Uninstalling an MSI file from the command line without using msiexec

Question

msiexec is command prompt software that installs an MSI program  But I have found that you can install an MSI file from the command line by just typing in the name of the MSI file on the command line   But in order to uninstall the MSI file  it seems you have to call the msiexec program and give it a  x or  uninstall   How can I uninstall an MSI from the command line without using the msiexec routine

User · Answer

Also remember that an uninstall can be initiated using the WMIC command:

wmic product get name --> This will list the names of all installed apps

wmic product where name='myappsname' call uninstall --> this will uninstall the app.

User · Answer

The msi file extension is mapped to msiexec  same way typing a  txt filename on a command prompt launches Notepad default  txt file handler to display the file    Thus typing in a filename with an  msi extension really runs msiexec with the MSI file as argument and takes the default action  install  For that reason  uninstalling requires you to invoke msiexec with uninstall switch to unstall it

User · Answer

I would try the following syntax - it works for me   msiexec  x filename msi  q

User · Answer

There are many ways to uninstall an MSI package  This is intended as a  quot reference quot    In summary you can uninstall via  msiexec exe  ARP  WMI  PowerShell  Deployment Systems such as SCCM  VBScript   COM Automation  DTF  or via hidden Windows cache folder  and a few other options presented below  The first few paragraphs provide important MSI tidbits  then there are 14 sections with different ways to uninstall an MSI file  Puh    quot Babble  Babble - Over quot   Sections 1  2 and 3 are the normal uninstall approaches  and hence recommended   Personally I use option 3 or 5 from section 3  both options with logging  but option 5 runs silently as well   If you are very busy  skip all the babble and go for one of these - it will get the job done    If you have problems uninstalling altogether and are looking for an alternative to the deprecated MsiZap exe and   or Windows Installer CleanUp Utility  MSICUU2 exe   you can try the new FixIt tool from Microsoft  or the international page   May apparently work for other install issues as well  Newer list of cleanup approaches  Cleaning out broken MSI uninstalls   If you think MSI and Windows Installer is more trouble than it s worth  you might want to read about the corporate benefits of using MSI files   Installscript MSI setups generally come wrapped in a setup exe file  To read more about the parameters to use for uninstalling such setups please see these links  setup exe pdf reference sheet  Setup exe and Update exe Command-Line Parameters   Some MSI files are installed as part of bundles via mechanism such as Burn  WiX Toolkit  or InstallShield Suite projects  This can make uninstall slightly different from what is seen below  Here is an example for InstallShield Suite projects   Be aware that running uninstall silently or interactively can cause different results      For a rather lengthy description of why this is the case  please read this post  Uninstall from Control Panel is different from Remove from  msi  If you are unexpectedly asked for the original installation media when trying to uninstall  please read this answer  Why does MSI require the original  msi file to proceed with an uninstall  and perhaps also section 12 below for some important technical details   If you got CCleaner or similar cleanup tools installed  perhaps jump to section 11   If uninstall is failing entirely  not possible to run   see sections 12  amp  13 below for a potential way to  quot undo quot  the installation using system restore and   or cleanup tools   1 - Using the original MSI  If you have access to the original MSI used for the installation  you can simply right click it in Windows Explorer and select Uninstall  You can also uninstall via command line as explained in section 3    2 - Using the old ARP Applet OR new Windows 8 10 Settings Interface  Just got to mention the normal approach es  though it is obvious  ARP   Add   Remove Programs Applet  appwiz cpl   Windows 10 Settings Interface   gt  New shell for same operation  ARP   Go start   run   appwiz cpl   ENTER in order to open the add remove programs applet  or click add  remove programs in the control panel  Click  quot Remove quot  for the product you want to uninstall   Settings Interface  Windows 8   10    Use the new Settings GUI in Windows 8   10  Windows Key   Tap I   gt  Apps  amp  Features  Select entry and uninstall    Direct shortcut   Windows Key   Tap R   gt  Type  ms-settings appsfeatures and press Enter   Some reports of errors when invoking uninstall this way  Please add comments below if seen   Try this answer as well General hint  try disabling anti-virus and try again        3 - Using msiexec exe command line  directly or via a batch file   You can uninstall via the command prompt  cmd exe   batch file or or even from within an executable as a shell operation  You do this by passing the product GUID  check below for how to find this GUID  or the path to the original MSI file  if available  to msiexec exe  For all the command lines below you can add  qn to make the uninstall run in silent mode  This is how an uninstall runs when triggered from the add remove applet   Option 3 1  Basic interactive uninstall  access to original MSI file   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   Option 3 2  Basic interactive uninstall via product GUID  no access to original MSI file - here is how to find the product GUID - same link as below   msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   Option 3 3  Interactive uninstall with verbose log file  msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   L V  quot C  msilog log quot  msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   L V  quot C  msilog log quot   Option 3 4  Interactive uninstall with flushed  verbose log file  verbose  flush to log option - write log continuously  can be very slow   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   L V   quot C  msilog log quot  msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   L V   quot C  msilog log quot    The flush to log option makes the uninstall slow because the log file is written continuously instead of in batches  This ensures no log-buffer is lost if the setup crashes   In other words  enable this option if your setup is crashing and there is no helpful information in your verbose log file  Remove the exclamation mark to turn off the flush to log option and the uninstall will be much quicker  You still get verbose logging  but as stated some log buffer could be lost    Option 3 5  recommended   Silent uninstall with verbose log file - suppress reboots  no flush to log - see previous option for what this means   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   QN  L V  quot C  msilog log quot  REBOOT R msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   QN  L V  quot C  msilog log quot  REBOOT R  Quick Parameter Explanation  since I recommend this option    X   run uninstall sequence  QN   run completely silently  L V  quot C  msilog log quot   verbose logging at path specified  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X    product guid of app to uninstall REBOOT R   prevent unexpected reboot of computer  Again  how to find the product guid  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup   for uninstall if you don t have the original MSI to specify in the uninstall command    Top tip  If you create a log file for your uninstall  you can locate problems in the log by searching for  quot value 3 quot   This is particularly useful for verbose files  because they are so  well  verbose  -    How to find the product GUID for an installed MSI   There are several ways  my recommended way is using Powershell  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup  Several other ways described here  registry  local cache folder  etc      Find GUID From MSI File   More information on logging from installsite org  How do I create a log file of my installation  - great overview of different options and also specifics of InstallShield logging   Msiexec  command-line options  - overview of the command line for msiexec exe from MSDN  Here is the Technet version     4 - Using the cached MSI database in the super hidden cache folder  MSI strips out all cabs  older Windows versions  and caches each MSI installed in a super-hidden system folder at  SystemRoot  Installer  you need to show hidden files to see it   NB  This supper-hidden folder is now being treated differently in Windows  7 onwards  MSI files are now cached full-size  Read the linked thread for more details - recommended read for anyone who finds this answer and fiddles with dangerous Windows settings  Avoid these huge cached files by using admin installations  On the topic of disk space  How can I get rid of huge cached MSI files  and other disk space cleanup tricks   All the MSI files here will have a random name  hex format  assigned  but you can get information about each MSI by showing the Windows Explorer status bar  View - gt  Status Bar  and then selecting an MSI  The summary stream from the MSI will be visible at the bottom of the Windows Explorer window  Or as Christopher Galpin points out  turn on the  quot Comments quot  column in Windows Explorer and select the MSI file   see this article for how to do this   Once you find the right MSI  just right click it and go Uninstall  You can also use PowerShell to show the full path to the locally cached package along with the product name  This is the easiest option in my opinion  To fire up PowerShell  hold down the Windows key  tap R  release the Windows key  type in  quot powershell quot  and press OK  Then maximize the PowerShell window and run the command below     get-wmiobject Win32 Product   Format-Table Name  LocalPackage -AutoSize    Also see this answer  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup    5 - Using PowerShell  There is a similar  but more comprehensive PowerShell script available on MSDN  It allows uninstall to be run on several machines   Entry added by Even Mien    app   Get-WmiObject -Class Win32 Product -Filter  quot Name    YOUR APP  quot    app Uninstall     This approach will work  but accessing the WMI class Win32 Product will trigger a software consistency check which is very slow and in special circumstances it can cause an MSI self-repair to be triggered  See this article  Powershell Uninstall Script - Have a real headache  I have not tested this myself  but it appears  app Uninstall   may run the UninstallString registered in the ARP applet s registry settings  This means it may run modify instead of uninstall in some cases   Check this topic for more details and ways to uninstall via Powershell  How can I uninstall an application using PowerShell     6 - Using the  NET DTF Class Library  part of the WiX toolkit   This option is included for developers getting into deployment and MSI - it is not really practical as a  quot quick fix quot   It requires that you download the WiX toolkit - a free framework for creating MSI files compiled from XML source file s   A quick blurb on WiX and its  quot history quot   Windows Installer and the creation of WiX  And here is WiX contrasted with other deployment tools  commercial  -  strengths and weaknesses - hopefully as objective as possible   DTF  Deployment Tools Foundation  is distributed as part of WiX as explained here  Is source-code for Deployment Tools Foundation available   DTF is essentially a  NET wrapper for the Win32 Windows Installer API  It eliminates all need for COM Interop when working with Windows Installer via automation and is nothing short of a  NET jewel - perhaps the easiest-to-use  NET library I have ever seen  Highly recommended - great even for training students in C   The following source from MSI expert Christopher Painter using C  and DTF  Microsoft Deployment WindowsInstaller is one of the DTF assemblies  See the other assemblies explained here on serverfault com       using Microsoft Deployment WindowsInstaller       public static void Uninstall  string productCode              Installer ConfigureProduct productCode  0  InstallState Absent   quot REBOOT   quot R  quot  quot            Anther alternative from Tom Blodget  Checking for successful uninstall More information on msiexec exe versus automation on  serverfault com    7 - Using the Windows Installer Automation API  Here is a community discussion of this option  Windows Installer Automation API community sample  The API can be accessed via script automation and C   API calls  my post on serverfault com   The following source adapted from MSI expert Christopher Painter using VBScript   Set installer   CreateObject  quot WindowsInstaller Installer quot    installer InstallProduct  quot product msi quot    quot REMOVE ALL REBOOT ReallySuppress quot   Set installer   Nothing   Here is another VBScript for uninstalling by GUID from Symantec  http   www symantec com connect downloads uninstall-application-using-guid-registry  Uninstall via upgrade code  amp  ConfigureProduct     8 - Using a Windows Installer major upgrade  A Windows Installer major upgrade may happen as part of the installation of another MSI file  A major upgrade is authored by identifying related products in the MSI s  quot Upgrade table quot   These related setups are then handled as specified in the table  Generally that means they are uninstalled  but the main setup can also be aborted instead  typically used to detect higher versions of your own application present on the box     9 - Using Deployment Systems   Remote Administration Systems  SCCM  CA Unicenter  IBM s Tivoli  Altiris Client Management Suite  and several others These tools feature advanced client PC management  and this includes the install and uninstall of MSI files These tools seem