I am having trouble getting my game started. I have been playing the Super Collection on Mac, but I recently decided I was tired of not having all of the expansion packs and went ahead and decided to invest in the discs for all of the Sims 2 games to put on my HP laptop. I have provided some specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM) i5-1035G1 CPU @ 1.00GHz 1.19 GHz
RAM: 12 GB (11.8 GB usable)
OS: Windows 10 Home

I had to purchase an external disc drive because the laptop did not have one.

While I have all of the expansion and stuff packs ready to install, I started with the base game (I have the deluxe edition). The first problem I had was that the game would not install. I would receive an error message when trying to run the installation launcher that the app was blocked because this account was not the administrator. This was a problem because my account is the only one on this computer and is in fact the administrator. After some research in Microsoft forums, I learned this is a source of frustration with many PC users who use Windows 10 - that this blocks many programs not purchased from the Microsoft store from running or that there was some kind of problem or conflict with one of the programs that try to prevent malicious programs from downloading. I was able to access the "hidden administrator" account and was able to install the game. I am even able to load the game with no problems in the "hidden administrator" account.

The problem I have now is that my main account on this computer will load the launcher and play the intro video, but it seems to get hung up during the load screen (it seems to stop at "crash-proofing parties"). The music still plays, but the game will sit there for over 30 mins (I haven't tested it past this time). I have run it multiple times and it hangs there every time. I thought maybe it would work after running it once in the "hidden admin" account (thinking there may have been some things that needed installing the first time the game is run), but it hasn't changed anything.

I have seen a lot of discussion about the Sims 2 and Windows 8 / 10 having problems, but none of the descriptions of these problems seems to correspond with what I am experiencing. For one, the game is new and has not been played. There are no saved games (other than what came with the game) or CC. No one in past discussions seems to mention that the game works on a hidden admin account but not in a regular admin account.

Any thoughts on what might be going on and how to fix it?

See if deleting The Sims 2 folder in Documents\EA Games\ does anything. Did you try applying 4GB Patch? Does it load if you install another pack (preferrably not University)?

I think I may have solved it. Thank you, mate54. I went ahead and installed the next EP, and while I am not sure what made it progress to the neighborhood chooser, I noticed that it was loading CC after all. I had been using my PC to check some CC I had used on my Mac, and while the CC was in a backup folder on my desktop, some how it was still being read by the program. I could see how this might have caused a problem if one of my CC items required an EP I haven't installed yet. I will keep checking it as I add new EPs to make sure it still works.

Also, as you install packs, make sure that you patch them (if they have patches available) using Grumpy Loader.