I am trying to make a Powershell script for uninstalling software.
Here is the code:
$software = Read-Host "Software you want to remove"
$paths = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall', 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall'
Get-ChildItem $paths |
Where-Object{ $_.GetValue('DisplayName') -match "$software" } |
ForEach-Object{
$uninstallString = $_.GetValue('UninstallString') + ' /quiet /norestart'
Write-Host $uninstallString
& "C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe" /c $uninstallString
}
it works good for uninstall strings like
MsiExec.exe /X{C22F57FC-4B20-3354-8626-382E3C710B38} /quiet /norestart
But if I want to uninstall something like winrar which have uninstall strings like
C:\Program Files\WinRAR\uninstall.exe
I get the following error
cmd.exe : 'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
any idea please how to get this script working
Regards
The problem is that you're unconditionally appending /quiet /norestart.
The solution is to test if the uninstall string as a whole refers to an executable file:
$isExeOnly = Test-Path -LiteralPath $uninstallString
Based on that, you can decide how you want to handle such executables:
If you simply want to execute them without arguments:
$uninstallString = $_.GetValue('UninstallString')
$isExeOnly = Test-Path -LiteralPath $uninstallString
if (-not $isExeOnly) { $uninstallString += ' /quiet /norestart' }
If you do want to pass arguments /quiet /norestart - though note that the target executable may refuse to execute if it doesn't understand these arguments:
$uninstallString = $_.GetValue('UninstallString')
$isExeOnly = Test-Path -LiteralPath $uninstallString
if ($isExeOnly) { $uninstallString = "`"$uninstallString`"" }
$uninstallString += ' /quiet /norestart'
The alternative is to special-case the arguments (options) to pass based on the executable file name (Split-Path -Leaf $uninstallString), but that is obviously cumbersome and impossible to do comprehensively.
Uninstall-package works with msi installs.
For non-msi installs:
You'd have to find out the silent uninstall options for winrar. It might be '/S'. (A quick google says it is.)
get-package *winrar* | % { & $_.metadata['uninstallstring'] /S }
Sometimes you have to get rid of literal double quotes:
get-package *winrar* | % { & ($_.metadata['uninstallstring'] -replace '"') /S }
Here's an attempt of a general answer for non-msi installs where part of the uninstallstring may or may not be in double-quotes:
$uninstall = get-package whatever | % { $_.metadata['uninstallstring'] }
$prog, $myargs = $uninstall | select-string '("[^"]*"|\S)+' -AllMatches |
% matches | % value
$prog = $prog -replace '"',$null
$myargs += '/S' # whatever silent uninstall option
& $prog $myargs
I am building a deployment script to install software on a new device using a ppkg file.
The script looks at which drive is the USB drive and copies the software over to the local temp folder and runs them according to a set of variables as shown below.
What I am struggling to do is simplify the script so I am not repeating code 7 times down the page, I want to just run a loop 7 times to pull in the needed software. I tried an array but I think I am not quite understanding it completely.
