Denuvo Anti Cheat Update Service repeated failure.

[Gordon Freeman]

So every time I launch FP I get an error screen saying, “Cannot start Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service because it’s disabled”. I have already tried the two main fixes I’ve seen for this issue, which are to go into my services control panel and set its startup type to automatic, which fixes the problem and allows me to launch the game; however the next time I restart my computer or wake it from hibernate, and try to launch the game I get the same error. I went to check my services control panel and it seems that it has randomly set its startup type back to disabled. Now like I said I can still play the game but it means that after every time I restart/wake my computer, before I launch FP I have to manually start Denuvo; which is tedious and incredibly annoying. I have also tried the secondary fix, which is to use the “Add or Remove Programs” menu in the settings, and then reinstalling it from the link provided in the error window, and that does the same thing as setting it’s startup type to automatic; it allows me to launch and play the game fine until I restart/wake my computer, at which point it sets itself back to disabled and I get the same error when launching the game. It also can’t be a problem of my computer’s antivirus (Avast One) flagging Denuvo, because I checked my quarantine and there were no files/file paths related to it in there.

Anyone with any possible fixes that is not already listed here, all help is appreciated.

[ROFLpl0x]

This will probably be completely useless but I'll say it anyway. Don't trust that it's not your anti-virus just because it's not quarantining anything or logging an event.

Back when I was using Bitdefender it started interfering with a game called Ostriv, letting it load an existing save but shutting the game down when I tried to start a new one. By all appearances Bitdefender wasn't the culprit and it never caused any problems with the game before. Even the developer was stumped but after trying several other fixes with no success I disabled it just to see what would happen and it suddenly started working again. I uninstalled Bitdefender and went back to MSE and never had another problem with that game.

[Emedus]

Hi everyone. I had the problem that every time I launched Sniper Elite Resistance, it told me the Denuvo service wasn’t active. I had to manually go into Windows Services, find it, and activate it before opening the game — and do this every time I restarted the PC. Finally, after some research and several tests, I found the definitive solution and I’m sharing it here with you.

Step-by-step solution (4 steps)

1) Permissions and antivirus: Log in with an administrator account. In your antivirus (or Windows Defender), add exclusions for the folder C:\Program Files\Denuvo Anti-Cheat\ or for the file denuvo-anti-cheat-update-service.exe. You can also try temporarily disabling the antivirus to see if the service remains enabled after a reboot.
If disabling the antivirus prevents the service from being disabled, then the issue lies with the security software.

2) Manually configure the service: Open services.msc (Windows Services) with administrator privileges. Look for Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service, right-click on it and select Properties. Set the Startup type to Automatic. If the service is stopped, click Start.
Alternatively, open Command Prompt (CMD) as administrator and run:


sc config "Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service" start= auto
sc start "Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service"

This forces the service to start automatically.

Then close CMD, restart your PC, and check the service status again in services.msc. If it's still enabled, continue with the next steps.

3) Scheduled task reinforcement: As an additional measure, create a task in the Windows Task Scheduler to re-enable the service at system startup. For example:


Open Task Scheduler and select Create Task.

In the General tab, check “Run with highest privileges” and set it to run under the SYSTEM account or a local administrator.

In Triggers, add a new one: At system startup.

In Actions, choose Start a program and set the program to cmd.exe with the following arguments:

/sc start "Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service"


4) Modify the Registry: Open the Registry Editor (regedit) as administrator and navigate to the key:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Denuvo Anti-Cheat Update Service

In the right panel, look for the Start value (REG_DWORD). Its value defines the startup type:

2 = Automatic

3 = Manual

4 = Disabled

If it doesn’t exist or is set to something else, double-click it and set Start = 2. This sets the service to automatic startup. Close regedit and restart again to verify it's still enabled.

Close everything, reboot, have fun. Cheers