How to run Halo 2 on Windows 7/ 8 / 8.1 without any Xbox live problems.

 

I have successfully installed and played Halo 2 on Windows 8.1 x64 bit. Halo 2 was released for Windows Vista as an exclusive.

 

This guide is written for Dopeman rip of the game. I am not sure that it would work for the original game. But what’s stopping you from trying. I was able to fix that Xbox Live error.

 

Here is how you do it. Follow the steps and soon you would be kicking asses of the covenants.

1. Extract the “H2.7z” file and you will get two folders “Halo 2” and “INSTALL THESE FIRST”. Open the folder “INSTALL THESE FIRST” and install “XLiveRedist1.0.6027.msi” and “vcredist.msi” and .
   
2. Open “Halo 2” Folder and run “halo2.exe”. If this gives any error of any missing dll files. Then download those files from the internet.
   In my case, there were two dll files missing. “d3dx9_31.dll” and “xinput1_3.dll”. Download the missing files, extract it and place the dll files in the root folder “Halo 2”.
   
3. You need Games for Windows Marketplace, please download it from here. Other versions may not work actually. Don’t worry it’s official from Microsoft. Open it and let it install. It’s about 30 MB’s in Size.
   
4. Now go to “C:\Windows\System32” and search for “dwmapi.dll” and copy that file in “Halo 2”. It will ask to replace, click on yes.
   
5. You also need “Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package”. Download for 32-bit from here and 64-bit from here.
   
6. As we only plan to play the campaign and we don’t need any Live features. So, Who needs product keys, There is a crack which will let you play the game offline. Download it from here. Extract the rar file and place the files “xlive.dll”, “MF.dll” and “MFPlat.dll” in “Halo 2” folder.
   
7. Now run “halo2.exe” and see if this opens and allows you to play. If you have done everything as I said, then I am pretty sure that you would be able to play this game.
   
8. If you are able to play. Enjoy and then please show some love in the comments.

I have completed this game a few days ago. It worked fine. No lags. I tuned down the setting little bit and it was a piece of cake.
I have tried it on the Dopeman Halo 2 Rip. I am not sure about the original. But please try and help others. I made this guide because I had seen many people complaining about this game. Most of them weren’t able to play it including me because of the Xbox live not initialised error.

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