This is my script so far with the repeating code:
#SOE application Variables
#applcation1 CM_client
$app1name = "Config Manager Client 1706"
$app1skip = "no"
$app1path = "$env:SystemDrive\temp\soe\application_installs\app1\CM_client_inst_1706\"
$app1runcommand = "clientx64.bat"
$app1arguments = ""
#applcation2
$app2name = "Office 2016 Pro Plus"
$app2skip = "no"
$app2path = "$env:SystemDrive\temp\soe\application_installs\app2\O2016\"
$app2runcommand = "setup.exe"
$app2arguments = "/configure configuration.xml"
#log Folder
$datetime = Get-Date -format "yyyy.MM.dd-HH.mm.ss"
$logpath = "$env:ALLUSERSPROFILE\SOEInst_ppkg\$datetime"
New-Item -Path $logpath -ItemType Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
#Transcript Start
Start-Transcript -Path $logpath\SOE-app-installer-ppkg-$datetime.log
#Timer Function
$pkgremovetime = Get-Date -format "HH:mm:ss"
write-host "Script Start Time - $pkgremovetime"
#Find USB Drive
Write-host Discovering USB Drive
$drives = (GET-WMIOBJECT –query “SELECT * from win32_logicaldisk").DeviceID
foreach ($drive in $drives) {
$usbdrive = (dir $drive USBIMG.FILE | Select-Object -Unique "USBIMG.FILE")
if ($usbdrive -match "USBIMG.FILE*") {
$datadrive = $drive
}
}
Write-host Found $datadrive is the USB drive
#Copy Applications to Local Drive
Write-Host Creating Installer Folder
New-Item -Path $env:SystemDrive\temp\SOE -ItemType Directory
Copy-Item $datadrive\application_installs $env:SystemDrive\temp\soe -Recurse -Verbose
#Install Applications
#Application 1
if ($app1skip -eq "no") {
if ($app1arguments) { #Arguments Variable Populated
Write-Host Installing Applcation 1 `($app1name`)
$app1 = Start-Process -Wait -FilePath $app1path$app1runcommand -ErrorAction Continue -ArgumentList $app1arguments -WindowStyle Normal
if ($app1.ExitCode -eq "0") {
Write-Host $app1name Installed ok
} Else {
Write-host $app1name install exited with code $app1.ExitCode
}
}
}Else { #Argurments Variable Empty
Write-Host Installing Applcation 1 `($app1name`)
$app1 = Start-Process -Wait -FilePath $app1path$app1runcommand -ErrorAction Continue -WindowStyle Normal
if ($app1.ExitCode -eq "0") {
Write-Host $app1name Installed ok
} Else {
Write-host $app1name install exited with code $app1.ExitCode
}
}
#Application 2
if ($app2skip -eq "no") {
if ($app2arguments) { #Arguments Variable Populated
Write-Host Installing Applcation 2 `($app2name`)
$app2 = Start-Process -Wait -FilePath $app2path$app2runcommand -ErrorAction Continue -ArgumentList $app2arguments -WindowStyle Normal
if ($app2.ExitCode -eq "0") {
Write-Host $app2name Installed ok
} Else {
Write-host $app2name install exited with code $app2.ExitCode
}
}
}Else { #Argurments Variable Empty
Write-Host Installing Applcation 2 `($app2name`)
$app2 = Start-Process -Wait -FilePath $app2path$app2runcommand -ErrorAction Continue -WindowStyle Normal
if ($app2.ExitCode -eq "0") {
Write-Host $app2name Installed ok
} Else {
Write-host $app2name install exited with code $app2.ExitCode
}
}
#cleanup
Remove-Item $env:SystemDrive\temp\soe -Recurse -Force -Verbose
#get end time
$pkgremovetime_end = Get-Date -format "HH:mm:ss"
#calculate time difference
$timetaken = New-TimeSpan $pkgremovetime $pkgremovetime_end
if ($timetaken.Seconds -lt 0) {
$Hrs = ($timetaken.Hours) + 23
$Mins = ($timetaken.Minutes) + 59
$Secs = ($timetaken.Seconds) + 59 }
else {
$Hrs = $timetaken.Hours
$Mins = $timetaken.Minutes
$Secs = $timetaken.Seconds }
$Difference = '{0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}' -f $Hrs,$Mins,$Secs
#log time difference
write-host "Script End Time - $pkgremovetime_end"
Write-Host "Total time taken $difference"
#Transcript End
Stop-Transcript
I suggest you make a function which takes in the variables. I did a quick comparison of your installation codes and something like this should work
function installApplication{
Param($skip, $arguments, $name, $path, $runcommand)
if ($skip -eq "no"){
if ($arguments){
write-host "Installing Application $appname"
$app = Start-Process -Wait -FilePath $path$runcommand -ErrorAction....
if($app.ExitCode -eq "0"){
....
