Sometimes when you run the game before it boots it will ask if you want to use directplay. If it does ask, tell it yes of course, and it should work fine.

If it doesn't ask, you should be able to do it through the control panel. So from the control panel go into the programs menu, near the top now, under programs and features there should be a "turn windows features on or off" option, click it, that will bring up another menu and you should see a listing called legacy components expand it then make sure directplay has a check mark. It should work fine now but you might need to restart your computer after turning directplay on.