Topic 'Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program' in forum 'Microsoft Help' - dslreports.com

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:41:10 EDT

R2 posted : OK, all I had to do was change the Uninstall string to include the quotation marks at the beginning and end of the Unnistall string - and it worked!

Thanks for all the input. Don't forget the "Wow6432Node" key when looking for Add/Remove programs!!! :)

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:35:07 EDT

R2 posted : PapaDos! Thanks, I found the exact same information by using Process Monitor (Sysinternals). Here is the appropriate Key:

REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{2b02f821-a9b9-458c-80e5-3ea8c0de8471}]"UninstallString"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Installshield Installation Information\\{2b02f821-a9b9-458c-80e5-3ea8c0de8471}\\QBReplace.exe {2b02f821-a9b9-458c-80e5-3ea8c0de8471}#{2B02F82E-A9B9-458C-80E5-3EA8C0DE8471}""Uninstall"="RunDll32 C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\InstallShield\\engine\\6\\Intel 32\\Ctor.dll,LaunchSetup \"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Installshield Installation Information\\{2b02f821-a9b9-458c-80e5-3ea8c0de8471}\\Setup.exe\" -l0x9  -addremove""DisplayName"="QuickBooks Basic Edition 2004""LogFile"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Installshield Installation Information\\{2b02f821-a9b9-458c-80e5-3ea8c0de8471}\\setup.ilg""DisplayIcon"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Intuit\\QuickBooks Basic\\qbw32.exe,0"

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:25:26 EDT

tonyram57 posted : Try Revo Uninstaller. If Quickbooks is a 64-bit program then you need the pro version but it is a fully function free trial for 30 days so you can use it then get rid of it. It helped me when I could not uninstall Java and update it. I ended up buying the pro version because it works so good.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:36:29 EDT

PapaDos posted : There seems to be a few more places to look for than I thought:
»forum.sysinternals.com/finding-a···312.html

Have fun !
:)
--
Festina Lente

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 23:15:07 EDT

R2 posted : OK, so I went to the key and Exported it. I opened it with Word and did a simple search for "Quick" and "Intuit". Word could not find either! So... it is pretty well hidden.

When I have time I will get the Sysinternals stuff up and running and that should tell me what is going on.

It's the "most busiest time of year" right now....

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 23:00:40 EDT

R2 posted : PapaDos - Thanks, I'll check it out. But honestly I went to each one of them and could not find it! And this seems to be a lot more programs listed in the control panel thanf there are entries in the registry.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:44:45 EDT

PapaDos posted : Look again in the registry uninstall keys, it has to be there (AFAIK that is the only list used by WIndows).
Look into each subkey or do a search...
--
Festina Lente

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:44:29 EDT

R2 posted : That is listed in my last post. It says to use the usual Uninstall methods - there is no SPECIAL program to Uninstall QB...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:34:07 EDT

jl747 posted : Sorry pointed out the wrong one.
You should use the the listed under # 1

Detailed instructions

1. Uninstall QuickBooks

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:21:14 EDT

R2 posted : That is the INSTALLER Utility - not the Uninstaller Utilility. The ariticle says to run that AFTER you Uninstall QuickBooks...

"Download and run the QuickBooks Clean **Install** Utility. QuickBooks 2013 users can manually rename the QuickBooks installation folders.

1.Download the QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Utility.exe file and save it to your desktop.
2.Open QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Utility.exe.
3.Click I Accept on the license agreement.
4.Select your version of QuickBooks and click Continue to start.
5.Click OK when you see the message "QuickBooks is now ready for a clean install, please install to the default directory."

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:50:59 EDT

jl747 posted : Did you try the Quickbooks Uninstaller?

It's listed as "Download and run the QuickBooks Clean Install Utility"
Click that and it will expand and then you can download the program.

It will called "Download the QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Utility.exe file and save it to your desktop."

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:41:03 EDT

R2 posted : Well, as best I can tell, those instructions are not very helpful. Here they are:

Uninstall QuickBooks Click the Windows Start button and select Control Panel.Double-click Programs and Features.In the list of programs, select QuickBooks and click Uninstall.Follow the instructions to uninstall QuickBooks.

