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StarForce was a widely used copy protection software in the mid-2000s, now rarely used in the west. The use is mostly limited to physical copies, but you may find SF in some early Steam games (unfortunately DRM isn't always mentioned on the game's store page).
It has been reported that (some versions of) StarForce break at least Windows 7-10 installations, potentially requiring OS reinstall:

Tsundoku
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user198350
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2 Answers2

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Its plausible. You've got more than enough anecdotal evidence showing its potentially dangerous.

I'm doubtful a company that does DRM would admit their software that breaks machines. I do however find that there's no support for versions under 3.07.018, 3.07.018 – 5.0 needs a software update, and newer versions should work.

Considering DRM often has deep hooks in systems, its plausible a badly written driver could break a system.

I recommend that if you must use software that runs this DRM, to use it on a period accurate system, or at least back up prior to installation in case it breaks everything.

Journeyman Geek
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  • I just destroyed my windows 10 installation (twice in one hour) with starforce copy protection luckily I had a full backup of my windows 10 build 1903 clean installation. the game is Gene Troopers. – Raiden Core Mar 24 '20 at 02:22
  • Gene Troopers uses sf 3.5.10. Which *barely* supports W7 after an update of the driver. I struggle to see how 10 could even have let it start at all, unless you tried to "force" it. – mirh Mar 28 '20 at 01:53
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It is very true since my friend and I experienced it ourselves. It prevented the OS from booting and Windows was stuck in the Preparing Automatic Repair loop. Nothing from letting Windows resolve the problem itself to making a restore point helped. Thankfully, my friend's brother is a professional so he managed to fix it. Not many people know about the Starforce DRM hence local IT managers here would not be able to fix my PC and I would have to perform a clean OS install.

I suggest not installing anything with the Starforce DRM unless entirely necessary and better use an older system for it. Edit: mentioned OS is Windows 10 and the game is World Racing 2

Aduain Captor
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