....
}
and so on, You can then call the function using
installApplication $app1skip $app1arguments $app1name $app1path $app1runcommand
installApplication $app2skip $app2arguments $app2name $app2path $app1runcommand
Your input arguments will replace the function parameters in the order you pass them in, or you can use -skip $app1skip to assign the parameters.
If your repeating the same code too many times, I suggest throwing it into something like diffchecker, put the code into a function and replace all the differences with variables.
You can see your code here https://www.diffchecker.com/FxAIdD6g (1 Day only)
Update2:
Now, when I know, that x32 is the problem I debugged into the script using powershell_ise_x32 and found out, that $Word.Documents is null.
So Powershell-API for Word has a different behaviour in x32 PowerShell, then in 64bit.
Update:
The error occurs, when using PowerShell x32 and occurs NOT on PowerShell 64bit. That was really it. Powershell x32 was executed because I started it from the Total Commander 32bit.
The question is now - why 32bit and 64bit PowerShell have different behaviour?
Initial Question:
I wrote a powershell script, to convert my WordDocuments and merge them to one.
I wrote a Batch script, to start this powershell script.
When I execute the script directly in "Powershell ISE" the script works fine.
When I execute the batch script as Administrator via context menu, the script reports errors. In this case the C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\cmd.exe is executed.
When I execute another cmd.exe found on my system as Administrator - everything works fine:
"C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-commandprompt_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.15063.0_none_9c209ff6532b42d7\cmd.exe"
Why do I have different behaviour in different cmd.exe? What are those different cmd.exe?
Batch Script:
cd /d "%~dp0"
powershell.exe -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass -file "%~dp0%DocxToPdf.ps1"
pause
Powershell Script
$FilePath = $PSScriptRoot
$Pdfsam = "D:\Programme\PDFsam\bin\run-console.bat"
$Files = Get-ChildItem "$FilePath\*.docx"
$Word = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application
if(-not $?){
throw "Failed to open Word"
}
# Convert all docx files to pdf
Foreach ($File in $Files) {
Write-Host "Word Object: " $Word
Write-Host "File Object: " $Word $File
Write-Host "FullName prop:" $File.FullName
# open a Word document, filename from the directory
$Doc = $Word.Documents.Open($File.FullName)
# Swap out DOCX with PDF in the Filename
$Name=($Doc.FullName).Replace("docx","pdf")
# Save this File as a PDF in Word 2010/2013
$Doc.SaveAs([ref] $Name, [ref] 17)
$Doc.Close()
}
# check errors
if(-not $?){
Write-Host("Stop because an error occurred")
pause
exit 0
}
# wait until the conversion is done
Start-Sleep -s 15
# Now concat all pdfs to one single pdf
$Files = Get-ChildItem "$FilePath\*.pdf" | Sort-Object
Write-Host $Files.Count
if ($Files.Count -gt 0) {
$command = ""
Foreach ($File in $Files) {
$command += " -f "
$command += "`"" + $File.FullName + "`""
}
$command += " -o `"$FilePath\Letter of application.pdf`" -overwrite concat"
$command = $Pdfsam + $command
echo $command
$path = Split-Path -Path $Pdfsam -Parent
cd $path
cmd /c $command
}else{
Write-Host "No PDFs found for concatenation"
}
Write-Host -NoNewLine "Press any key to continue...";
$null = $Host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown");
I've found $PSScriptRoot to be unreliable.
$FilePath = $PSScriptRoot;
$CurLocation = Get-Location;
$ScriptLocation = Split-Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
Write-Host "FilePath = [$FilePath]";
Write-Host "CurLocation = [$CurLocation]";
Write-Host "ScriptLocation = [$ScriptLocation]";
Results:
O:\Data>powershell ..\Script\t.ps1
FilePath = []
CurLocation = [O:\Data]
ScriptLocation = [O:\Script]
As to the differences between the various cmd.exe implementations, I can't really answer that. I should have thought they'd be functionally identical, but maybe there's 32/64-bit differences that matter.
