installationwindows-installerinstallshieldinstallshield-2016

How to clean up a corrupted or missing installation (not visible in add/remove programs) : Another version of this product is already installed error

I'm on a windows Server 2012 box and something has got messed up. I was trying to uninstall my application from add/remove programs tool. When I tried to do it I saw below error message:

enter image description here

So I went ahead and removed following registry entry with the help of which Windows manages the list of all the installed applications in add/remove programs tool:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{C14DB2B2-6089-4C96-A878-77BA377BABBF}]

In this specific path I was able to figure out that the C14DB2B2-6089-4C96-A878-77BA377BABBF guid hive belongs to my product with the help of DisplayName key inside it

Thereafter, I stopped seeing my application in add/remove programs tool window. So, I thought I was done.

<<Update After seeing @Nikolay's answer>>

There were two ways to encounter the error I was facing while trying to do a fresh install after this mess. I'm explaining both the routes:

  1. When I tried to install the application by running the same myapplication.msi file then it shows below screen instead when I click "Next" button on the welcome screen. It seems as if the program is still installed:

enter image description here

  1. In another mess, somehow my MSI had got renamed in the build process which started to emit a new MSI name myapplication_x.msi. When I tried to install the application by running the newly named myapplication_x.msi file then it gives me below shown error message box:

enter image description here

So overall I was not able to install a new MSI of my product and I was not seeing anything in "add/remove programs" window. It seems I'm still missing something from registry stand-point. Can someone help me to get rid of this issue either by cleaning some more registry entries or some better way if it exists to clear the traces of an installed product on a machine?

Solution

  • Removing the entry Uninstall\{xxxxxxxxx} does not really uninstall the product. It is similar to removing a program shortcut from the desktop. This does not really remove the program.

    Try clicking "Remove" instead of "Modify" button in the add/remove control panel. If there is only one button, "Modify/Remove", then you can try to remove the program from command line like this:

    > msiexec /x {C14DB2B2-6089-4C96-A878-77BA377BABBF}

    In the worst case scenario if you have messed up your system completely by editing registry, there may be another option: MsiZap.exe tool (deprecated, unsupported and unsafe tools to use), that can wipe out all registry entries for a specified MSI.

    UPDATE: There is a new FixIt tool from Microsoft that can be tried if you have applications that won't uninstall.