Fixing error in Borderlands 4 on Shadow

Quick Summary

If Borderlands 4 shows error S-102 when starting, first check your Shift ↔ Steam account linking. If the issue continues, run the PowerShell command below on your Shadow (as Administrator). It backs up the registry key and corrects the BIOSReleaseDate format automatically.

Detailed Steps

1) Verify Account Linking

1. Go to the official Borderlands website.
2. Log in with your Shift account.
3. Link your Steam account to your Shift account.

In many cases, the S-102 error is due to accounts not being linked properly — check this first before editing your system.

2) Run the PowerShell Command (on Shadow)

Open PowerShell as Administrator (right-click → Run as administrator), then copy and paste the following command and press Enter:

reg export "HKLM\SYSTEM\HardwareConfig\Current" "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\BIOSReleaseDate_backup.reg" /y; $k="HKLM:\SYSTEM\HardwareConfig\Current"; $v=(Get-ItemProperty -Path $k -Name BIOSReleaseDate -ErrorAction Stop).BIOSReleaseDate.Trim(); $v=$v -replace "-", "/"; $p=$v -split "/"; if($p.Count -ge 3){$d=[int]$p[0]; $m=[int]$p[1]; $y=$p[2]; if($d -gt 12){$v=("{0:D2}/{1:D2}/{2}" -f $m,$d,$y)}}; New-ItemProperty -Path $k -Name BIOSReleaseDate -PropertyType String -Value $v -Force; reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\HardwareConfig\Current" /v BIOSReleaseDate
        

3) Restart Shadow and Launch the Game

1. Shut down your Shadow completely (restart is recommended).
2. Start Shadow again, then launch Borderlands 4.

Most of the time, fixing the BIOS date format in the registry resolves the S-102 error.

Technical Explanation

This command:

• Exports and saves the registry key as BIOSReleaseDate_backup.reg on your desktop;
• Reads the BIOSReleaseDate value, trims spaces, and replaces dashes with slashes;
• Fixes day/month order if the day is greater than 12 (common formatting issue);
• Writes the corrected value back to the registry and displays it for confirmation.

If It Still Doesn’t Work

1. Double-check that your Shift ↔ Steam accounts are linked.
2. Confirm you ran PowerShell as Administrator.
3. If needed, restore the backup: double-click BIOSReleaseDate_backup.reg on your desktop, or run reg import in Command Prompt.
4. Contact Shadow Support and provide: your OS version, screenshot of the S-102 error, and note that you’ve applied the BIOS date registry fix.