to use a combination of msiexec exe  automation  WMI  etc    and even their own way of invoking installs and uninstalls  In my experience these tools feature a lot of  quot personality quot  and you need to adapt to their different ways of doing things    10 - Using WMI - Windows Management Instrumentation  Adding just for completeness  It is not recommended to use this approach since it is very slow  A software consistency check is triggered every time Win32 Product is called of each installation The consistency check is incredibly slow  and it may also trigger a software repair  See this article  Powershell Uninstall Script - Have a real headache Even worse  some people report their event logs filling up with MsiInstaller EventID 1035 entries - apparently caused by WMI queries to  the Win32 Product class  personally I have never seen this     The WMICodeCreator exe code creation tool can be used to experiment  Install can be invoked via Win32 Product Install Uninstall can be invoked via Win32 Product Uninstall   MSDN sample  Uninstall method of the Win32 Product class   11 - Using a third-party tool such as ccleaner or similar  Several Windows applications feature their own interface for uninstalling not just MSI packages  but legacy installers too  I don t want to make any specific tool recommendations here  especially commercial ones   but the well known CCleaner features such an uninstall interface  and it has a free version   I should also add that this tool suffered a malware attack recently  I guess we should all remember that even harmless software can be injected with malware in their download locations  FTP attack    I use virustotal com to check my downloads  and also Sysinternals Process Explorer to check running processes after installation - along with regular security software  whichever is available   A surprising amount of  quot gray area quot  software is usually found with this approach  toolbars  smileys  adware  etc      along with several false positives  they can also cause problems as security software block their access or quarantines them making a lot of fuzz   And certainly real malware as well  Some usage tips for Process Explorer can be found here - a series of tweets - this Process Explorer tool hooks up to VirusTotal com to check all running processes interactively - all you need is a few configuration steps  I should note that Process Explorer yields a file signature check  but no heuristics - as far as I understand  no check for suspicious operations  just a check with 60  security suites for flagged files   You need a regular security tool for interactive  online heuristic protection  For what it is worth  I think some security software border on causing more false-positive problems than malware does damage  Famous last words in the era of ransom-ware    That is a large enough digression - I just don t want to see people download malware  Do your virustotal com check at least    Uninstalling like this should work OK  I think these tools mess with too many things when you try their  quot cleanup features quot  though  Use with caution  If you only use the uninstall feature  you should be OK    12 - Using a cleanup tool such as msizap or similar  For completeness msizap exe should be mentioned though it is deprecated  unsupported and outdated  It should not be used on any newer Windows versions This command line tool  msizap exe  also had a GUI available  MSICUU2 exe   Both tools are deprectated  The intended use of these tools was to clean out failing uninstalls  Generally for the rare case when the cached MSI with the random name is erroneously missing and uninstall fails for this reason whilst asking for the original MSI  This is a rare problem  but I have seen it myself  Just a few potential causes  Moved to this answer   Key words  system restore interference  bad cleanup apps  msiexec exe crashing  power outage  security software interference  MSI development debugging blunders  identical package codes  etc      user tinkering and hacking  what is in here  save space    etc    It could also be used to zap any MSI installation  though that is obviously not advisable  More information  Why does MSI require the original  msi file to proceed with an uninstall    This newer support tool  this tool is now also deprecated  can be tried on recent Windows versions if you have defunct MSI packages needing uninstall  Some have suggested to use the tool linked to here by saschabeaumont  Uninstall without an MSI file  If you try it and it works  please be sure to let us know  If you have access to the original MSI that was actually used to install the product  you can use this to run the uninstall  It must be the exact MSI that was used  and not just a similar one    13 - Using system restore   quot installation undo quot  - last resort IMHO   This is strictly speaking not a way to  quot uninstall quot  but to  quot undo quot  the last install  or several installs for that matter  Restoring via a restore point brings the system back to a previous installation state  you can find video demos of this on YouTube or a similar site   Note that the feature can be disabled entirely or partly - it is possible to disable permanently for the whole machine  or adhoc per install  I have seen new  unsolvable installation problems resulting from a system restore  but normally it works OK  Obviously don t use the feature for fun  It s a last resort and is best used for rollback of new drivers or setups that have just been installed and are found to cause immediate problems  bluescreen  reboots  instability  etc      The longer you go back the more rework you will create for yourself  and the higher the risk will be  Most systems feature only a few restore points  and most of them stretch back just a month or two I believe  Be aware that system restore might affect Windows Updates that must then be re-applied - as well as many other system settings  Beyond pure annoyances  this can also cause security issues to resurface and you might want to run a specific security check on the target box es  using Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer or similar tools  Since I mentioned system restore I suppose I should mention the Last Known Good Configuration feature  This feature has nothing to do with uninstall or system restore  but it is the last boot configuration that worked or resulted in a running system  It can be used to get your system running again if it bluescreens or halts during booting  This often happens after driver installs    14 - Windows Installer Functions  C    For completeness I guess we should mention the core of it all - the down-to-the-metal way  the Win32 Windows Installer API functions  These are likely the functions used by most  if not all of the other approaches listed above  quot under the hood quot   They are primarily used by applications or solutions dealing directly with MSI as a technology  There is an answer on serverfault com which may be of interest as

