Remove-MSIApplications not working

The Toolkit General Discussion
1

Can I please clarify if Remove-MSIApplications uses the entire UninstallString value?

According to the docs:

Enumerates the registry for installed applications matching the specified application name and uninstalls that application using the product code, provided the uninstall string matches “msiexec”.

I am interpreting that as Remove-MSIApplications looking for all matches to the DisplayName, and if it finds one, it checks if the UninstallString starts with “msiexec” and if it does, looks up the product_code and runs the command “msiexec /X product_code”. Is that correct?

I am trying to uninstall all existing versions of Python prior to installing the latest and in the Pre-Installation section I’ve got Remove-MSIApplications -Name “Python” and it errors out.

Granted, Python’s UninstallString in the registry is “msiexec /I” instead of “msiexec /X” but that shouldn’t matter if Remove-MSIApplications is not using the UninstallString.

I’m using the latest (3.9.3) version of PS ADT.

2

If you are looking at the UninstallString in the registry and the ProductCode it contains, consider using Execute-MSI instead:

Execute-MSI -Action Uninstall -Path '{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-AB0000000001}

3

Sorry, no. I wanted to get clarification of how Remove-MSIApplications work.

I didn’t want to have to go and enumerate all possible matches in the registry for “Python” if Remove-MSIApplications already does that and executes “msiexec /X” instead of executing the value stored in UninstallString (because for Python, the UninstallString contains the wrong command … it has msiexec /I instead of msiexec /X).

4

in the Pre-Installation section I’ve got Remove-MSIApplications -Name "Python" and it errors out.

Please post the line of code and the error if you can.
I’ll se what I can do for you.

You could use Get-InstalledApplication and see what PSADT sees before running Remove-MSIApplications

Disclaimer: I don’t use Remove-MSIApplications. (I probably should though)

5

So here’s the Windows Registry entry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{08AC27C6-93AA-4C94-A92B-3E4958C2E71B}

UninstallString REG_EXPAND_SZ "MsiExec.exe /I{08AC27C6-93AA-4C94-A92B-3E4958C2E71B}"

And my PS ADT line looks like this:

MSI-RemoveApplications -Name "PaperCut"

I am assuming that based on the docs, MSI-RemoveApplications will go thru the registry, find PaperCut in the DisplayName of product code {08AC27C6-93AA-4C94-A92B-3E4958C2E71B}, checks if the UninstallString begins with “msiexec” (which it does) and then execute "msiexec /X {08AC27C6-93AA-4C94-A92B-3E4958C2E71B}"

But it doesn’t seem to happen and the old PaperCut is still left there. I suspect it is NOT executing “msiexec /X” but instead executing the value of UninstallString which is "MsiExec.exe /I{08AC27C6-93AA-4C94-A92B-3E4958C2E71B}" which is wrong because it uses /I not /X

6

/I means install

Some InstallShield packages do an “Install” to show a GUI during the uninstall for the user.

PSADT probably filters out everything but the ProductCode and uses it with MSIEXEC /X

The PSADT log will tell you what it did

7

I noticed the Registry’s /i vs. /x oddity long ago and wondered wondered about it. Orange guy’s explanation makes sense (run a GUI for uninstall) since many MSIs will automatically do an uninstall if the MSI is found to already be installed. As for PSADT , my experience is that yes, it uses only the product code, ignoring the rest of the uninstall value.

Anyway… Remove-MSI should be working to remove all prior versions - I use it with other apps. However, years ago, I had a similar problem with uninstalling all versions of Java (x86 and x64). Here’s the code I used that worked a treat. If you’re having trouble with Remove-MSI, maybe this code will help.

    $x86 = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall'
    $x64 = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall'
    $x86Uninstall = Get-ChildItem -Path $x86 | ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath } | Where-Object { $_ -match 'Java ' } | Select-Object -Property UninstallString
    $x64Uninstall = Get-ChildItem -Path $x64 | ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath } | Where-Object { $_ -match 'Java ' } | Select-Object -Property UninstallString
    
    If ($x86Uninstall) 
    {
      $x86Uninstall = $x86Uninstall.UninstallString -Replace 'msiexec.exe','' -Replace '/I','' -Replace '/X',''
      $x86Uninstall = $x86Uninstall.Trim()
      $x86Uninstall
      Write-Log -Message 'Uninstalling older 32-bit version(s)...'
      ForEach ($Ver in $x86Uninstall)
      {
        Start-Process -FilePath 'msiexec.exe' -ArgumentList "/x$Ver /q" -Wait
        Write-Log -Message "Uninstalled x86 version with product code $Ver."
      }
    }
        
    If ($x64Uninstall) 
    {
      $x64Uninstall = $x64Uninstall.UninstallString -Replace 'msiexec.exe','' -Replace '/I','' -Replace '/X',''
      $x64Uninstall = $x64Uninstall.Trim()
      Write-Log  -Message 'Uninstalling older 64-bit version(s)...'
      ForEach ($Ver in $x64Uninstall)
      {
        Start-Process -FilePath 'msiexec.exe' -ArgumentList "/x$Ver /q" -Wait
        Write-Log -Message "Uninstalled x64 version with product code $Ver."
      }
    }
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