Eh, that was what I tried first and that was what did not work!! :)

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:38:21 EDT

anon posted : Account reconciliation works fine here but it is indeed a good idea for you to get 2013 if you can. I might get 2013 in a couple months too. My business is lost without it...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:13:05 EDT

Kramer posted :

said by jl747:

If you need an uninstaller for Quickbooks go here and see if this helps.

'»support.quickbooks.intuit.com/su···HOW12212'

I am not sure if it will work on Windows 8 but you can try.

Fantastic idea.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:05:06 EDT

Goober posted : I would manually delete as much as I could and then run ccleaner.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:33:45 EDT

jl747 posted : If you need an uninstaller for Quickbooks go here and see if this helps.

'»support.quickbooks.intuit.com/su···HOW12212'

I am not sure if it will work on Windows 8 but you can try.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:58:53 EDT

chachazz posted : »support.microsoft.com/mats/progr···ninstall

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 20:36:19 EDT

R2 posted : I will attempt to try the Uninstaller tool later. Thanks.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:30:36 EDT

Kramer posted :

said by sivran:

Yeah, the tool is a button called "Remove" in the Add/Remove Programs list. If it can't find the uninstaller, it offers to remove the program from the list. ;)

If that worked reliably it would be nice. In this case the unistaller is present, but it fails to work. The utility is called the Microsoft Installer Cleanup Utility and is available from Softpedia. »www.softpedia.com/get/Security/S···ty.shtml

It was written for XP, so who knows how or if it would work in Windows 8. Revo who has a pretty good reputation has a "forced uninstall" that is supposed to not require that the monitoring program have been used during the install. »www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uni···res.html

Don't have any idea of how well it works and what the free trial does and doesn't do. The whole program is 27 bucks.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:54:55 EDT

dave posted : Quicken 2000 uses InstallShield. Maybe QuickBooks is similar.

Here's the uninstall string:

C:\Windows\IsUninst.exe -f"c:\program files (x86)\Quicken\Uninst.isu"

The uninstall registry info is at

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Quicken Deluxe 2000

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:36:21 EDT

R2 posted : Yeah, with the funky workaround for the PDF generation. I need my account reconciliation to be functional! Likely I'll just have to get 2013 to avoid any problems....

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:16:26 EDT

anon posted :

said by R2:

Thanks Razzy. I think this guy sums up Intuit's attitude quite well:

"It's compatible (2012) but you cannot email anything (PO's, receipts, ets) - if you call Intuit they use their usually lack of customer service skills to try and upsell another product. God Forbid that Intuit would have been working on this before now, but the "customer service" rep - or I should say sales rep - told me that they're "looking into this"...but the only current work-around is to buy QB13. Knowing how QB's goal is sales only and not support, I wouldn't count on this happening soon, if at all. "

That guy wasn't aware of the workaround. And it appears 2011 works fine in Windows 8

»community.intuit.com/posts/windo···snt-work

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:53:50 EDT

R2 posted : I hate when I miss those moderated out comments! :)

Yeah, the problem is that sheer number of entries for both QuickBooks and Intuit is huge and it takes quite a few F3 pushes... I will download Registrar Home Edition later and let it do a more convenient registry search...

Add: Even with Registrar, there are seemingly hundreds if not thousands of registry entries!! Not easy to remove manually....

And I just ran through all the HKLM/.../Uninstall keys - none are for QuickBooks.

Thought: I could use one of the Sysinternals monitor programs to figure out what the Add/Remove applet is doing...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:25:59 EDT

dave posted : The trick is that you need to use the uninstaller that goes with the installer, and afaik, no-one in this thread knows what that is.

Once you've identified the correct program, then you need to find how to tell it to do an uninstallation.

If there's a 'setup.exe' that clearly belongs to Quickbooks, try opening up a cmd prompt, then typing commands like "setup /?", "setup /help", etc.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:18:08 EDT

R2 posted : I looked in that key, but could not find the obvious sub-key. There is certainly not one called "QuickBooks" or "Intuit".