User · Answer

Short answer  you can t  Use MSIEXEC  x  Long answer  When you run the MSI file directly at the command line  all that s happening is that it runs MSIEXEC for you  This association is stored in the registry  You can see a list of associations by  in Windows Explorer  going to Tools   Folder Options   File Types   For example  you can run a  DOC file from the command line  and WordPad or WinWord will open it for you   If you look in the registry under HKEY CLASSES ROOT  msi  you ll see that  MSI files are associated with the ProgID  Msi Package   If you look in HKEY CLASSES ROOT Msi Package shell Open command  you ll see the command line that Windows actually uses when you  run  a  MSI file

User · Answer

wmic product get name   Just gets the cmd stuck    still flashing   after a couple minutes  in HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Uninstall  if you can find the folder with the software name you are trying to install  not the one named with ProductCode   the UninstallString points to the application s own uninstaller C  Program Files Zune ZuneSetup exe  x

User · Answer

I m assuming that when you type int file msi into the command line  Windows is automatically calling msiexec file msi for you  I m assuming this because when you type in picture png it brings up the default picture viewer

User · Answer

The msi file extension is mapped to msiexec  same way typing a  txt filename on a command prompt launches Notepad default  txt file handler to display the file    Thus typing in a filename with an  msi extension really runs msiexec with the MSI file as argument and takes the default action  install  For that reason  uninstalling requires you to invoke msiexec with uninstall switch to unstall it

User · Answer

I would try the following syntax - it works for me   msiexec  x filename msi  q

User · Answer

The msi file extension is mapped to msiexec  same way typing a  txt filename on a command prompt launches Notepad default  txt file handler to display the file    Thus typing in a filename with an  msi extension really runs msiexec with the MSI file as argument and takes the default action  install  For that reason  uninstalling requires you to invoke msiexec with uninstall switch to unstall it

User · Answer

I m assuming that when you type int file msi into the command line  Windows is automatically calling msiexec file msi for you  I m assuming this because when you type in picture png it brings up the default picture viewer

User · Answer

I m assuming that when you type int file msi into the command line  Windows is automatically calling msiexec file msi for you  I m assuming this because when you type in picture png it brings up the default picture viewer

