search and now isee what it is...after i uninstalled everything lol, any speicific way to go about reinstalling everything through the steam application?

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So, what do I do?

I searched the support system for your registered email address and found one support ticket from late Thursday night, please give it at least another 24-48 hours and hopefully support will have responded, if not feel free to reply to this thread.

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Peeps, sorry to post in this thread but I am at my wits end with this.

On Saturday I brought BAF through Steam and installed it. Now everytime I go to play either Arma2, Arma2OA, Arma2OA beta or BAF I get the same error: Can't find Arma 2: OA serial number in registry. Please install Arma 2: OA and then re-run the BAF install again. Then I get the dreaded: Bad serial number given in Setup.

I have gone through every solution that this thread offers, is there anything else that I can do to stop this error from happening? The only thing that I have not done is uninstall Steam and I really dont want to do that but will if needed.

Cheers

Dale

Edit: Also when I right click the games in steam to view cd key, a box pops up and in that box are the words: "Requesting cd key..."

Edit 2: Also sent in a support ticket through: https://store.bistudio.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1:support&catid=12:contacts

Edited by dale0404

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Ok so i tried to the solution where you go in to your registry and click user and all that stuff. BUt when i go into the registry i see users not user i know your supposed to click user but its NOT there i only see users. I have not been able to play arma 2 oa for a long time.Please help me.

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I had trouble with the hole, invalid key thing with A2 Ao, i tried these fixes with regedit and it didn't do anything.

Edit: I also couldn't look up the key in steam which is what led me to finding the fix.

I did find a fix however.

I had this problem today, deleted a file called "localconfig.vdf" in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\92291496\config

Restart steam and problem solved.

I my self didn't have the exact folder 9229... so I moved all localconfigs out and did the rest of the steps, sure enough it fixed my problems.

I didn't find this fix personally however I felt to share it.

Other problems I had that where fixed by this are steam settings not saving such as "open conversations in new tab" and "show url in steam browser.

|| Nerf ||

Edited by Nerf
Monkey D Luffy

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None of these worked! I tried every single "solution" on here and I still can't get Arma 2 OA to work!

What can I do?

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Okay, so I bought ArmA II CO on Steam a few days ago right? Since I have ahe regular very slow connection, I am still downloading with ArmA II Operation Arrowhead finished but the regular ArmA II is still downloading.

So whenever I try to play it on Steam, I get this fucking "No Entry 'Cfg.Worlds' ". I press "ok" and then a few seconds later this "Shaders not valid (mismatch of exe and data?) which automatically exits me out ArmA II. If I try to re-install to fix the problem, It's gonna take forever because my Internet is crap.

Then I go to my ArmA II folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead, to try to run ArmA II there. And here it is: I get "Bad serial number given in setup"!!!!

I go to Registry Editor to fix the problem by deleting the ArmA II OA in Bohemia Interactive Studios (Some reason, I didn't get just "Bohemia Interactive") and doing that "Verify Integrity Game Cache" and that doesn't work. So I try the permissions method, by making all users have full permission to use ArmA II OA and that doesn't work either!!!! I have tried these each at least 3 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I felt like punching my laptop monitor. But I think I know why this is all happening because I had downloaded this ArmA II Key generator last week and It said "INJECT" and Norton said It was a virus, (That was when I wanted free ArmA II lol). So me like an Idiot, ignored Norton, and pressed Inject. To prove this, I downloaded this ArmA II torrent which had worked before but I had accidentally delete it, so I decided to get it again. This time, only the regular ArmA II worked and the ArmA II OA only got "Bad serial number given in setup". I did some virus scans like three times and removed many viruses and potential 'threats' but It didn't work. So I guess I'm screwed now...

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EDIT: the fix in the first linked thread worked for me, was able to play OA. Had nothing to do with switching between retail and steam. Thank you!

---------------------------

Sorry to add to this thread, but I'm a little cautious when it comes to messing with registry entry and my problem is a little different to what I've read so far.

After getting my PC into shape for Arma 2 and all the mods my new group required, my SSD crashed. Then I reinstalled ArmA 2 + OA + RFT from disc onto my laptop. Then, not really understanding the file-setup (after using Steam for so long) I uninstalled all of them and then installed through Steam instead.