The error occurs, when using PowerShell x32 and occurs NOT on PowerShell 64bit.
I debugged into the script using powershell_ise_x32 and found out, that $Word.Documents is null.
This is because on my system Word 64bit is installed.
I would like to get a list of packages of my Visual Studio solution after I ran the nuget restore command.
How can I do it from command line or Powershell (oustide Visual Studio)?
You could run following PowerShell script to list all installed packages in your solution. Please modify the $SOLUTIONROOT as your solution path.
#This will be the root folder of all your solutions - we will search all children of this folder
$SOLUTIONROOT = "D:\Visual Studio 2015 Project\SO Case Sample\PackageSource"
Function ListAllPackages ($BaseDirectory)
{
Write-Host "Starting Package List - This may take a few minutes ..."
$PACKAGECONFIGS = Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Force $BaseDirectory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
Where-Object { ($_.PSIsContainer -eq $false) -and ( $_.Name -eq "packages.config")}
ForEach($PACKAGECONFIG in $PACKAGECONFIGS)
{
$path = $PACKAGECONFIG.FullName
$xml = [xml]$packages = Get-Content $path
foreach($package in $packages.packages.package)
{
Write-Host $package.id
}
}
}
ListAllPackages $SOLUTIONROOT
Write-Host "Press any key to continue ..."
$x = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")
Is there a simple way to hook into the standard 'Add or Remove Programs' functionality using PowerShell to uninstall an existing application? Or to check if the application is installed?
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {
$_.Name -match "Software Name"
}
$app.Uninstall()
Edit: Rob found another way to do it with the Filter parameter:
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product `
-Filter "Name = 'Software Name'"
EDIT: Over the years this answer has gotten quite a few upvotes. I would like to add some comments. I have not used PowerShell since, but I remember observing some issues:
If there are more matches than 1 for the below script, it does not work and you must append the PowerShell filter that limits results to 1. I believe it's -First 1 but I'm not sure. Feel free to edit.
If the application is not installed by MSI it does not work. The reason it was written as below is because it modifies the MSI to uninstall without intervention, which is not always the default case when using the native uninstall string.
Using the WMI object takes forever. This is very fast if you just know the name of the program you want to uninstall.
$uninstall32 = gci "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" | foreach { gp $_.PSPath } | ? { $_ -match "SOFTWARE NAME" } | select UninstallString
$uninstall64 = gci "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" | foreach { gp $_.PSPath } | ? { $_ -match "SOFTWARE NAME" } | select UninstallString
if ($uninstall64) {
$uninstall64 = $uninstall64.UninstallString -Replace "msiexec.exe","" -Replace "/I","" -Replace "/X",""
$uninstall64 = $uninstall64.Trim()
Write "Uninstalling..."
start-process "msiexec.exe" -arg "/X $uninstall64 /qb" -Wait}
if ($uninstall32) {
$uninstall32 = $uninstall32.UninstallString -Replace "msiexec.exe","" -Replace "/I","" -Replace "/X",""
$uninstall32 = $uninstall32.Trim()
Write "Uninstalling..."
start-process "msiexec.exe" -arg "/X $uninstall32 /qb" -Wait}
To fix up the second method in Jeff Hillman's post, you could either do a:
$app = Get-WmiObject
-Query "SELECT * FROM Win32_Product WHERE Name = 'Software Name'"
Or
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product `
-Filter "Name = 'Software Name'"
One line of code:
get-package *notepad* |% { & $_.Meta.Attributes["UninstallString"]}
function Uninstall-App {
Write-Output "Uninstalling $($args[0])"
foreach($obj in Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall") {
$dname = $obj.GetValue("DisplayName")
if ($dname -contains $args[0]) {
$uninstString = $obj.GetValue("UninstallString")
foreach ($line in $uninstString) {
$found = $line -match '(\{.+\}).*'
If ($found) {
$appid = $matches[1]
Write-Output $appid
start-process "msiexec.exe" -arg "/X $appid /qb" -Wait
}
}
}
}
}
Call it this way:
Uninstall-App "Autodesk Revit DB Link 2019"
I found out that Win32_Product class is not recommended because it triggers repairs and is not query optimized. Source
I found this post from Sitaram Pamarthi with a script to uninstall if you know the app guid. He also supplies another script to search for apps really fast here.
