Programmatically Uninstall a Software using C#
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]
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;
}
}