Sirvan - removing it from the list is only a cosmetic fix - all the underlying registry entries will be unchanged.

Is there something as simple as "setup.exe /uninstall"? That would be nice! :)

Thanks for the input.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:13:21 EDT

dave posted : Look in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

for likely-looking entries. That's the 'standard' place, but then again, we're dealing with someone that has a proven record in not following standards...

Failing that, a brute-force search for 'Intuit' might locate it.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:10:08 EDT

sivran posted : Yeah, the tool is a button called "Remove" in the Add/Remove Programs list. If it can't find the uninstaller, it offers to remove the program from the list. ;)
--
Think Outside the Fox.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:17:22 EDT

Kramer posted : Let me ask you this: How likely do you think it is that you will be able to install 2013 without having first uninstalled the 2005 version? You do realize Quickbooks installs multiple Microsoft programs that will be out of date? If Quickbooks allows you to install multiple versions as I think they might, your chances improve. Being that the version you have semi-installed is 8 years old... who knows. Microsoft used to have a tool that would at least remove programs from the add/remove program list. I don't think it de-registered DLLs or anything deep. They stopped distributing it, but I think I dug up a copy. If you want I'll see if can dig it up again. I don't know if it would work with Windows 8 though and you could get in even more trouble. My advice again is bite the bullet and do a system restore.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:07:57 EDT

R2 posted : Kramer, well I have to update. And if I have to buy a new version, it is obviously most logical to buy the 13 version. Hopefully installing that will fix any underlying mess...

I am still interested in finding the Uninstall string and trying to uninstall the old one first. I believe dave is correct, the string just needs quotes put in and it may work....

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:04:18 EDT

R2 posted : Thanks Razzy. I think this guy sums up Intuit's attitude quite well:

"It's compatible (2012) but you cannot email anything (PO's, receipts, ets) - if you call Intuit they use their usually lack of customer service skills to try and upsell another product. God Forbid that Intuit would have been working on this before now, but the "customer service" rep - or I should say sales rep - told me that they're "looking into this"...but the only current work-around is to buy QB13. Knowing how QB's goal is sales only and not support, I wouldn't count on this happening soon, if at all. "

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:03:50 EDT

Kramer posted : I can't begin to fathom the side effects that you will experience at a later date from having that old version semi-installed. I would think re-updating is preferable to re-installing the OS. You might want to explore Hyper-V if you have Windows 8 Pro. You can install any previous operating system you have a license for, setup network connections, printers, etc. and run whatever OS you want to. I actually installed a 2nd copy of Windows 8 under it and all went fine until it asked me to activate it. I couldn't because I had already used that key for the real install I was using. You would think they would let you use the OS you had paid for, but no. I've been meaning to do an XP machine and just haven't gotten around to it.

Hyper-V is an included feature that isn't installed by default. You just add the feature as needed. I've used virtual machines to get around having to buy $1500 updates of software for clients who are not yet ready to spend that money. It takes a number of hours to fully complete the virtual machine, install print drivers, setup network connections, install AV software, etc. It is no different then setting up a new computer. If it craps out, you just rebuild it. You need lots of disk space with Hyper-V. I think it chewed up 100GB on my machine before it took its second breath. Hyper-V is a really nice virtual environment given to us free from their server development team. It is one of the treasures that Windows 8 gives us, that makes it worth putting up with the features (or lack of features) we don't like a lot more palatable. Windows 8 is a great OS for the most part. The best thing Microsoft has ever done for the PC, love or hate Metro and the lack of a Start button.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:46:53 EDT

Kramer posted :

said by BillRoland:

said by RazzyQB :

QuickBooks 2012 Pro is working just fine on my Windows 8 work computer.

How's WordPerfect 5.1 working on it?

Probably can be done without a virtual machine. »www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/wpdosbox64.html

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:41:57 EDT

anon posted :

said by R2:

I inadvertently installed the 2006 version, I think. It really did NOT complain that much - I think one little warning box saying it might not be compatible. I own 2010 and that was what I meant to install - but I was in a hurry and installed what I found first. DUH.