Now I get the Bad Serial error and, before I follow the solution in the first linked thread, I'd like to know if my laptop could still be trying to reference my retail disc keys instead of my steam key?

Edited by DarkMellie

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Hey, i tried doing the regedit way and still says "bad seriel number given in setup" i dont know what to do.

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Hi guys,

I had this problem with the Bad serial error and I roamed the web for ages trying to find a solution.

In the end I decided it had to be the steam install that was faulty, because on my laptop everything worked fine.

So what I did was completely remove steam from my computer (including registry keys) and reinstall it.

After that everything worked again.

On youtube you can find several tutorials on how to remove steam.

Hope this solution helps other people too!

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I've tried searching this but doesn't seem to fit any specific topic exactly. THis thread is the closest I found.

This is my specific:

New computer, and old email account was deleted which had half of my games in. So I started from scratch.

Today I bought Arma 2 complete package. OA, PMC, BAF, ACR. Arma 2 and OA are fine. I downloaded each from sprocket. When installing the game it asks for the serial numbers for the games. I enter them in many different ways but for each DL it says my serial numbers are invalid. So I can't install BAF or PMC. I've tried caps lock, copy and paste, removed the "-" , lower case etc.... Nothing works. I've tried copying from email, website etc. I can't install these games. I'm trying ACR right now but I already had it from previous purchase.

Anyone know why serial isn't being accepted? Thanks

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I've tried searching this but doesn't seem to fit any specific topic exactly. THis thread is the closest I found.

This is my specific:

New computer, and old email account was deleted which had half of my games in. So I started from scratch.

Today I bought Arma 2 complete package. OA, PMC, BAF, ACR. Arma 2 and OA are fine. I downloaded each from sprocket. When installing the game it asks for the serial numbers for the games. I enter them in many different ways but for each DL it says my serial numbers are invalid. So I can't install BAF or PMC. I've tried caps lock, copy and paste, removed the "-" , lower case etc.... Nothing works. I've tried copying from email, website etc. I can't install these games. I'm trying ACR right now but I already had it from previous purchase.

Anyone know why serial isn't being accepted? Thanks

please contact support@bistudio.com with the issue, include keys which don't work and your store details

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I emailed support@bistudio.com. It's been 3 days with no answer, that's why I posted here too. Also for anyone else with same problem can look at mine.

However I did find out what happened. I was able to download arma 2, OA, and ACR right away, after 2nd day I found out that I still had money in my bank account. They didn't take my money yet. They took out my money a couple hours ago, so I tried it again and it worked. So for some weird reason, they didn't take my money but gave me 3 games for free basically.

So everything is good now. Thanks for the reply.

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My game was working perfectly fine, and then I was having FPS issues while playing a DayZ Origins server... I decided to let my computer cool off, and restarted... Relaunched the game in less than twenty minutes and the error saying that my Bad Serial Number Given in Setup was given and so far solutions I have tried...

1. I have tried the main solution with Regedit and permissions changes. This had a little issue due to it not being under the Wow6432Node... It was only under Software, so I tried the permissions on that, and attempted to relaunch and had the same error.

2. So, instead I decided to use the Steam "Delete Local Content" on Arma II Operation Arrowhead, and reinstall... Same issue after reinstall...

3. After that, I tried the permissions again, and still the same issue.

4. I decided to go though, and make sure it was a full uninstall. I deleted local content with Steam, went into the Steam folder manually, and deleted both Arma II and Operation Arrowhead. I also went and deleted my profile from My Documents, and I also deleted the registry files with Regedit. The issue still remains the same... Both Arma II and Operation Arrowhead have the Bad Serial Number Given in Setup...

I looked at some of the post threads, and almost all of them were just threads referring to this one...

So... If you have any ideas on what I should do... It would be appreciated....

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So i installed arma 2 and operation arrowhead. Arma 2 installed fine then i installed OA, it asked for my serial key before installation, it all installed then it asked for it again after installation. It says bad serial key and closes.

I have tried all the forums suggestions, i have redownlaoded all the files for it (took another entire day) I dont know what else to do.

any help?

I have no firewall, no anti virus i am administrator etc.

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