Hey guys. I just purchased and installed Dark Reign + Expansion. I attempted to launch the game but the game doesn't load at all. Instead, I'm greeted with the following error message:

Error: Failed attempt to launch program or document:
Action: <taskkill /f /im explorer.exe>
Params: <>

Specifically: The system cannot find the file specified

Line#
011: Run, taskill /f /im explorer.exe

I have no idea what any of this means but it's preventing me from playing the game. I click on the DKREIGN.EXE directly but playing through this method requires a CD. I downloaded the 1.7 patch but my Anti Virus program flagged several viruses so I deleted it right away.

Has anyone come across this problem? Is there a simple fix to the issue?

PS: I'm using Windows XP.

If you get the "insert cd" msg, don´t do anything, the dark reign exe will start after a few seconds.
But if that works with the 1.7 patch, Idon´t know. I´m playing with the GOG Version.

I'm playing the GOG version as well; I'm not using the 1.7 patch. 1.7 "patch" is actually the entire game with a crack installed. I'd download the "patch" except my anti-virus detects malware within it.

When I open DKREIGN.EXE, there's a message that pops up, asking me if I have the CD. I click "no" and then I get the opening cutscene. The game progesses as far as the main menu. I click "single player" and the game tells me to insert the CD. I wait for about a whole minute and nothing happens.

After some "Google" Action, I couldn´t find a real solution, so I checked my DR Settings.

I don´t think, that it will solve the issue, but did you try different compatibility modes?

My DR shortcut, is in win98 comp mode, with high dpi disabled.

Good luck

Just tried it. Didn't work so I guess I'm screwed. I have to contact the support staff to see if they have any solutions.

Thanks for your help btw. It's very much appreciated

Thanks too, I´m sure there will be a solution for your issue.....

SOLVED! For those in a hurry, drop to a command prompt, cd to \Windows\System32 and type:

copy tskill.exe taskkill.exe

That's it! XP Home does not have TASKKILL.EXE, which is apparently used by the launcher to kill Internet Explorer if it is running. No idea why, but there it is. Since XP Home does not have TASKKILL.EXE, the script fails, and the launcher exits with an error. By copying the similar, but oddly named TSKILL.EXE, you give the script something that runs, and it is happy. Not sure if it will kill IE windows, but I don't really care, the game runs now. Other versions of XP, and later versions like Vista, Win7, Win8/8.1, etc all have the TASKKILL command, and so have no problems.

Enjoy!

Oh, that's interesting. Thanks for the info. I managed to rectify the problem about a week ago. I just copied the launchers from the 1.7 patch and placed them into GOG's Dark Reign folder. GOG's launchers didn't work for me, probably because of the "taskkill.exe"