Use like this: .\uninstall.ps1 -GUID
{C9E7751E-88ED-36CF-B610-71A1D262E906}
[cmdletbinding()]
param (
[parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[string]$ComputerName = $env:computername,
[parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$AppGUID
)
try {
$returnval = ([WMICLASS]"\\$computerName\ROOT\CIMV2:win32_process").Create("msiexec `/x$AppGUID `/norestart `/qn")
} catch {
write-error "Failed to trigger the uninstallation. Review the error message"
$_
exit
}
switch ($($returnval.returnvalue)){
0 { "Uninstallation command triggered successfully" }
2 { "You don't have sufficient permissions to trigger the command on $Computer" }
3 { "You don't have sufficient permissions to trigger the command on $Computer" }
8 { "An unknown error has occurred" }
9 { "Path Not Found" }
9 { "Invalid Parameter"}
}
To add a little to this post, I needed to be able to remove software from multiple Servers. I used Jeff's answer to lead me to this:
First I got a list of servers, I used an AD query, but you can provide the array of computer names however you want:
$computers = #("computer1", "computer2", "computer3")
Then I looped through them, adding the -computer parameter to the gwmi query:
foreach($server in $computers){
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -computer $server | Where-Object {
$_.IdentifyingNumber -match "5A5F312145AE-0252130-432C34-9D89-1"
}
$app.Uninstall()
}
I used the IdentifyingNumber property to match against instead of name, just to be sure I was uninstalling the correct application.
Here is the PowerShell script using msiexec:
echo "Getting product code"
$ProductCode = Get-WmiObject win32_product -Filter "Name='Name of my Software in Add Remove Program Window'" | Select-Object -Expand IdentifyingNumber
echo "removing Product"
# Out-Null argument is just for keeping the power shell command window waiting for msiexec command to finish else it moves to execute the next echo command
& msiexec /x $ProductCode | Out-Null
echo "uninstallation finished"
I will make my own little contribution. I needed to remove a list of packages from the same computer. This is the script I came up with.
$packages = #("package1", "package2", "package3")
foreach($package in $packages){
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {
$_.Name -match "$package"
}
$app.Uninstall()
}
I hope this proves to be useful.
Note that I owe David Stetler the credit for this script since it is based on his.
Based on Jeff Hillman's answer:
Here's a function you can just add to your profile.ps1 or define in current PowerShell session:
# Uninstall a Windows program
function uninstall($programName)
{
$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter ("Name = '" + $programName + "'")
if($app -ne $null)
{
$app.Uninstall()
}
else {
echo ("Could not find program '" + $programName + "'")
}
}
Let's say you wanted to uninstall Notepad++. Just type this into PowerShell:
> uninstall("notepad++")
Just be aware that Get-WmiObject can take some time, so be patient!
