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

One of the questions I commonly receive from customers is how to uninstall a product when there is no entry created for that product in the Add/Remove Programs control panel. I get asked this question about a lot of different MSI-based setups and OS hotfixes, particularly from people who are trying to follow the uninstall instructions for beta versions of VS 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0.

For MSI-based products, I typically recommend using the following steps to locate and remove a product that does not appear in Add/Remove Programs:

1. Use these steps to download and run the MsiInv tool to create a list of applications that Windows Installer thinks are installed on the computer
2. Open the MsiInv output file, locate the product that you are interested in removing and copy the Product Code value to your clipboard. The Product Code will be a GUID with curly braces surrounding it. Make sure to copy the curly braces in addition to the GUID value
3. Go to the Start menu, choose Run and type cmd
4. From the cmd prompt, run msiexec /x {product_code} using the Product Code value from the MsiInv output and try to uninstall it using the standard MSI uninstall command line
5. If the uninstall succeeds, you can stop here
6. If the uninstall did not succeed, download the smartmsizap tool (if you are interested, you can read about the behind-the-scenes design for smartmsizap here) and extract it to c:\ on your computer
7. From the cmd prompt, run c:\smartmsizap.exe /p {product_code} using the Product Code value from the MsiInv output

This set of steps has resolved nearly all cases I've run into in the past where someone needed to remove a product but could not find an entry in Add/Remove Programs to launch the uninstall process from. If you try these steps and run into problems or have questions, please contact me and I will try to help.

For OS hotfixes, you need to make sure the Show updates checkbox is checked in the top middle of the Add/Remove Programs control panel. If that is checked and the hotfix you want to remove still does not appear in Add/Remove Programs, the hotfix may have been installed on your system with a command line that suppresses the ability to uninstall.

<update date="1/9/2006"> Added more specific information about extracting and running smartmsizap.exe from c:\ because otherwise Windows may not know where to find the exe when running the command from a cmd prompt </update>

<update date="4/1/2009"> Fixed broken link to smartmsizap tool. </update>

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 18, 2005
  Thanks for this great post. It really helped.

• Anonymous
  December 25, 2005
  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

• Anonymous
  December 29, 2005
  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: datastorecachedpropertycollection.cpp .
  ......
  There was an XmlRW error: failure loading xmlrw.dll
  
  Thanks,
  Promod.
  

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2006
  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.

• Anonymous
  February 09, 2006
  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!!!!

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2006
  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

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2006
  PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/492809.aspx

• Anonymous
  May 08, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 11, 2006
  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 Server90Setup BootstrapLogFiles so I can try to take a look and see if I can figure anything out?
  

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2006
  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

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2006
  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?
  
  

• Anonymous
  May 17, 2006
  A customer contacted me this week after reading my blog post about uninstalling beta builds of VS 2005...

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2006
  hi Aaron
  
  Thanks for this post. Unfortunately I'm not able to download the smartmsizap tool... Is it still online ?
  
  Thanks

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2006
  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.

• Anonymous
  August 05, 2006
  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.

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2006
  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....
  

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2006
  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.

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2006
  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!
  

• Anonymous
  August 10, 2006
  Many thanks, Aaron
  I will try your suggestion and let you know the result.
  Ignacio

• Anonymous
  August 11, 2006
  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

• Anonymous
  September 17, 2006
  PingBack from http://blog.xpint.net/?p=6

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2007
  Where to get Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0 Where to download the .NET Framework 2.0 redistributable

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2007
  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

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2007
  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.

• Anonymous
  April 25, 2007
  As described in this post on S. Somasegar's blog and in other places, Visual Studio codename Orcas beta

• Anonymous
  September 01, 2007
  Recently, I heard from a customer who has a system with Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition

• Anonymous
  September 01, 2007
  PingBack from http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2007/09/01/how-to-repair-a-localization-pack-for-update-rollup-2-for-windows-xp-media-center-2005/

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2007
  Visual Studio 2008 - Install Problem Solved

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  PingBack from http://blog.lulutech.com/PermaLink,guid,c0a6bb1c-161d-42e8-a025-18689cdc472f.aspx

• Anonymous
  September 04, 2008
  General info, best practices 907284 - Changes to the readme file for SQL Server 2005 910229 - SQL Server

• Anonymous
  November 14, 2008
  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!

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2009
  You can use these docs for uninstalling your 2005 sql instance based on your requirement. Uninstalling

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2009
  PingBack from http://www.codedstyle.com/how-to-un-install-sql-server-2005/

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2009
  Touching too many pieces at once almost always causes errors and that became evident when I began to

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2010
  Thanks so much - this saved me a whole afternoon of pulling my hair out.

• Anonymous
  August 23, 2012
  we can use recommended uninstaller like mirekusoft (www.mirekusoft.com) or revo to uninstall applications on Windows. It can help solve problems that are caused when a program does not uninstall properly.

• Anonymous
  April 11, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2017
  The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 16, 2017
    The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2017
  Aaron, I have been trying to figure out how to un-install my .net Framework 4.0 when it doesn't show up in the add/remove list. I have run the msiinv.exe program and it does not show up there, either. I have downloaded and tried to install the .net framework from microsoft's site, but it tells me it can't install it because it is already installed. Am running Windows 8.1 with all updates. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

  • Anonymous
    June 15, 2017
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      June 16, 2017
      Aaron,I was told to try to uninstall it, and to reinstall it because some software I am trying to run has suddenly stopped working and it uses it, and the program developers seem to think the .net framework software is corrupted. And thanks, by the way, for getting back to me. I am not savvy enough to understand all the ins and outs of what is happening, so I just try what I am asked. And since I posted this question to you, I did find a post somewhere which mentioned that Windows 10 has the .net framework as integral, and I figured that 8.1 was the same way. So thank you for confirming that. The specific error causing the crash is "Unable to load DLL 'penimc.dll': The specified module could not be found." Do you know if penimc.dll is related to, or used in the .net framework software? That module is on my machine in a dozen or more iterations.
      • Anonymous
        June 16, 2017
        The comment has been removed