User · Answer

I would try the following syntax - it works for me   msiexec  x filename msi  q

User · Answer

I m assuming that when you type int file msi into the command line  Windows is automatically calling msiexec file msi for you  I m assuming this because when you type in picture png it brings up the default picture viewer

User · Answer

Short answer  you can t  Use MSIEXEC  x  Long answer  When you run the MSI file directly at the command line  all that s happening is that it runs MSIEXEC for you  This association is stored in the registry  You can see a list of associations by  in Windows Explorer  going to Tools   Folder Options   File Types   For example  you can run a  DOC file from the command line  and WordPad or WinWord will open it for you   If you look in the registry under HKEY CLASSES ROOT  msi  you ll see that  MSI files are associated with the ProgID  Msi Package   If you look in HKEY CLASSES ROOT Msi Package shell Open command  you ll see the command line that Windows actually uses when you  run  a  MSI file

User · Answer

Short answer  you can t  Use MSIEXEC  x  Long answer  When you run the MSI file directly at the command line  all that s happening is that it runs MSIEXEC for you  This association is stored in the registry  You can see a list of associations by  in Windows Explorer  going to Tools   Folder Options   File Types   For example  you can run a  DOC file from the command line  and WordPad or WinWord will open it for you   If you look in the registry under HKEY CLASSES ROOT  msi  you ll see that  MSI files are associated with the ProgID  Msi Package   If you look in HKEY CLASSES ROOT Msi Package shell Open command  you ll see the command line that Windows actually uses when you  run  a  MSI file

User · Answer

Also remember that an uninstall can be initiated using the WMIC command:

wmic product get name --> This will list the names of all installed apps

wmic product where name='myappsname' call uninstall --> this will uninstall the app.

User · Answer

I would try the following syntax - it works for me   msiexec  x filename msi  q

User · Answer

The msi file extension is mapped to msiexec  same way typing a  txt filename on a command prompt launches Notepad default  txt file handler to display the file    Thus typing in a filename with an  msi extension really runs msiexec with the MSI file as argument and takes the default action  install  For that reason  uninstalling requires you to invoke msiexec with uninstall switch to unstall it

User · Answer

Short answer  you can t  Use MSIEXEC  x  Long answer  When you run the MSI file directly at the command line  all that s happening is that it runs MSIEXEC for you  This association is stored in the registry  You can see a list of associations by  in Windows Explorer  going to Tools   Folder Options   File Types   For example  you can run a  DOC file from the command line  and WordPad or WinWord will open it for you   If you look in the registry under HKEY CLASSES ROOT  msi  you ll see that  MSI files are associated with the ProgID  Msi Package   If you look in HKEY CLASSES ROOT Msi Package shell Open command  you ll see the command line that Windows actually uses when you  run  a  MSI file

User · Answer

wmic product get name   Just gets the cmd stuck    still flashing   after a couple minutes  in HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Uninstall  if you can find the folder with the software name you are trying to install  not the one named with ProductCode   the UninstallString points to the application s own uninstaller C  Program Files Zune ZuneSetup exe  x