Use:
function remove-HSsoftware{
[cmdletbinding()]
param(
[parameter(Mandatory=$true,
ValuefromPipeline = $true,
HelpMessage="IdentifyingNumber can be retrieved with `"get-wmiobject -class win32_product`"")]
[ValidatePattern('{[a-fA-F0-9]{8}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{4}-[a-fA-F0-9]{12}}')]
[string[]]$ids,
[parameter(Mandatory=$false,
ValuefromPipeline=$true,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
HelpMessage="Computer name or IP adress to query via WMI")]
[Alias('hostname,CN,computername')]
[string[]]$computers
)
begin {}
process{
if($computers -eq $null){
$computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * | Select dnshostname |%{$_.dnshostname}
}
foreach($computer in $computers){
foreach($id in $ids){
write-host "Trying to uninstall sofware with ID ", "$id", "from computer ", "$computer"
$app = Get-WmiObject -class Win32_Product -Computername "$computer" -Filter "IdentifyingNumber = '$id'"
$app | Remove-WmiObject
}
}
}
end{}}
remove-hssoftware -ids "{8C299CF3-E529-414E-AKD8-68C23BA4CBE8}","{5A9C53A5-FF48-497D-AB86-1F6418B569B9}","{62092246-CFA2-4452-BEDB-62AC4BCE6C26}"
It's not fully tested, but it ran under PowerShell 4.
I've run the PS1 file as it is seen here. Letting it retrieve all the Systems from the AD and trying to uninstall multiple applications on all systems.
I've used the IdentifyingNumber to search for the Software cause of David Stetlers input.
Not tested:
Not adding ids to the call of the function in the script, instead starting the script with parameter IDs
Calling the script with more then 1 computer name not automatically retrieved from the function
Retrieving data from the pipe
Using IP addresses to connect to the system
What it does not:
It doesn't give any information if the software actually was found on any given system.
It does not give any information about failure or success of the deinstallation.
I wasn't able to use uninstall(). Trying that I got an error telling me that calling a method for an expression that has a value of NULL is not possible. Instead I used Remove-WmiObject, which seems to accomplish the same.
CAUTION: Without a computer name given it removes the software from ALL systems in the Active Directory.
For Most of my programs the scripts in this Post did the job.
But I had to face a legacy program that I couldn't remove using msiexec.exe or Win32_Product class. (from some reason I got exit 0 but the program was still there)
My solution was to use Win32_Process class:
with the help from nickdnk this command is to get the uninstall exe file path:
64bit:
[array]$unInstallPathReg= gci "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" | foreach { gp $_.PSPath } | ? { $_ -match $programName } | select UninstallString
32bit:
[array]$unInstallPathReg= gci "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" | foreach { gp $_.PSPath } | ? { $_ -match $programName } | select UninstallString
you will have to clean the the result string:
$uninstallPath = $unInstallPathReg[0].UninstallString
$uninstallPath = $uninstallPath -Replace "msiexec.exe","" -Replace "/I","" -Replace "/X",""
$uninstallPath = $uninstallPath .Trim()
now when you have the relevant program uninstall exe file path you can use this command:
$uninstallResult = (Get-WMIObject -List -Verbose | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Win32_Process"}).InvokeMethod("Create","$unInstallPath")
$uninstallResult - will have the exit code. 0 is success
the above commands can also run remotely - I did it using invoke command but I believe that adding the argument -computername can work
For msi installs, "uninstall-package whatever" works fine. For non-msi installs (Programs provider), it takes more string parsing. This should also take into account if the uninstall exe is in a path with spaces and is double quoted. Install-package works with msi's as well.
$uninstall = get-package whatever | % { $_.metadata['uninstallstring'] }
# split quoted and unquoted things on whitespace
$prog, $myargs = $uninstall | select-string '("[^"]*"|\S)+' -AllMatches |
% matches | % value
$prog = $prog -replace '"',$null # call & operator doesn't like quotes
$silentoption = '/S'
$myargs += $silentoption # add whatever silent uninstall option
& $prog $myargs # run uninstaller silently
Start-process doesn't mind the double quotes, if you need to wait anyway:
# "C:\Program Files (x86)\myapp\unins000.exe"
get-package myapp | foreach { start -wait $_.metadata['uninstallstring'] /SILENT }
On more recent windows systems, you can use the following to uninstall msi installed software. You can also check $pkg.ProviderName -EQ "msi" if you like.
$pkg = get-package *name*
$prodCode = "{" + $pkg.TagId + "}"
msiexec.exe /X $prodCode /passive