Getting rid of software entry in add/remove programs

[FrauW]

Hi all,
How do I get rid of a program that I have long since deleted however still has an entry in the Windows Add/Remove Programs? When I try to remove it from here it says that removal is impossible because a dll is missing. Well there is no entry in Program Files and this program is also no longer in the registry. How do I get rid of this residual piece?

THANKS !!

 

[justcurious]

I have only done this with NT 4 and don't know how it works with Win2K. You may wish to export any registry entries before you delete them in case you need to get them back.

Open Regedit and do a Find on the name that appears for that program in the "Currently installed programs:" list in the "Add/Remove Programs" dialog. Type the name exactly as it appears in the list.

You should find the key you are looking for in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\xxxxxx

The xxxxxx may be the program name or it may be an ID ( you know, one of those long strings of letters, numbers and dashes between curly braces ).

When you delete this key, the program should disappear from the Add/Remove Programs dialog.

Please let us know how this works out for you.

 

[justcurious]

A couple of other things.......

You will be looking for the data entry in values like "Display Icon" and "Display Name" so make sure you have "Data" checked in the Find dialog.

While you have Regedit open, you may as well F3 through the entire registry to search for any other instances of the program name and delete the entries if it seems appropriate.

 

[FrauW]

Thanks. I understand this will remove the reference to the program. Any ideas how I get rid of the program cleanly since I can't do it the normal way (i.e. Add/Remove programs)? Trying to re-install the orignal program in order to re-delete the program cleanly doesn't work...namely because the default path is different. Even when I tried to trick the system and manually create this path, it didn't work. I am desperate because this program is using a port and until I get rid of it, I cannot install the same program in another version (because that leads to a WinSock error). THANKS!

 

[justcurious]

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I have only ever seen these orphaned entries left behind by buggy or poorly designed installs/uninstalls. I assumed your situation was the same and the software actually has been uninstalled.

I think I would reinstall the software, then make a copy of the uninstall folder. After uninstalling again, place the copy of the folder where it is supposed to be, based on the entry in the registry and try uninstalling again. If that doesn't work, I have no idea what to do next.

 

[FrauW]

Your suggestion 'I think I would reinstall the software, then make a copy of the uninstall folder. After uninstalling again, place the copy of the folder where it is supposed to be, based on the entry in the registry and try uninstalling again. ' was great and maybe this will work for some users. It didn't work for me. However I got rid of enough files associated with the program from the registry. I was then able to install the other version of the same application. My WinSock error is gone, the associated service starts and the licensing error is gone. Thanks again for your suggestions. Bye!

 

[YFronts]

Just use a registry cleaner! You wouldn't have even needed to post this message had you found a freeware reg cleaner.

 

[FrauW]

Can you elaborate? What exactly is a reg cleaner? Do you have a link to the freeware so I can look it over along with any related documentation? THANKS!

 

[YFronts]

Easier for me to mail to you..the one I use is excellent, called Regcleaner by Jouni Vuorio.
Either from

http://www.download.com

or

http://www.webmasterfree.com/regcleaner.html

 

[FrauW]

thanks!