Programmatically Uninstall a Software using C#

Question

I want to uninstall a software by using my code, I have already tried wmic approach to perform uninstallation but it can't able to find my Software in the system. Is it possible to uninstall without using msi file or any setup file. I found this code but it doesn't work---

public string GetUninstallCommandFor(string productDisplayName)
{
    RegistryKey localMachine = Registry.LocalMachine;
    string productsRoot = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products";
    RegistryKey products = localMachine.OpenSubKey(productsRoot);
    string[] productFolders = products.GetSubKeyNames();

    foreach (string p in productFolders)
    {
        RegistryKey installProperties = products.OpenSubKey(p + @"\InstallProperties");
        if (installProperties != null)
        {
            string displayName = (string)installProperties.GetValue("DisplayName");
            if ((displayName != null) && (displayName.Contains(productDisplayName)))
            {
                string uninstallCommand = (string)installProperties.GetValue("UninstallString");
                return uninstallCommand;
            }
        }
    }
    return "";
}

This looks like a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/334490/uninstall-without-msi-file. The only reliable way is to use: "msiexec.exe /x {your-product-code-guid}" — Armin Sadeghi, May 06 '15 at 05:12
i create a package using installshield and install it silently, now i want to uninstall it silently, my question is that, is it possible without using msi file or setup file — Anoop Mishra, May 06 '15 at 05:19
i have one more option that i delete all references of it from the machine but in that case it remain visible in add remove program — Anoop Mishra, May 06 '15 at 05:24

score 25 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 06 '17 at 20:16

The most reliable way would be to programmatically execute the following shell command:

msiexec.exe /x {PRODUCT-GUID}

If you made the original MSI you will have access to your PRODUCT-GUID, and that is all you need. No need for the actual MSI file as Windows stashes a copy of this away for exactly this purpose.

Just FYI:

Windows ® Installer. V 5.0.14393.0 

msiexec /Option <Required Parameter> [Optional Parameter]

Install Options
    </package | /i> <Product.msi>
        Installs or configures a product
    /a <Product.msi>
        Administrative install - Installs a product on the network
    /j<u|m> <Product.msi> [/t <Transform List>] [/g <Language ID>]
        Advertises a product - m to all users, u to current user
    </uninstall | /x> <Product.msi | ProductCode>
        Uninstalls the product
Display Options
    /quiet
        Quiet mode, no user interaction
    /passive
        Unattended mode - progress bar only
    /q[n|b|r|f]
        Sets user interface level
        n - No UI
        b - Basic UI
        r - Reduced UI
        f - Full UI (default)
    /help
        Help information
Restart Options
    /norestart
        Do not restart after the installation is complete
    /promptrestart
        Prompts the user for restart if necessary
    /forcerestart
        Always restart the computer after installation
Logging Options
    /l[i|w|e|a|r|u|c|m|o|p|v|x|+|!|*] <LogFile>
        i - Status messages
        w - Nonfatal warnings
        e - All error messages
        a - Start up of actions
        r - Action-specific records
        u - User requests
        c - Initial UI parameters
        m - Out-of-memory or fatal exit information
        o - Out-of-disk-space messages
        p - Terminal properties
        v - Verbose output
        x - Extra debugging information
        + - Append to existing log file
        ! - Flush each line to the log
        * - Log all information, except for v and x options
    /log <LogFile>
        Equivalent of /l* <LogFile>
Update Options
    /update <Update1.msp>[;Update2.msp]
        Applies update(s)
    /uninstall <PatchCodeGuid>[;Update2.msp] /package <Product.msi | ProductCode>
        Remove update(s) for a product
Repair Options
    /f[p|e|c|m|s|o|d|a|u|v] <Product.msi | ProductCode>
        Repairs a product
        p - only if file is missing
        o - if file is missing or an older version is installed (default)
        e - if file is missing or an equal or older version is installed
        d - if file is missing or a different version is installed
        c - if file is missing or checksum does not match the calculated value
        a - forces all files to be reinstalled
        u - all required user-specific registry entries (default)
        m - all required computer-specific registry entries (default)
        s - all existing shortcuts (default)
        v - runs from source and recaches local package
Setting Public Properties
    [PROPERTY=PropertyValue]

Sure, just add `/quiet`. There are many other options as well that you can explore by viewing the result of `msiexec /?`. — Armin Sadeghi, Sep 09 '15 at 13:24

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 01 '15 at 04:27

try this

We get a ManagementObject property by using the following format:

The full block of code to list installed applications:

using System.Management
private List<string> ListPrograms()
{
    List<string> programs = new List<string>();

    try
    {
        ManagementObjectSearcher mos = 
          new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
        foreach (ManagementObject mo in mos.Get())
        {
            try
            {
                //more properties:
                //http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394378(v=vs.85).aspx
                programs.Add(mo["Name"].ToString());

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                //this program may not have a name property
            }
        }

        return programs;

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        return programs;
    }
}

Now that we have a list of installed applications we should be able to pass the [Name] property to our uninstall method.

we now need to Invoke the Win32_Product method to “Uninstall”

Here is the entire block to uninstall an application, I'll get in detail after you take a look.

  private bool UninstallProgram(string ProgramName)
    {
        try
        {
            ManagementObjectSearcher mos = new ManagementObjectSearcher(
              "SELECT * FROM Win32_Product WHERE Name = '" + ProgramName + "'");
            foreach (ManagementObject mo in mos.Get())
            {
                try
                {
                    if (mo["Name"].ToString() == ProgramName)
                    {
                        object hr = mo.InvokeMethod("Uninstall", null);
                        return (bool)hr;
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    //this program may not have a name property, so an exception will be thrown
                }
            }

            //was not found...
            return false;

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            return false;
        }
    }

How does this "work" ? I'm having `if(mo["Name"].ToString().Contains("Skype")) object hr = mo.InvokeMethod("Uninstall", null);` to uninstall the Skype from my machine, but even after the code runs, Skype is still there. — Ron16, Jun 18 '17 at 21:45
Having same problem as @Ron16. Has anyone found solution? Ron16 where you able to find any solution? — Ishan Pandya, May 03 '20 at 14:41

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '21 at 10:44

It's an old question and maybe too late to answer but here is my code anyway

 public static void UninstallApplication(string uninstallString)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(uninstallString))
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(uninstallString));
        }

        ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();

        int indexofexe = uninstallString.IndexOf(".exe");
        //Check for executable existence 
        if (indexofexe > 0)
        {
            uninstallString = uninstallString.Replace(@"""", string.Empty);

            //Get exe path 
            string uninstallerPath = uninstallString.Substring(0, indexofexe + 4);
            startInfo.FileName = uninstallerPath;

            //Check for arguments
            if (uninstallerPath.Length != uninstallString.Length)
            {
                string args = uninstallString.Substring(uninstallerPath.Length);
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(args))
                {

                    /*If not set to false You will get InvalidOperationException :
                     *The Process object must have the UseShellExecute property set to false in order to use environment variables.*/
                    startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;

                    startInfo.Arguments = args;
                }
            }
        }
        //Not tested 
        else
        {
            startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
            startInfo.Arguments = "/c " + uninstallString;
        }

        //Start the process
        Process.Start(startInfo).WaitForExit();
    }

This worked on most of my applications

Programmatically Uninstall a Software using C#

3 Answers3

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