2010 gives the exact same warning, so I went to Google and found out that (reportedly) only 2013 will work on Win 8, so I did not install 2010. Maybe I should give it a try, but I really don't want TWO messy, uninstallable programs on my lap top!!

Too late to restore - I am been updating this thing all along trying to make it usable....

______________

Here is what Scott Gregory (?) QuickBook experts says:

"Any version of QuickBooks prior to 2013 is not supported on Windows 8. QuickBooks 2013 will be supported once a compatibility patch is issued to registered users. (add: this patch is supposedly available now).

Unless you really like to go out there on the "bleeding edge" of software, I would not even attempt to make an older version of QuickBooks work on Windows 8. You may get lucky. Then again, you may get an ongoing migraine headache too..."

I don't need more headaches....

Yep QB 2012 works fine on Windows 8 Pro, just the print to PDF does not work until you install something.

»community.intuit.com/posts/windo···oks-2012

As for 2010, I can't say

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:41:29 EDT

anon posted : With 64bit Windows I'm using, I'd have to run it in a DOS VM :)

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:17:54 EDT

R2 posted : I inadvertently installed the 2006 version, I think. It really did NOT complain that much - I think one little warning box saying it might not be compatible. I own 2010 and that was what I meant to install - but I was in a hurry and installed what I found first. DUH.

2010 gives the exact same warning, so I went to Google and found out that (reportedly) only 2013 will work on Win 8, so I did not install 2010. Maybe I should give it a try, but I really don't want TWO messy, uninstallable programs on my lap top!!

Too late to restore - I am been updating this thing all along trying to make it usable....

______________

Here is what Scott Gregory (?) QuickBook experts says:

"Any version of QuickBooks prior to 2013 is not supported on Windows 8. QuickBooks 2013 will be supported once a compatibility patch is issued to registered users. (add: this patch is supposedly available now).

Unless you really like to go out there on the "bleeding edge" of software, I would not even attempt to make an older version of QuickBooks work on Windows 8. You may get lucky. Then again, you may get an ongoing migraine headache too..."

I don't need more headaches....

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:12:12 EDT

R2 posted : Well, their web site claims that ONLY their 2013 version will run on 8. I am reluctant to buy 2012 unless I can be sure...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:12:02 EDT

BillRoland posted :

said by RazzyQB :

QuickBooks 2012 Pro is working just fine on my Windows 8 work computer.

How's WordPerfect 5.1 working on it?

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:04:52 EDT

anon posted : QuickBooks 2012 Pro is working just fine on my Windows 8 work computer.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:58:06 EDT

Kramer posted : What version of Quickbooks is this?

I'll bet Microsoft threw a few warnings your way as you started the install.

»www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/···le=en-us

There isn't a lot to go on here but at least one out two people said 2009 Pro works. With every operating system upgrade a certain amount of pain is to be expected. Windows 8 has been the most painless upgrade for me yet. I haven't had to spend a dime to upgrade hardware or software. WIN7-64 was not cheap for me. As OZO said, if you recently installed it, a system restore will get rid of it. Quickbooks installs so much outside of itself, I wouldn't just leave it there. If for some reason you insist on not running system restore, you might want to try installing it all over again. Run the installer as an administrator and turn off UAC. Disable anti-virus software too.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:58:13 EDT

R2 posted : Not an overlay install - it is a brand new computer. I tried to install QB - because my company runs on that - and it complained a little but let me install it anyway. I was praying it would work. But... it does not work, so I wanted to Uninstall it...

It looks like I have no choice but to go out and buy QB 2013...

I tried to locate the Uninstall String in the registry (HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Current Version/Uninstall...) but could not locate it!! :(

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:36:01 EDT

Shootist posted : Oh Ok. So this was an upgrade install of Win 8 over Win 7 where the program did work? I'm confused as if the program isn't able to work on Win 8 it should not even installed.

Got to Love Intuit, NOT.

Install Win 7 or XP into a Virtual Machine and run it from there.

NOTE:
Just another reason not to use Win 8.
--
Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ********

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:27:02 EDT

R2 posted : No, sorry to confuse. The program WAS installed - and does not work. It DOES appear in the Add/Remove section, but... when you try to uninstall it, that Dialog box appears.

