Uninstall program

[Engineer]

Have a program that does not appear in the add/remove programs box. No uninstall section on the applications submenu of the programs list.

The question is How to uninstall and remove all registry entries appliciable to this progam

[ORAC]

Try one of these:

http://www.webattack.com/Freeware/s...wsysmaint.shtml

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/articl...903,pg,2,00.asp

Tweeak UI

[What_does_this_button_do?]

What is the application and I will see what Registry entries you need to remove.

B

[fobotcso]

May also depend on the version of windows. I'm doing this on an ME machine and it's much simpler that Win2K.

Not for the faint hearted, Engineer, (but I don't think you're one of those), it is possible to do this empirically.

If you edit with regedit.exe, run searches on the name of the software house (eg Deerfield) and then on the name of the application (eg Wingate). Each time delete the key or the contents of the sub-keys that contain the names.

You're looking for Software keys or "Run" or "Open" keys in CurrentContolSet or ControlSet01 or ControlSet02 or somesuch.

Don't overdo it and remember the maxim to "quit while you're ahead" You will inevitably leave some detritus behind in the Registry but as long as you don't get any error messages about files not found you'll suffer no harm.

Sometimes you are denied access to a Key. Change to edit with regedt32.exe (Windows 2000) and you can change the attributes of the key and then delete or change it.

[Engineer]

Not worried about cleaning out the registry that is a minor problem. What interest me is how the application (creative sound blaster live audio HQ) ended up being deleted form the add/remove list.

Understand that the application can be removed by deletion and registry modification but what I was looking at was using the windows uninstall progam (IsUninst.exe) and the application uninstall ini file (shown below). Is there a way of manipulating these two files to run an uninstall as if you had clicked the uninstall icon

[Component]
1=Creative Recorder
2=Surround Mixer
3=Dos Drivers
4=AudioHQ
5=Diagnostics
6=SB Live! Experience
7=EAX Demo
8=Creative Restore Defaults
9=SoundFont Banks
10=Midi Samples
11=SoundFont Showcase
12=Creative Rhythmania

[Reference]
TotalCount=12

[Command]
1=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Recorder\Recorder.isu" -a
2=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\SurMixer.isu" -a
3=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Dos.isu" -a
4=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\AudioHQ.isu" -a
5=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Diagnose.isu" -a
6=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\SBLiveXP.isu" -a
7=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\EaxDemo.isu" -a
8=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Restore.isu" -a
9=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\SoundFont.isu" -a
10=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Midi.isu" -a
11=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"CProgram Files\Creative\SoundFont Showcase\sfsc.isu" -a
12=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\Rhythmania\Rhythm.isu" -a

[Size]
1=2000000
2=12000000
3=530000
4=5000000
5=2000000
6=30000000
7=5000000
8=250000
9=15000000
10=20000000
11=45000000
12=3000000

[DelFile]
4=CProgram Files\Creative\Launcher\GROUP\AudioHQ\GROUP.INI

[DelDir]
4=CProgram Files\Creative\Launcher\GROUP\AudioHQ

After all that OS is Windows Me

[fobotcso]

Now you're in uncharted water as far as I'm concerned so I'll sit back and watch someone better informed give you an answer!

Buttons?

[Chocks Wahay]

Ah, uninstalling, a function of Application Packaging, which is wot I do.

IsUninst.exe is the uninstall program provided by Installshield, and installed by the Creative Labs software. The executeable part (isuninst.exe) is generic, and is usually accompanied by a file specific to the application which is usually (but not always) called "uninst.isu". You need to enter the required command line to run the uninstall.

The good news is that the command line is stored in the registry when the application is installed. To find the correct command line, open Regedit and search for isuninst.exe. You may find more than one entry, as lots of companies use Installshield, so look for the one which matches your application. You should find a registry value called UninstallString, with the data looking like this "CWINNT\ISUNINST.EXE -f"CProgram Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.isu"" This is the command line you need to use, simply paste it into the Start - Run box and it will remove itsself.

It is possible to suppress the Add / Remove Programs entry, so it may be that Creative Labs wanted to make it hard to remove it. It is also possible to remove the uninstall support altogether, in which case your only option is to start deleting files, services, registry entries and so on - definitely not an approach I would recommend to anyone.

Hope this helps, let me know here or by email how you get on and if you need anything further.

[Engineer]

Chocks Wahay

Nice one as you can seen from the previous post the inf file lists the location of all the isu files under the command section i.e

=CWINDOWS\IsUninst.exe -f"cprogram files\added software\Creative\SBLive\SurMixer.isu" -a

however what does the -a switch do at the end and is there a good web site that details the various switch functions

Ta

[Chocks Wahay]

The -a switch is to run it silently.

Installshield's website is www.installshield.com, their Knowledge Base isn't bad (better than some).

Incidentally, what was the name & location of the file you pasted in earlier?