Can't Uninstall VFP9 In Windows 7

[dataccount]

I recently installed VFP9 on a computer with Windows 7 Professional (32 bit), and now am unable to uninstall it using the normal methods. I have tried all three choices from the control panel, and from the setup on the CD, but the word "uninstall" was never an option.

SP2 was installed immediately following VFP9. A Google search provided no help, nor did a program called Uninstaller Pro. Suggestions, anyone? Thank you.

Jim

 

[TamarGranor]

Try running the relevant control panel stuff as administrator and see if that makes a difference.

Tamar

 

[dataccount]

Thanks for your reply, Tamar. I am the only user on this machine, and have Administrator status. The UAC is turned off, and I have tried to uninstall VFP9 in Safe Mode as well as normal.

The Visual FoxPro Setup screen that appears when I select "uninstall/change" lists under 1. Prerequisites - "Setup has detected that some of the software components that are installed on your computer do not match the version required for Visual FoxPro. You must install a different version of these components."

This is difficult to do, since I have no idea which software components are the guilty ones. This is a very basic machine used for testing only. FoxPro works perfectly on this computer as it is.

Attempting to force the uninstall from Uninstaller Pro fails as well with the following message: "Setup was unable to copy the file c:\Program Files\VFP9\setup\Visual FoxPro 9.0 Professional - English\setup\deletetemp.exe" to your temporary directory. Please make sure that the file exists and rerun setup."

The deletetemp.exe file is right there where it is supposed to be. I even copied this file from the original FoxPro installation disk to the \setup\ folder.

Jim

 

[TamarGranor]

You don't have to know what the missing prerequisites. When you choose that item, the things you need get installed.

I don't know whether the issues for uninstalling have anything to do with the prerequisites.

Tamar

 

[dataccount]

It wasn't pretty, but VFP9 is finally gone from my Windows 7 machine. It didn't matter whether I tried to uninstall from the Control Panel or the installation CD, every option was blocked, aborting the process.

Finally, in desperation I simply deleted the entire c:\program files\vfp9 folder, re-booted, then went to the "uninstall/change" option in Control Panel. Like magic, the first screen provided three options, the last one being to "Uninstall". Even though the VFP9 folder was no longer present, the uninstall went perfectly.

I have been programming in Fox since the days of Tom Rettig, Jeb Long, Miriam Liskin, Bob Green and yes, Tamar Granor and never had this much trouble before. Maybe it's a Windows 7 problem and not FoxPro.

Jim

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Jim,

thanks for reporting.

wOOdy always recomends to simply install a VFP version to a newer system by copying it's program folder and then run VFPX.exe /regserver. Also perhaps apply the runtime installer from ftp.prolib.de/public to have the runtime etc where it should be officially.

The problem of installing/uninstalling is perhaps the Windows Installer version, which is newer in Win7. Also in regard to the prerequisites stuff VFP's Task Pane needs MSXML3 while win7 comes with MSXML6 or so, anyway a newer version.

By the way wOOdy also suggests to not install VFP in the normal windows program files folder, as it is special in the usage of the folder:

You should know very well there are several components in the VFP folder that may (re)compile at (first) use. All in all there is write access to the VFP folder and therfore you either need to turn off UAC - which I think is a bad move for security - you need to be main user of the PC or grant write access to the VFP folder to make normal use of it.

The setup offers to install to a different path and you can eg also setup into C:\Public\VFP\VFP7,8,9 to have much less problems with the VFP installation (and perhaps also deinstallation).

Bye, Olaf.