Uninstall on Vista is not removing all files?

[fullwave]

For some reason when uninstalling my application on a Vista machine, it leaves behind many files in the Program Files directory.

The same uninstall removes everything just fine on an XP machine.

I noticed there is a hotfix out for IS12, but what about 2008?


UAC is disabled on the vista machine, does that matter?

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?

Thanks! Any help is appreciated.

- Jeff

[DBisque]

fullwave wrote:
For some reason when uninstalling my application on a Vista machine, it leaves behind many files in the Program Files directory.

I am struggling with essentially the same issue.

* When UAC is enabled under an administrative account, the files are not removed.

Logging the uninstall:

msiexec /uninstall "" /l ""

reveals why. The .log file contains the following for each file and folder in the installation:

"Info 1321. The installer has insufficient privileges to modify the file "

* If UAC is disabled, and the account as administrative access, the files (that are not shared and do not have a use count set in the Registry) are uninstalled as expected.

My question is how can InstallShield be configured to "force" the uninstaller to ask the user to permit elevated privileges from "standard" to "administrative" without disabling UAC when uninstalling.

Ideas anyone? (Or, please set me straight if this is all plain wrong.)

[Stefan_Krueger]

/uninstall performs a silent uninstall and therefore doesn't prompt for elevation. Instead try this:

msiexec /package "" REMOVE=ALL /l ""

or

msiexec /i "" REMOVE=ALL /l ""

BTW: Instead of "" you could use the ProductCode GUID.

[DBisque]

Thanks for the insight; I was not very clear with my problem statement.

When my customers are attempting to uninstall my application under Vista by clicking Start > Control Panel > Uninstall A Program, how can I configure InstallShield to elevate (or have UAC prompt) so that the files are removed (without requiring to disable UAC)?

Does this make sense? Is this possible?

[DBisque]

Follow up...

If a shortcut to the uninstaller is created, configured with the flags:

msiexec /i REMOVE=ALL

Running this shortcut as an Admin, the files are removed. Running it as a standard user does not remove the files.

[timelox]

You could configure the setup file to require administrator rights on launch (i.e. "Required Execution Level" on the "Setup.exe" tab for the release).
Then it will remove the files on a normal uninstall.