User · Answer

There are many ways to uninstall an MSI package  This is intended as a  quot reference quot    In summary you can uninstall via  msiexec exe  ARP  WMI  PowerShell  Deployment Systems such as SCCM  VBScript   COM Automation  DTF  or via hidden Windows cache folder  and a few other options presented below  The first few paragraphs provide important MSI tidbits  then there are 14 sections with different ways to uninstall an MSI file  Puh    quot Babble  Babble - Over quot   Sections 1  2 and 3 are the normal uninstall approaches  and hence recommended   Personally I use option 3 or 5 from section 3  both options with logging  but option 5 runs silently as well   If you are very busy  skip all the babble and go for one of these - it will get the job done    If you have problems uninstalling altogether and are looking for an alternative to the deprecated MsiZap exe and   or Windows Installer CleanUp Utility  MSICUU2 exe   you can try the new FixIt tool from Microsoft  or the international page   May apparently work for other install issues as well  Newer list of cleanup approaches  Cleaning out broken MSI uninstalls   If you think MSI and Windows Installer is more trouble than it s worth  you might want to read about the corporate benefits of using MSI files   Installscript MSI setups generally come wrapped in a setup exe file  To read more about the parameters to use for uninstalling such setups please see these links  setup exe pdf reference sheet  Setup exe and Update exe Command-Line Parameters   Some MSI files are installed as part of bundles via mechanism such as Burn  WiX Toolkit  or InstallShield Suite projects  This can make uninstall slightly different from what is seen below  Here is an example for InstallShield Suite projects   Be aware that running uninstall silently or interactively can cause different results      For a rather lengthy description of why this is the case  please read this post  Uninstall from Control Panel is different from Remove from  msi  If you are unexpectedly asked for the original installation media when trying to uninstall  please read this answer  Why does MSI require the original  msi file to proceed with an uninstall  and perhaps also section 12 below for some important technical details   If you got CCleaner or similar cleanup tools installed  perhaps jump to section 11   If uninstall is failing entirely  not possible to run   see sections 12  amp  13 below for a potential way to  quot undo quot  the installation using system restore and   or cleanup tools   1 - Using the original MSI  If you have access to the original MSI used for the installation  you can simply right click it in Windows Explorer and select Uninstall  You can also uninstall via command line as explained in section 3    2 - Using the old ARP Applet OR new Windows 8 10 Settings Interface  Just got to mention the normal approach es  though it is obvious  ARP   Add   Remove Programs Applet  appwiz cpl   Windows 10 Settings Interface   gt  New shell for same operation  ARP   Go start   run   appwiz cpl   ENTER in order to open the add remove programs applet  or click add  remove programs in the control panel  Click  quot Remove quot  for the product you want to uninstall   Settings Interface  Windows 8   10    Use the new Settings GUI in Windows 8   10  Windows Key   Tap I   gt  Apps  amp  Features  Select entry and uninstall    Direct shortcut   Windows Key   Tap R   gt  Type  ms-settings appsfeatures and press Enter   Some reports of errors when invoking uninstall this way  Please add comments below if seen   Try this answer as well General hint  try disabling anti-virus and try again        3 - Using msiexec exe command line  directly or via a batch file   You can uninstall via the command prompt  cmd exe   batch file or or even from within an executable as a shell operation  You do this by passing the product GUID  check below for how to find this GUID  or the path to the original MSI file  if available  to msiexec exe  For all the command lines below you can add  qn to make the uninstall run in silent mode  This is how an uninstall runs when triggered from the add remove applet   Option 3 1  Basic interactive uninstall  access to original MSI file   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   Option 3 2  Basic interactive uninstall via product GUID  no access to original MSI file - here is how to find the product GUID - same link as below   msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   Option 3 3  Interactive uninstall with verbose log file  msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   L V  quot C  msilog log quot  msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   L V  quot C  msilog log quot   Option 3 4  Interactive uninstall with flushed  verbose log file  verbose  flush to log option - write log continuously  can be very slow   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   L V   quot C  msilog log quot  msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   L V   quot C  msilog log quot    The flush to log option makes the uninstall slow because the log file is written continuously instead of in batches  This ensures no log-buffer is lost if the setup crashes   In other words  enable this option if your setup is crashing and there is no helpful information in your verbose log file  Remove the exclamation mark to turn off the flush to log option and the uninstall will be much quicker  You still get verbose logging  but as stated some log buffer could be lost    Option 3 5  recommended   Silent uninstall with verbose log file - suppress reboots  no flush to log - see previous option for what this means   msiexec exe  x  quot c  filename msi quot   QN  L V  quot C  msilog log quot  REBOOT R msiexec exe  x  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X   QN  L V  quot C  msilog log quot  REBOOT R  Quick Parameter Explanation  since I recommend this option    X   run uninstall sequence  QN   run completely silently  L V  quot C  msilog log quot   verbose logging at path specified  11111111-1111-1111-1111-11111111111X    product guid of app to uninstall REBOOT R   prevent unexpected reboot of computer  Again  how to find the product guid  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup   for uninstall if you don t have the original MSI to specify in the uninstall command    Top tip  If you create a log file for your uninstall  you can locate problems in the log by searching for  quot value 3 quot   This is particularly useful for verbose files  because they are so  well  verbose  -    How to find the product GUID for an installed MSI   There are