1 reply to this topic

[kb5urq]

Hello,
I apologize if this posting is in the wrong place but based on my limited knowledge this seemed like a good start.

I have MathCad 14 installed on my machine. It was downloaded as an evaluation. Since then the evaluation has lapsed and I would like to remove it from my computer.

Unfortunately, when I try to uninstall it through "Add/Remove Programs" it hangs up mid way and freezes.

Can someone point me to a diagnostic or other procedure whereby I can figure out what is causing this problem? OR, can someone tell me how I can manually remove the software from my computer?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Jason

[VBScab]

- Start RegEdit
- Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
- There will be a series of keys in GUID format. Browse these keys, checking out the 'DisplayName' value until you see the one relating to MathCAD.
- Further down that right-hand pane will be a value 'UninstallString'.
- Copy the value's data to the clipboard
- Paste the clipboard contents into a command window, adding the 'verbose log' argument. Let's say the product code is '{14061E15-C0E1-456B-9280-0D6D347164D2}' then the UninstallString will look like this:

...MSIEXEC /i{14061E15-C0E1-456B-9280-0D6D347164D2}

- Change it to:

...MSIEXEC /i{14061E15-C0E1-456B-9280-0D6D347164D2} /QB /L*V %TEMP%\MyUninstall.log

in order to mimic as closely as possible the behaviour of ARP.

- When you believe that the install has hung, monitor the file size of %TEMP%\MyUninstall.log to see whether or not the Windows Installer engine is writing data to it. If you're sure it isn't and that the install has hung, open that file (use a decent text editor, not NotePad!). You may have to kill the MSIExec processes (yes, plural) as some editors see a file hook as a file lock.

You should now be able to see where in the uninstallation process the log file stopped and work from there.

Also, you may want to use a file/registry/process monitor (like ProcMon) to monitor the process interactively. Note that that will slow things down a little, though.