MSIUninstaller.exe (Console Application)

• Download VS 2005 solution - 24.93 KB
• Download demo project - 6.26 KB

Introduction

I have a problem where I periodically have to rollback many machines on the network to an older version of our software (distributed as MSI package).
Thus I made a simple console application that can run from a BAT script or similar. It allows me to uninstall MSI packages on a computer, even when I don't know exactly which version is currently installed on the machine. And further, if the correct (old version) is already installed, I can skip the uninstallation of the package.

Using the Code

The MSIUninstaller.exe calls the Microsoft MsiExec.exe to handle the actual uninstallation of the MSI package.
It looks up all the installed packages in the registry database under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
Then it loops through them to find the packages, which match the specific input parameters and then they are uninstalled.
The program allows you to specify input parameters like quiet, log and wild cards.

This function shows the primary functionality of the program:

    Sub Process(ByVal DisplayName As String, ByVal bUninstall As Boolean, _
	ByVal bDisplay As Boolean, ByVal bQuiet As Boolean, ByVal bLog As Boolean, _
	ByVal strSkip As String)

        ' Retrieve all the subkeys for the specified key.
        Dim names As String() = m_rKey.GetSubKeyNames
        Dim version As String = ""
        Dim publisher As String = ""
        Dim dispName As String = ""
        Dim iFound As Integer

        For Each s As String In names
            dispName = GetKeyValue(s, "DisplayName")
            If dispName <> "" Then
                If WildCardCompare(dispName, DisplayName) Then
                    version = GetKeyValue(s, "DisplayVersion")
                    publisher = GetKeyValue(s, "Publisher")
                    If strSkip <> "none" And WildCardCompare(version, strSkip) Then
                        Continue For
                    End If
                    Dim cmd As String = Environment.SystemDirectory.ToString + _
					"\MsiExec.exe /x " + s
                    If bQuiet Then
                        cmd += " /qn"
                    End If
                    If bLog Then
                        cmd += " /lie+c:\MSIUninstaller.log.txt"
                    End If
                    If Not bDisplay Then
                        Console.WriteLine("Publisher       = " + publisher)
                        Console.WriteLine("DisplayName     = " + dispName)
                        Console.WriteLine("version         = " + version)
                        Console.WriteLine("GUID            = " + s)
                        Console.WriteLine("EsitmatedSize   = " + (CDbl(GetKeyValue_
			(s, "EstimatedSize")) / 1024).ToString("N2") + " Mb")
                        Dim dato As String = GetKeyValue(s, "InstallDate")
                        dato = dato.Substring(6) + "-" + dato.Substring(4, 2) + _
						"-" + dato.Substring(0, 4)
                        Console.WriteLine("InstallDate     = " + CDate(dato).ToString_
							("dd-MMM-yyy"))
                        Console.WriteLine("InstallSource   = " + GetKeyValue_
						(s, "InstallSource") + vbLf)
                    End If
                    If bUninstall Then
                        Shell(cmd)
                    End If
                    iFound += 1
                End If
            End If
        Next s
        If Not bQuiet And iFound = 0 Then
            Console.WriteLine(DisplayName + " was not found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\_
		Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall _
		on this computer" + vbLf)
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Function GetKeyValue(ByVal keyName As String, ByVal valueName As String) _
	As String
        Dim obj As Object = m_rKey.OpenSubKey(keyName).GetValue(valueName)
        If Not obj Is Nothing Then
            Return obj
        Else
            Return ""
        End If
    End Function

    Private Function WildCardCompare(ByVal strInput As String, _
	ByVal strWildCard As String) As Boolean
        strWildCard = "^" + Regex.Escape_
	(strWildCard).Replace("\*", ".*").Replace("\?", ".") + "$"
        Return Regex.IsMatch(strInput, strWildCard, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
    End Function	

History

• 7^th August, 2008: Initial post