several ways  my recommended way is using Powershell  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup  Several other ways described here  registry  local cache folder  etc      Find GUID From MSI File   More information on logging from installsite org  How do I create a log file of my installation  - great overview of different options and also specifics of InstallShield logging   Msiexec  command-line options  - overview of the command line for msiexec exe from MSDN  Here is the Technet version     4 - Using the cached MSI database in the super hidden cache folder  MSI strips out all cabs  older Windows versions  and caches each MSI installed in a super-hidden system folder at  SystemRoot  Installer  you need to show hidden files to see it   NB  This supper-hidden folder is now being treated differently in Windows  7 onwards  MSI files are now cached full-size  Read the linked thread for more details - recommended read for anyone who finds this answer and fiddles with dangerous Windows settings  Avoid these huge cached files by using admin installations  On the topic of disk space  How can I get rid of huge cached MSI files  and other disk space cleanup tricks   All the MSI files here will have a random name  hex format  assigned  but you can get information about each MSI by showing the Windows Explorer status bar  View - gt  Status Bar  and then selecting an MSI  The summary stream from the MSI will be visible at the bottom of the Windows Explorer window  Or as Christopher Galpin points out  turn on the  quot Comments quot  column in Windows Explorer and select the MSI file   see this article for how to do this   Once you find the right MSI  just right click it and go Uninstall  You can also use PowerShell to show the full path to the locally cached package along with the product name  This is the easiest option in my opinion  To fire up PowerShell  hold down the Windows key  tap R  release the Windows key  type in  quot powershell quot  and press OK  Then maximize the PowerShell window and run the command below     get-wmiobject Win32 Product   Format-Table Name  LocalPackage -AutoSize    Also see this answer  How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup    5 - Using PowerShell  There is a similar  but more comprehensive PowerShell script available on MSDN  It allows uninstall to be run on several machines   Entry added by Even Mien    app   Get-WmiObject -Class Win32 Product -Filter  quot Name    YOUR APP  quot    app Uninstall     This approach will work  but accessing the WMI class Win32 Product will trigger a software consistency check which is very slow and in special circumstances it can cause an MSI self-repair to be triggered  See this article  Powershell Uninstall Script - Have a real headache  I have not tested this myself  but it appears  app Uninstall   may run the UninstallString registered in the ARP applet s registry settings  This means it may run modify instead of uninstall in some cases   Check this topic for more details and ways to uninstall via Powershell  How can I uninstall an application using PowerShell     6 - Using the  NET DTF Class Library  part of the WiX toolkit   This option is included for developers getting into deployment and MSI - it is not really practical as a  quot quick fix quot   It requires that you download the WiX toolkit - a free framework for creating MSI files compiled from XML source file s   A quick blurb on WiX and its  quot history quot   Windows Installer and the creation of WiX  And here is WiX contrasted with other deployment tools  commercial  -  strengths and weaknesses - hopefully as objective as possible   DTF  Deployment Tools Foundation  is distributed as part of WiX as explained here  Is source-code for Deployment Tools Foundation available   DTF is essentially a  NET wrapper for the Win32 Windows Installer API  It eliminates all need for COM Interop when working with Windows Installer via automation and is nothing short of a  NET jewel - perhaps the easiest-to-use  NET library I have ever seen  Highly recommended - great even for training students in C   The following source from MSI expert Christopher Painter using C  and DTF  Microsoft Deployment WindowsInstaller is one of the DTF assemblies  See the other assemblies explained here on serverfault com       using Microsoft Deployment WindowsInstaller       public static void Uninstall  string productCode              Installer ConfigureProduct productCode  0  InstallState Absent   quot REBOOT   quot R  quot  quot            Anther alternative from Tom Blodget  Checking for successful uninstall More information on msiexec exe versus automation on  serverfault com    7 - Using the Windows Installer Automation API  Here is a community discussion of this option  Windows Installer Automation API community sample  The API can be accessed via script automation and C   API calls  my post on serverfault com   The following source adapted from MSI expert Christopher Painter using VBScript   Set installer   CreateObject  quot WindowsInstaller Installer quot    installer InstallProduct  quot product msi quot    quot REMOVE ALL REBOOT ReallySuppress quot   Set installer   Nothing   Here is another VBScript for uninstalling by GUID from Symantec  http   www symantec com connect downloads uninstall-application-using-guid-registry  Uninstall via upgrade code  amp  ConfigureProduct     8 - Using a Windows Installer major upgrade  A Windows Installer major upgrade may happen as part of the installation of another MSI file  A major upgrade is authored by identifying related products in the MSI s  quot Upgrade table quot   These related setups are then handled as specified in the table  Generally that means they are uninstalled  but the main setup can also be aborted instead  typically used to detect higher versions of your own application present on the box     9 - Using Deployment Systems   Remote Administration Systems  SCCM  CA Unicenter  IBM s Tivoli  Altiris Client Management Suite  and several others These tools feature advanced client PC management  and this includes the install and uninstall of MSI files These tools seem to use a combination of msiexec exe  automation  WMI  etc    and even their own way of invoking installs and uninstalls  In my experience these tools feature a lot of  quot personality quot  and you need to adapt to their different ways of doing things    10 - Using WMI - Windows Management Instrumentation  Adding just for completeness  It is not recommended to use this approach since it is very slow  A software consistency check is triggered every time Win32 Product is called of each installation