How to uninstall Visual C++ 2022 with wmic in a powershell script

Question

I tried to uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 in a powershell script with this code :

$Name = "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64"
$nameLikePackage = "name like '%%$Name%%'"
$uninstallCommand = "wmic product where ""$nameLikePackage"" call uninstall /nointeractive"
Write-Host "Uninstalling $Name ..."
Invoke-Expression $uninstallCommand

After execution this message appear :

instance of __PARAMETERS
{
    ReturnValue = 0;
};

Of course I execute the powershell script as an administrator.

And when I check (with wmic in a cmd or in applications and funtionnalities in windows) if Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 is correctly uninstall, I see that nothing change and it's still install.

After seeing your comments I tried two methods.

The first one is with Uninstall-Package, here is the code :

Try
{
    $Name = "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64"
    $wmiObjectToUnin = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name LIKE '%$Name%'"
    foreach ($component in $wmiObjectToUnin)
    {
        $componentName = $component.Name
        Write-Host "Uninstalling $componentName ..."
        Uninstall-Package -Name $componentName
    }        
}
Catch
{
    WriteHost "Package Microsoft Visual C++ X64 not install"
}

The second one is with the uninstall function of a wmi object, here is the code :

Try
{
    $Name = "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86"
    $wmiObjectToUnin = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name LIKE '%$Name%'"
    foreach ($component in $wmiObjectToUnin)
    {
        Write-Host "Uninstalling $component.Name ..."
        $component.Uninstall()
    }
}
Catch
{
    WriteHost "Package Microsoft Visual C++ X86 not install"
}

But in both cases, nothing is uninstalled, even though the powershell window indicates that the command was executed successfully.

Perhaps this can be done with PowerShell. WMI is deprecated. WMI is not available in PowerShell 6+. Use CIM. Find the `Name` of your product with `(Get-CimInstance -ClassName CIM_Product).Name`. Then see https://www.urtech.ca/2019/09/solved-command-line-to-uninstall-software-exes-or-msis/ — lit, Mar 10 '23 at 12:16
A possible alternative is to use `Uninstall-Package` - see [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/68383173/45375). — mklement0, Mar 10 '23 at 15:02
As an aside: [`Invoke-Expression` (`iex`) should generally be avoided](https://stackoverflow.com/a/51252636/45375); definitely [don't use it to invoke an external program or PowerShell script / command](https://stackoverflow.com/a/57966347/45375). — mklement0, Mar 10 '23 at 15:04
@lit I tried with CIM too (like wmic) and I have the same problem. PS : I edited the post and add new informations — Andréa Madrid, Mar 14 '23 at 14:52
@mklement0 I tried with ```Uninstall-Package``` but nothing changed. PS : I edited the post and add new informations — Andréa Madrid, Mar 14 '23 at 14:53
@AndréaMadrid, I don't have a solution, but as an aside: you don't need WMI with `Uninstall-Package`; something like `Get-Package '*Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64*' | Uninstall-Package -WhatIf` should do (I've added `-WhatIf` so you can _preview_ the operation). — mklement0, Mar 14 '23 at 14:58
@mklement0 I didn't know that, thanks, I'll try. By the way, since I posted this question, I've been looking for other solutions to uninstall this package with a powershell script and I found Powershell App Deployment Toolkit. If you have any knowledge about this, I posted another question, here is the [link](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75732315/how-to-uninstall-visual-c-2022-with-powershell-app-deployment-toolkit) — Andréa Madrid, Mar 14 '23 at 15:13

Andréa Madrid · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-17T07:29:48.273

After many hours of research, I found out that the problem was the user rights of the company where I work (because I don't have 100% administrator rights).

If you are like me, you can try to use PSAppDeployToolkit Command but if it doesn't work too there is this command :

Try
{
    ## Check if the package exist
    $wmiObjectToUnin = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name LIKE 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64%'"

    if($wmiObjectToUnin -eq $null)
    {
        throw "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 not install"
    }

    else
    {
        Show-InstallationProgress -StatusMessage "Uninstalling Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 ..."
        $vcRedistPath = "{your-path}\VC_redist.x64.exe"
        $params = "/uninstall /quiet /norestart"
        Start-Process -FilePath $vcRedistPath -ArgumentList $params -Wait
    }
}

Catch
{
    Show-InstallationProgress "$_"
    timeout 3
}

Try
{
    ## Check if the package exist
    $wmiObjectToUnin = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name LIKE 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86%'"

    if($wmiObjectToUnin -eq $null)
    {
        throw "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 not install"
    }

    else
    {
        Show-InstallationProgress -StatusMessage "Uninstalling Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 ..."
        $vcRedistPath = "{your-path}\VC_redist.x86.exe"
        $params = "/uninstall /quiet /norestart"
        Start-Process -FilePath $vcRedistPath -ArgumentList $params -Wait
    }
    
}

Catch
{
    Show-InstallationProgress "$_"
    timeout 3
}

{your-path} is the path where the file VC_redist.x64.exe (for an x64 version) or VS_redist.x86.exe (for an x86 version) is located.

These files are the installation files for Microsoft Visual C++ 2022, you can download them here.

Good to hear you found a solution, but I'm puzzled: If your problem is that you lack the administrative privileges required to run the uninstaller, why does running `VC_redist.x64.exe` work? Does the latter _not_ require admin privileges? — mklement0, Mar 15 '23 at 13:58
@mklement0 To be honest, the only information I have is that I have some administrative privileges but I don't have full rights. So the difference is that ``VC_redist.x64.exe`` has all the path details of the files that make up Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x64 whereas when I run the commands to uninstall, it calls other commands (to access all the necessary paths) that need full administrative privileges. — Andréa Madrid, Mar 15 '23 at 14:29

How to uninstall Visual C++ 2022 with wmic in a powershell script

1 Answers1