The program is QuickBooks. They are NOT going to update their older versions - not even QB 2012! All Windows 8 users must get QuickBooks 2013! Got to love it.

So, it is installed, but from what I can gather from dave, the Uninstall string - which I believe maybe in the registry, although it could reside elsewhere - has been written incorrectly and the programmer left off the quotation marks.

One would not expect this from Intuit programmers, but...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:16:24 EDT

Shootist posted : If the program was not fully installed then there is no way for it to show up in the Add/Remove (Programs & Features) section of Control Panel.

That has nothing to do with how the program was written. It simply was not installed, Fully. No install no Uninstall.
--
Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ********

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:59:22 EDT

R2 posted : I get the concept, I am just a little surprised Win 8 was not able to remove something in the usual and customary fashion (through the Control Panel Add/Remove pathway) that is really not that old and that I presume could be removed by earlier versions of windows.

I guess you are saying that the writers off the removal string are at fault and I should not blame Win 8.

If that is the case, then should I not be able to modify the removal string (eh, that string that points to the file in question) in the registry and fix the problem?? Would it be possible to simply add in the quotes in the string and thereby allowing Windows 8 to function the way I expect it to?

That is an example of what I was looking for. I don't know what is new about Win 8 and I don't know what tricks I should know to make it work the way I want it to. That is why I came here...

Thanks to all.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 08:59:38 EDT

dave posted :

said by Kramer:

Just a wild guess. I can't tell much because your error message has cut off the last part of the path.

Oh, that's a decent alternative explanation as well - it never occurred to me. I assumed we were seeing the entire path in the error message, but perhaps nor.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 08:57:43 EDT

dave posted : The string:

C:\Program Files\FOO bar

means run C:\Program with arguments Files\FOO and bar. Given the non-existence of C:\Program, this is generally not what is intended.

The string:

"C:\Program Files\FOO" bar

means run C:\Program Files\FOO with argument bar. This is generally what is intended

Large computer software systems do some things that their authors intended, and some things that their authors did not happen to intend one way or another. Authors tend to guarantee that the intentional parts continue to work from one version to the next, but don't guarantee (or even know) that the operation of the uninintentional parts will remain unchanged.

Sensible programmers write by the documentation, since that is what is guaranteed and intentional. Poor programmers discover something that "seems to work", and rely on it. We sneer at that as "programming by coincidence".

I hypothesize that this is one such case. By some accident, the incorrectly-quoated string managed to do the right thing before, and now it doesn't. You can't blame the OS authors for not supporting something now that they didn't support before. It is not possible to guarantee no changes in undocumented behaviour: otherwise you could not change anything ever.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:57:14 EDT

Kramer posted : Great idea! That should wipe it off the map.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:55:58 EDT

OZO posted : In case, if you have installed it recently, try System Restore...
--
Keep it simple, it'll become complex by itself...

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:26:17 EDT

Kramer posted : Hmm, I can't answer why WIN7 (was it 64 bit WIN7?) was able to uninstall this, but I wonder if it isn't related to the path. The 64 bit version of WIN7 and WIN8 will place most 32 bit programs in the Program Files (x86) folder. What if your software is so {you fill in the adjective} that it expects the program files to be in the Program Files folder when the windows installer placed them in the x86 folder. Check your registry entries and match them up to reality. Just a wild guess. I can't tell much because your error message has cut off the last part of the path. Hopefully you haven't enlarged your screen fonts beyond 100% or the truncated file path will be the least of your problems. Dave was just saying, your application's problem is most likely related to sloppy coding and I see no reason to disbelieve him.

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:23:48 EDT

Shootist posted : I don't care for change either. Especially the way Win 8 has changed the way the User uses a Real computer. So for me I will not be using Win 8. Never used Vista and never missed anything. I now use Win 7 on 2 of my PCs and have it set to look and feel just like Classic XP, NOT Cartoon XP, (I guess you could say it looks and feel like 98SE and Win 2000). It works for me and that is the whole point. Why should I have change the way I work with a computer.
--
Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ********