How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Patrick Veverka — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 01:14:20 GMT

Thanks for this great post. It really helped.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

aKASH aGGARWAL — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 07:45:35 GMT

I was about to format my disk after those headaches with CTP builds and release install when finally your article saved my day.

Thanks a lot

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Promod — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:23:46 GMT

Thanks a lot.

I had to go till the 6th step using smartmsizap, inorder to uninstall the beta versions of SQL Server.

There was an error when I tried to uninstall SQL Server 2005 CTP using 4th step (msiexec /x {product_code}). A message which shows an error in machine configuration file and an error in XMLReader was poped while doing that. A part of the error is described as follows.

The setup has encountered an unexpected error in datastore. The action is SetInstancePorperty. The error is: Source File Name: datastore\cachedpropertycollection.cpp .
......
There was an XmlRW error: failure loading xmlrw.dll

Thanks,
Promod.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Anand Narayanaswamy — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:42:03 GMT

I used a software called Uninstaller! 2006 ( http://www.ursoftware.com ) to remove all the previous versions of .NET Framework. It removes all the registry entries and hence your system is completely cleaned.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Ciro Theodoro — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 22:32:07 GMT

I used the MSInv trying to remove Microsoft SQL 2005 CTP but it didn't work. When I used the smartmsizap command, it worked!!! I was almost giving up when I found this article. Very good tips!!! Thank you very much!!!!

How to uninstall an application when it does appear in Add/Remove Programs and throws fatal error uninstalling MSDN VS 2005 beta 2

Moorthi — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:18:26 GMT

Great Aaron, thanks for quick reply. SmartZap worked for me.
And I'm really glad Microsoft support for Developers.
Last 2 days, I've started working with Netbeans as I everything is free there, but its bad practice to map the namespace with folders, 'coz. I'm back now.

Thanks again.
-pv

Aaron Stebner's WebLog : Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 Setup Troubleshooting Guide

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:23:28 GMT

PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/492809.aspx

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Steve Shier — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:33:13 GMT

Dear Aaron:

I'm having a lot of problems installing SQL 2005 RTM on my WinXP SP2 machine. I think it may be because of manually uninstalling SQL 2005 CTP and/or VS 2005 Beta 2.0, probably in the wrong order. The error I get in the detail log file SQLSetup0019_COMPUTERNAME_SQL.log is "Error 29528. The setup has encountered an unexpected error while Updating Installed Files. The error is: Fatal error during installation.".

I uninstalled both beta products (SQL 2005 CTP and VS 2005 Beta 2.0) manually, then installed the VS 2005 RTM and it seems to work fine (I also have VS 2003 and VS 2002 installed on this box).I tried running msiinv but I see nothing
related to SQL Server installed. I tried running Windows Cleanup Utility (msicuu2.exe) but also saw nothing related to SQL. I looked in the registry and saw under hklm\microsoft\microsoft sql server an 80 folder and a 90 folder.

The 80 folder was related to a prior SQL 2000 install which I believe was removed when I installed the SQL 2005 CTP. There are no instances showing up in thesse registry keys. I also looked in services and find no sql related services running. I also removed left over folders and files at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server prior to install (I did save them elsewhere so I have all the install logs).

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Steve Shier

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:21:11 GMT

Hi Steve - Can you please contact me at Aaron.Stebner (at) microsoft (dot) com and zip and send me the log files located at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\Log\Files so I can try to take a look and see if I can figure anything out?

How to uninstall .NET Framework 2.0

Kendo — Tue, 16 May 2006 00:18:04 GMT

I uninstall it from youtunsinstaller, but during the work, the computer reboot

No more uninstall link

I have followed the manual uninstallation tips.

When I try to install the new version, it bloc saying : it is allready install ...

I see the smartmsizap.exe" /p

and try {.NET Framework 2.0} but it doesn't work, what is the product code ????

Thx for help

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Tue, 16 May 2006 00:47:30 GMT

Hi Kendo - You need to use the MsiInv tool linked in step 1 above to determine the product code. Can you please try that out and see if you can figure it out from there?

VS 2005 beta uninstall instructions are missing the MSDN Library

Aaron Stebner's WebLog — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:57:22 GMT

A customer contacted me this week after reading my blog post about uninstalling beta builds of VS 2005...

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

panzerkunst — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:10:10 GMT

hi Aaron

Thanks for this post. Unfortunately I'm not able to download the smartmsizap tool... Is it still online ?

