Software Deployment

Yes, it is.

You *can* jump through the hoops of finding and deleting the munged ProductCode (and other associated entries) in the 'Managed' section of the registry then execute the MSI but by far and away the simplest route is build an uninstalling MSI. When it has finished "installing", have it run MSIZap (downloadble from MS, if you don't alrwady have it) passing the old product's ProductCode.

Not sure whether it will work in all instances but how about running the Uninstall 'only when user is logged in' (If your deployment tool has that option).

I never used msizap but seems to be a useful & powerful tool in this type of cases.

Hi VBScab

Ty for your reply.
I've already dabbled with good old MSIZap but initially dropped it because it ended up giving me problems with the Program Compatibility Assistant.
(most of my users are running W7 64 bit)
but since you recommend using it, I've chosen to disabel it using wise script and it runs like a charm.

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Christian

Hi SandeepPanat

Ty for your reply.

We are running both SMS and SCCM and I know the "only when a user is logged in" but in this case the problem is that the user that installed the program is the one that has to uninstall it and that is not possible.

But as you can see MSIZap was the way to go.
I am not sure if Microsoft still supports it.. because it is very easy to mess things up.. but it works :)

Best Regards,
Christian

I am not sure if Microsoft still supports itI don't think it was ever supported. Indeed, I seem to recall the EULA for the Platform SDK said someone like "Using the tools provided can cause irretrievable damage to your computer and you use them at your own risk."because it is very easy to mess things up.. but it works :) Just like RegEdit LOL

"Using the tools provided can cause irretrievable damage

Like when you give it to one of your on-site supporters who accidentially hits the "Select all-button" and then removes all info for every single product on the computer? :)

(actually happened a few years ago.. the guy had like 15 years of experience)

You could first try reinstalling the app to allusers and then uninstall. Of course, this would depend on how large the app is and how much time you want the users to wait while it does the initial reinstall and then uninstall. Unless the end result is to move to an allusers install...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa371175(v=vs.85).aspx

So maybe something like this:

msiexec.exe /i filename.msi REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus ALLUSERS=1

Hey Jmaclaurin

That actually sounds like a possible solution but in this particular instance it doesn't work.

Trying to reinstall for all users just provides me with an eror saying that the product is already installed and should be uninstalled through the control panel.... which one cannot do since it is only visible for the actual user that did the install in the first place.

I dont know if this is the product in question or the windows installer speaking though.

But thanks for the input.

I'm pretty sure I got that to work for me at one time, but I can't remember the exact circumstances.

Another alternative might be to export the uninstall reg key from HKCU, change it to HKLM and then import. That might provide you with an all users uninstall. The catch will be that whatever is stored within the user's profile during install can't be referenced/removed during uninstall. You may need to do some scripting to set up the environment pre-uninstall. There may also be problems if the MSI was cached.

Was the original install performed by a user or by System? If you know the account that was used, you could use Autologon and Runounce to restart the machine, login, uninstall, delete the autologon, and then restart again. Again, this comes back to just how important this is because that will really impact the end user. This won't work if the installer was System. (FYI - I've had to do this and it works, just not user friendly and prone to failure)

Thx for all the input, they might come in handy some other time :)
(I solved this one using MSIZap as VBScab also suggested.)

I haven't tried the autologon idea before. Sounds interesting.. but in this case the org. install may have been performed by any one of 50 technicians from a range of different locations so..