Windows 7 & Punkbuster Problem

[[AK]Hylander]

Last evening I upgraded my VISTA-64 install to Windows 7 Ultimate. Everything appears to have gone smoothly and all the programs I tested worked without issue. BFBC2 runs just fine, except for punkbuster. I cannot seem to get punkbuster to run. When I look at services, punkbuster is not listed anywhere. So far I've tried these:

1) pbsvc.exe to update punkbuster
2) Made sure my user has admin rights
3) Uninstalled BFBC2, deleted punkbuster directory, reinstalled BFBC2
4) Exception is in firewall, but doesn't matter since services aren't running anyways

Here is the exact error message:

"You have been kicked from the game. The reason is: PunkBuster kicked player '[AK]Hylander' (for 0 minutes) ... RESTRICTION: service Communication Failure: PNKBstrB.exe initialization failed."

I'm out of ideas and I can't seem to find any solutions online yet.

[[AK]Kidd]

I have Win7.
I went to the Punkbuster Site and downloaded the automatic updater.
Worked ever since then.

[[AK]Hylander]

I ran the updater, didn't seem to make a difference.

I think I'm going to try this tonight, found it on the Steam forums:

Try this...

1. Uninstall the Punkbuster Services from Add/Remove programs
2. Delete the "pb" directory from the Bad Company 2 Program Files
3. Download the latest PBSetup and PBSVC from Evenbalance
4. Install the latest PBSVC
5. Install the latest Punkbuster Files for BC2
6. In Run, type "services.msc" and find PnkBstrA and PnkBstrB
7. View the properties of each, under the Log On tab, check the "Allow the service to interact with the desktop."
8. Restart both services.

If in step 7 PnkBstrB isn't there, run the game, close it and check again.

[[AK]StitchJones]

Oh you did a upgrade to Windows 7, not a fresh install. That makes more sense because I did a fresh install of Win7 when I did my install. I hope those steps get it taken care of. I need to run you over with a vehicle!

[[AK]Hylander]

I have a couple of things to try tonight, as I got some emails and suggestions from the iRacing forum as well. (Alot of BFBC2 players over there).

[[AK]Gunny Highway]

Hy set the executable's for punkbuster to run as admin. This fixed it for me in the beta.

Right click on the program .exe file, then click on Properties, and on the Compatibility tab, Check the Run this program as an administrator box, and click on OK.

[[AK]Hylander]

Thanks Gunny - you know I almost did that last night but then went to bed.

I've added it to the list of things to try tonight.

[[AK]Hylander]

Issue appears to be resolved. I did and uninstall with add/remove, deleted the pb directory in my user and BFBC2 directory, then reinstalled PB. Services are now running and I was in our server for about 5 minutes without getting a boot.

[[AK]StitchJones]

It was good seeing you online last night. Glad to see all is well with your setup again.