Thanks

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Thu, 25 May 2006 20:02:53 GMT

Hi Panzerkunst - Currently, the server I use to host all of the tools that I have posted for download is down for maintenance, and it unfortunately has been down for a couple of days now. Please contact me using http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/contact.aspx and I will send you a copy of the tool via email as a workaround.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Cass — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 19:36:54 GMT

Hi. I installed visual basic beta 2 and had given up until I finally found this information. The uninstall tool was giving me some XML error and would not finish the uninstall. Once I ran your information here the betas autouninstall completed and when I ran your msiInv tool the programs didn't show up anymore however the folders "Microsoft SQL Server" and "Microsoft Visual Studio 8" and its files are still in my programs folder and when I startup my computer "sqlservr.eve" is running. Please help I don't know what else to do.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:46:24 GMT

Hi Cass - The MsiInv and SmartMsiZap workaround is designed to remove the beta version so that you can install the final release of the product. This workaround does not remove all of the files for a product though, so that would probably explain why you still see those folders. Is your goal to install the final release or to just remove the beta? If you want to install the final release, I would suggest installing it now. If you want to only remove the beta, I would suggest manually deleting the SQL Server service and deleting the folders you mention above manually. Hope this helps....

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

Cass — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:25:48 GMT

Hi, my goal was not to install the final release but to remove it all together. I didn't want to remove the folders without being sure that if I did I wouldn't start getting some system error because sqlservr.exe seems to run on its own. Also, I wanted to make sure that I removed all the files that may have been installed in other directories associated with it so that I wouldn't have all these extra files still on my computer. Thanks for your help.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

iafossi — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 03:23:51 GMT

Hi, Aaron
Because of a problem with my anti virus, I had to uninstall Visual Basic Express Edition (and .Net Framework 2.0, MSDN, and optional SQL that was installed during VB installation). Unfortunately, I uninstalled first .Net Framework 2.0 and after I realized that it had to be installed to be able to uninstall VB, so I re-installed .Net Framework 2.0 back and continue uninstalling the rest. At the end, I uninstalled .Net Framework 2.0.

After that, I tried to install again VB and optional SQL (now with the anti virus disabled, that was the problem in my first installation). But this second time, I was not asked if I wanted SQL installed (the first time, I was asked about SQL and I said yes). So, I do not have SQL installed, although I see a lot of folders and files related to SQL. I look in Control Panel -add/remove programs- and nothing related to SQL appears.

Can you tell me how to force the installation of SQL? If not possible, are MsiInv and SmartMsiZap tools good for uninstalling everything again and reinstall once more? I have the CD burned from the ISO image file downloaded from Microsoft.

Many Thanks in advance for your help.

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 06:27:21 GMT

Hi Iafossi - I would suggest first trying to download and install SQL Express directly by using the link at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/.

MsiInv and SmartMsiZap would probably help here, but it would be more reliable for you to try to repair SQL Express using the official setup package first.

Hope this helps!

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

iafossi — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 01:39:28 GMT

Many thanks, Aaron
I will try your suggestion and let you know the result.
Ignacio

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

iafossi — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:15:10 GMT

Hi Aaron
I downloaded and installed SQL Express directly following your advise and it seems that everything is right now. Many thanks for your help.
Ignacio

I Do Not Know» Blog Archive » Problem reinstalling VS 2005?

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JamesNoe — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 02:25:37 GMT

OK I tried the steps you gave me to run MSIINV then MSIEXEC then SMARTMSIZAP and they all indicate that they worked on the visual web developer to uninstall ... BUT I still get the error that it needs to be uninstalled before SP1 of VS 2005 can be loaded. When I go into the VS 2005 and look at help/about it still shows the Visual Web Developer 2005 and Web application Projects 2005 in the Installed products. I reran the MSIINV and did not see those products in the list. I did see the VS 2005.

What am I doing wrong here?

Jim Noe

re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

astebner — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 03:31:52 GMT

Hi JamesNoe - Please make sure that you have uninstalled the Visual Studio 2005 hotfix for web application projects (KB915364) in addition to the web application projects package itself. Both items that you need to uninstall are listed at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/02/11/uninstall-vs-2005-update-to-support-web-application-projects-before-installing-vs-2005-sp1.aspx.

If that doesn't help, I have heard of cases where customers were able to resolve this issue by reinstalling the web application projects package and the Visual Studio hotfix and then uninstalled them again.

If both of the above fail, you might need to uninstall and reinstall VS 2005, but hopefully you'll be able to avoid doing that.

Hopefully one of these will help.

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re: How to uninstall an application when it does not appear in Add/Remove Programs

gambleleon — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:50:18 GMT

Hats off! Show some respect!

It does the best job I've seen yet with Kodak's suite of EasyShare products, (EasyShare, Home Center and Digital Display software.) The Kodak Clear is marginally more complete, but it uses msiexec to try to remove upwards of 90 product codes, so it sometimes fails. (Rarely, but these things do happen!) I've created a batch file that runs smartmsizap.exe /p {Product code} /qn for all 90 guids. After it runs. When you reinstall, you get the option of Modify, repair or remove, so there are scraps left behind, but overall, it's a very good tool!

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