Hey, you said that it isn't recommended to use your main Xbox Live account for this because sites like True Achievements give you a warning because of Achievements related to the DLC. But what if I don't want to use the DLC? Just a playthrough of the campaign and maybe mess around with bots? Will I be okay then?

@Consmic.Chaos thank you for highlighting the point and the guide has been updated accordingly after checking. The dropship menu is accessible only when a Local or GFWL profile has been singed in. So it won't be accessible unless u do so.
Yes can confirm the setup and the process is applicable to Windows 11 as well due to build compatibility with Windows 10. Will update the guide after doing some more research on my own.
Yes, in the GFWL Sign process once you type your email address, the password field will be automatically filled and the ticks for remembering the account will also be ticked. It may be related to Xbox related apps or the Microsoft account registration in the build.

@foxtwo92 pls don't post anything unrelated to getting up GFWL services in the comments. What u post there is a GFWL service stopper called xlive.dll which will temporarily bypass the service through a local save with no GFWL service related at all, but of course a way to play GFWL related games with no extra work but that's no the purpose of this guide.

@ApeirogonGames and @foxtwo92 Can confirm GFWL and the corresponding services are still up and running as of 06/14/2025. I personally tested this seconds ago with a fresh windows installation.

@Mar_n'Kamee Windows Live ID is an internal service in GFWL and the reason you're getting the error is either your GFWL isn't correctly figured (If you are running the game fresh again) or there is a issue with their service.

Thanks for the guide and providing the GFWL installation files since MS doesn't ;_;

The wording in the guide makes it sound like a new account is necessary unless you played the game already but I signed in just fine with my existing Xbox account? Played through the campaign, got a ton of achievements along the way, have access to the Dropship for managing loadouts (which I noticed was greyed out and inaccessible before installing GFWL).

Something else to note about the GFWL sign-in process: I'm on Windows 11 and after entering my email when I moused over the password box it was automatically filled in and the options to save the email and pw were likewise ticked. This seems to be a feature since at least Win10 if your Xbox account is already signed in on Windows itself? I didn't even need to generate an app password like I usually expect for legacy MS services that don't have 2FA support (i.e. Xbox 360).

alright so after some searching and trial and error i was able to at minimum let me save games and activate the drop ship loadouts by using this link https://www.darquecathedral.org/archives/2253 i found it from a reddit post with a guy trying to activate his mortal combat windows live.i am using it now but obviously be cautious.but its working for me now

I'm back, basically, you need to go to the DLC folder and in each DLC(#) you open the DLC(#)__S9Game.ini and change the "RequiredDLCId=(#)" from the number to 0.
Sadly you just activate the maps, I couldn't activate the blitz pack because it doesn't have a S9Game.ini file, but you can use the save file to get it, or in case someone else can help with this last step.

Hellooo!!! I remember that 3 years ago I could install the DLC's and activate them without giving a valid CD key to windows live, I gonna try it again and if I'm success I will post it here

2024.08.08 and cant get it to connect.still over 800hrs of memories to this game. good times