The consistency check is incredibly slow  and it may also trigger a software repair  See this article  Powershell Uninstall Script - Have a real headache Even worse  some people report their event logs filling up with MsiInstaller EventID 1035 entries - apparently caused by WMI queries to  the Win32 Product class  personally I have never seen this     The WMICodeCreator exe code creation tool can be used to experiment  Install can be invoked via Win32 Product Install Uninstall can be invoked via Win32 Product Uninstall   MSDN sample  Uninstall method of the Win32 Product class   11 - Using a third-party tool such as ccleaner or similar  Several Windows applications feature their own interface for uninstalling not just MSI packages  but legacy installers too  I don t want to make any specific tool recommendations here  especially commercial ones   but the well known CCleaner features such an uninstall interface  and it has a free version   I should also add that this tool suffered a malware attack recently  I guess we should all remember that even harmless software can be injected with malware in their download locations  FTP attack    I use virustotal com to check my downloads  and also Sysinternals Process Explorer to check running processes after installation - along with regular security software  whichever is available   A surprising amount of  quot gray area quot  software is usually found with this approach  toolbars  smileys  adware  etc      along with several false positives  they can also cause problems as security software block their access or quarantines them making a lot of fuzz   And certainly real malware as well  Some usage tips for Process Explorer can be found here - a series of tweets - this Process Explorer tool hooks up to VirusTotal com to check all running processes interactively - all you need is a few configuration steps  I should note that Process Explorer yields a file signature check  but no heuristics - as far as I understand  no check for suspicious operations  just a check with 60  security suites for flagged files   You need a regular security tool for interactive  online heuristic protection  For what it is worth  I think some security software border on causing more false-positive problems than malware does damage  Famous last words in the era of ransom-ware    That is a large enough digression - I just don t want to see people download malware  Do your virustotal com check at least    Uninstalling like this should work OK  I think these tools mess with too many things when you try their  quot cleanup features quot  though  Use with caution  If you only use the uninstall feature  you should be OK    12 - Using a cleanup tool such as msizap or similar  For completeness msizap exe should be mentioned though it is deprecated  unsupported and outdated  It should not be used on any newer Windows versions This command line tool  msizap exe  also had a GUI available  MSICUU2 exe   Both tools are deprectated  The intended use of these tools was to clean out failing uninstalls  Generally for the rare case when the cached MSI with the random name is erroneously missing and uninstall fails for this reason whilst asking for the original MSI  This is a rare problem  but I have seen it myself  Just a few potential causes  Moved to this answer   Key words  system restore interference  bad cleanup apps  msiexec exe crashing  power outage  security software interference  MSI development debugging blunders  identical package codes  etc      user tinkering and hacking  what is in here  save space    etc    It could also be used to zap any MSI installation  though that is obviously not advisable  More information  Why does MSI require the original  msi file to proceed with an uninstall    This newer support tool  this tool is now also deprecated  can be tried on recent Windows versions if you have defunct MSI packages needing uninstall  Some have suggested to use the tool linked to here by saschabeaumont  Uninstall without an MSI file  If you try it and it works  please be sure to let us know  If you have access to the original MSI that was actually used to install the product  you can use this to run the uninstall  It must be the exact MSI that was used  and not just a similar one    13 - Using system restore   quot installation undo quot  - last resort IMHO   This is strictly speaking not a way to  quot uninstall quot  but to  quot undo quot  the last install  or several installs for that matter  Restoring via a restore point brings the system back to a previous installation state  you can find video demos of this on YouTube or a similar site   Note that the feature can be disabled entirely or partly - it is possible to disable permanently for the whole machine  or adhoc per install  I have seen new  unsolvable installation problems resulting from a system restore  but normally it works OK  Obviously don t use the feature for fun  It s a last resort and is best used for rollback of new drivers or setups that have just been installed and are found to cause immediate problems  bluescreen  reboots  instability  etc      The longer you go back the more rework you will create for yourself  and the higher the risk will be  Most systems feature only a few restore points  and most of them stretch back just a month or two I believe  Be aware that system restore might affect Windows Updates that must then be re-applied - as well as many other system settings  Beyond pure annoyances  this can also cause security issues to resurface and you might want to run a specific security check on the target box es  using Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer or similar tools  Since I mentioned system restore I suppose I should mention the Last Known Good Configuration feature  This feature has nothing to do with uninstall or system restore  but it is the last boot configuration that worked or resulted in a running system  It can be used to get your system running again if it bluescreens or halts during booting  This often happens after driver installs    14 - Windows Installer Functions  C    For completeness I guess we should mention the core of it all - the down-to-the-metal way  the Win32 Windows Installer API functions  These are likely the functions used by most  if not all of the other approaches listed above  quot under the hood quot   They are primarily used by applications or solutions dealing directly with MSI as a technology  There is an answer on serverfault com which may be of interest as

[.net] Uninstalling an MSI file from the command line without using msiexec

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