When you play Microsoft Age of Empires III, you may experience one of the following symptoms:

• After you click ES Online on the Multiplayer menu, you may receive the following error message:
  ESO does not support your game version.
• If you click Update Game on the Help and Tools menu, you may receive the following error message:
  There was a file access problem. You have to be logged into Windows as a user with Admin rights.
• The update installation stops responding (hangs).

If the game stops responding or if you receive error messages when you try to install Age of Empires III updates, follow the steps that are listed in Method 1. For error messages that contain the text "Administrative Rights," follow the steps that are listed in Method 2.

Method 1

To verify that your copy of Age of Empires III is updated correctly, follow these steps.

1. After you try to update your copy of Age of Empires III, download the following ESAge3FileCheck tool, and then save the file to your desktop:
   http://aom.zone.com/esage3filechecker.exe (http://aom.zone.com/esage3filechecker.exe)
2. Start the ESAge3filechecker.exe file from the desktop.
3. After the process is completed, a new file appears on the desktop. The new file is the ESAge3Results.txt file.
4. Double-click the ESAge3Results.txt file to open it.

If each line in the ESAge3Results.txt file shows "Version Correct," the update was successful. If any lines show results such as Invalid (corrupt file), Invalid Version, or Not Found, you may have to remove and then reinstall Age of Empires III before you can apply the update. You may have to install Age of Empires III to a new directory if the following conditions are true:

• You reinstall the game and the issue is not resolved.
• You run the File Checker, and the File Checker still shows some files as being the incorrect version.

For example, when you reinstall the game, change the installation directory to the following:After you reinstall Age of Empires III, visit the following Ensemble Studios Web site to download the current update for the game:

Method 2

Create a new user account that has administrative rights. Then, use that user account to download and install the game update separately. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Create a new user account that has administrative rights. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   To create a new user account in Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition when Windows XP is not connected to a domain, follow these steps:
   1. Log off from the current user account.
   2. Log on to the computer by using a user account that has administrative rights.
   3. Click Start, click Run, type control, and then click OK.
   4. In the Pick a task list, click Create a new account.
   5. In the Type a name for the new account box, type a name for the user account, and then click Next.
   6. Click Computer administrator, and then click Create Account.
   To create a new user account in Windows XP Professional Edition when Windows XP is connected to a domain, follow these steps:
   1. Log off from the current user account.
   2. Log on to the computer by using a user account that has administrative rights.
   3. Click Start, type control, and then click OK.
   4. In Control Panel, click User Accounts.
   5. On the Users tab, click Add.
   6. Type a name for the user account, your full name, and a description of account.
   7. If the computer is set up as part of a client/server network, type the domain name, and then click Next.
      
      Note If the computer is set up as an individual computer without a network or is in a peer-to-peer network, you do not have to provide a domain name.
   8. Type a user password, and then type the user password again to confirm it.
      
      Important Passwords are case sensitive. For example, "MyPassword" and "mypassword" are treated as two different passwords.
   9. Click Next.
   10. Click Other, click Administrators for the level of access, and then click Finish.
2. Log off from the current user account.
3. Log on to the computer by using the new user account that you created.
4. After you log on to the computer, visit the following Microsoft Web site to download and install the game update:
   http://www.agecommunity.com/gameUpdates.aspx (http://www.agecommunity.com/gameUpdates.aspx)
   Note When you install the update, the installation may take more time to process some of the files in the update. This behavior occurs because of the size of the file that is being updated or the amount of data that has to be incorporated into the file. If you see the update installation not progressing for some time, wait until the game update installation continues and finishes.
5. Log off from the new user account.
6. Log on to the computer by using your original user account. Then, play the game.