[wpkg-users] Check command

[ds10025 at cam.ac.uk]

Afternoon Rainer

Thanks again for you help and comments.

If anyone are interested I'll upload the working script (once I get 
it to work and stable)



Thanks

Dan
At 09:11 12/06/2009, Rainer Meier wrote:
>Hi,
>
>ds10025 at cam.ac.uk wrote:
> > Where {xxxx} is a long idea code, where can I get the id code from I've
> > checked registry.
>
>If you still have a machine where this "old" version is installed you can grab
>the uninstall code from its uninstall entry within the registry:
>
>For example on my system I found it here:
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}
>
>It needs some explanations I guess...
>The Wow6432Node sub-key is only there if you use a 64-bit system. On such
>systems all 32-bit HKLM\SOFTWARE\* entries are re-located to that 
>sub-key. So on
>your 32-bit system it will be here:
>
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}
>
>The best way to find it is to go to the enclosing "Uninstall" key and then
>search for a string as it appears within the control-panel. You should end up
>finding the "DisplayName" entry within the corresponding key.
>
>Then have a look at the UninstallString. This is the uninstall 
>command-line used
>if you click "remove" within the control-panel -> add/remove software.
>
>Sometimes there is a QuietUninstallString entry too which already contains the
>values to silently uninstall the application. This value usually can 
>be used 1:1
>within a remove command in WPKG.
>
>Also the UninstallString can usually be transformed into a silent 
>uninstaller by
>adding some commands. Most uninstallers support an option like -s or /s to run
>it silently.
>In case of Adobe Reader it looks as follows on my system...
>UninstallString: MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}
>
>As you can see the command-line contains the correct ID to uninstall 
>it and can
>be easily transformed into a silent uninstall string:
>MsiExec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001} /qn
>
>
>It depends on the application packager which key is chosen. In case of Adobe
>Reader this key unfortunately changes with each release or patch. 
>This means you
>really need to know all of them - or guess them by naming scheme 
>(have a look at
>the latest part of the ID, it includes the version of the reader).
>
>
> > Also, is it possible to msiexec /x acrobat?
>
>No.
>You have two possibilities to use msiexec or software uninstall. 
>Either you have
>to specify the ID (as above) or you have to refer to the MSI package. So for
>Adobe Reader the following works:
>
>MsiExec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001} /qn
>MsiExec.exe /x \\path\to\AcroRead.msi /qn
>
>
> > Also at the same time I want to remove Acrobat.com & Acrobat air,?
>
>I don't have Acrobat.com and Acrobat Air installed but I guess they 
>will create
>their own Uninstall entry. If there is one follow the procedure above to find
>its ID in order to uninstall it.
>
>Personally I preferred to extract the Adobe installer and then use the Adobe
>Customization Wizard 9 to modify some parameters (like disabling all online
>features) so Acrobat.com does not get installed at all. Download it from:
><http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3993>
>it will generate some MST transform file, then you can use
>msiexec /i \\path\to\AcroRead.msi /qn TRANSFORMS="\\path\to\AcroRead.mst"
>/update "\\path\to\AdbeRdrUpd912_all_incr.msp"
>
>In order to install Adobe Reader 9 using the transform created with the wizard
>and directly apply the latest 9.1.2 patch.
>
>Somebody might find some time to add this to the WPKG wiki...
>
>
> > Is they a command that removed file as listed in the Add/remove control
> > panel?
>
>The control panel does not list files. It lists installed programs - there is
>one entry for each entry within the registry key I referred to on top.
>And there is no way to uninstall these entries silently - only the 
>ones having a
>QuietUninstallString might work but it's more an exception than the 
>default that
>applications specify a QuietUninstallString. So it's not possible to
>automatically read the necessary commands from the registry.
>As you can see from the Adobe Reader example Adobe does not even use 
>the correct
>'msiexec /x ...' syntax for uninstall - they use the install syntax 
>(msiexec /i
>...) instead. This will make you enter the installation routine when you click
>the "remove" button within the control panel. In case of the Adobe installer
>this will show you an option to modify or to remove the reader (maybe also to
>repair it). The same effect you get if you try to (re-)install the reader by
>running the installer again.
>
>
>br,
>Rainer