BF2S Forums using 2nd account with one game or installing 2nd game on same compute

You could create an another soldier under your sons account

Hmmm thats interesting. I have my account and my son's account and a dummy account all on the same game. Try creating a new player profile.

You don't need a 2nd copy of the game. All you have to do is like a couple have said & create a new "soldier" under the same account. Same password, same CD key, just a different soldier with different stats & all. I have 4 accounts in BF2 & 2 accounts in 2142 all on the same cd key. I'm pretty sure you can have 5 different "soldiers" in 2142. Log in under his account with his password & where it asks you to select which soldier you want to use click "create new soldier' or something along those lines. Your soldier won't effect his stats & his won't effect yours if that's what he was worried about...

Thanks for the responses! You guys were much quicker and extremely more helpful then EA, not that that's a surprise!

I didn't realize that I needed to log in under his name, then create a new soldier. I'm all set now, thanks very much.

I have just suffered through the same "CD-key invalid" indignity you have described. The advice to simply uninstall and reinstall is well intended but it is not as complete as the poster had intended.

There are two additional things to remember:

• The same windows XP user (with Admin Rights) that was used to install BF2, SF, etc must also be used to a) update these programs. (Latest update at time of writing was 1.41)b) successfully play ONLINE with these programs.NOTE: I have been able to use a second WinXP user account (even one with Limited User rights) to successfully play in Singleplayer mode and in Multiplayer LAN-based mode but I cannot use a second WinXP user account to play Multiplayer ONLINE without the "CD-key invalid" error appearing. It does not matter whether this second account is given Limited User rights or Admin rights, attempting to connect to a game server over the internet results in the "CD-key invalid" error.
• Before installing the game, make sure there are no background processes running. Use Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) and the Processes tab to stop all processes with your user name leaving just explorer.exe in the list. Do NOT stop any  processes owned by SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, or NETWORK SERVICE.

If you heed the above two pieces of advice and uninstall and re-install then you will have success. A step by step overview is posted after the Useful Links section.Since I ask my family to use Limited User rights for day to day PC activity I have chosen to create a WinXP user account with Admin Rights that can be used to install and play such problematic games. (BF2 is not alone in this sloppy privileges requirement fiasco) After installing the game I edit the registry to hide the so-called "Gamer" account from the WinXP Welcome screen so as to discourage users from accidentally logging in and using an Admin Rights account for day to day activity.Any meddlesome person could exploit this severely and  that is why I call this workaround a compromise!Useful Linksto register your games online visit http://www.eagamereg.com to manually remove Special Forces and BF2 from your PC:http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=11150grab the latest patch at http://www.ea.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/downloads.jspstop background processes:http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/cci/ea/background_tasks.php?p_sid=%3c?%20echo%20$p_sid%20?%3eEmpty any Temp folders to prevent file conflicts:http://eatech.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/eatech.cfg/php/enduser/cci/clear_temp.php?p_sid=<? echo $p_sid ?>Hide/Unhide a user account from the Welcome screen:http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/09/hide-user-accounts-from-windows-xp.htmlStep by step overview:

• reboot your system and login to a "Gamer" account with Admin Rights
• stop background processes
• manually remove BF2 and SF
• empty your temp folders
• install BF2
• install SF and any other expansion packs you may own
• install the latest update
• optionally hide the "Gamer" account from the Welcome screen
• Launch BF2, SF etc. using the Right Click "Run As ..." method - specify "Gamer" and <password>.