I am trying to get the availability of the software on pc. My condition is that I need to fetch whether the application is installed or not on my laptop if it is installed is it in working condition?
# Setting Execution policy for the Current User
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
$currentExecutionPolicy = Get-ExecutionPolicy
Write-Output "The Execution Ploicy is set to $currentExecutionPolicy"
$programFilePath = #(
'Google Chrome-C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe'
'Brackets Text Editor-C:\Program Files (x86)\Brackets\Brackets.exe'
'Microsoft Edge-C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe'
'Microsoft Excel-C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE'
#'Microsoft Outlook-C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\OUTLOOK.EXE'
)
$result = foreach($program in $programFilePath) {
$splitString = $program -split ('-')
$program_name = $splitString[0]
$program_path = $splitString[1]
foreach($program in $program_path) {
if (Test-Path -Path $program) {
# Write-Output "Program Path Exists"
$programProcess = Start-Process -FilePath $program -PassThru -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
timeout 5
try{
$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"
$myshell.sendkeys("{ENTER}")
timeout 1
$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"
$myshell.sendkeys("{ENTER}")
}
catch{
$runningProcess = Get-Process -Name $programProcess.ProcessName
}
if($runningProcess -eq $true) {
[pscustomobject]#{
Application_Name = $program_name
Application_Availability = 'Installed'
Application_Status = 'Working'
}
}
else {
[pscustomobject]#{
Application_Name = $program_name
Application_Availability = 'Installed'
Application_Status = 'Not Working. Error Log is generated as Application_Error_Log text file.'
}
Get-EventLog -LogName Application | Where-Object {$_.InstanceID -eq '1000'} | Tee-Object -FilePath .\Application_Error_Log.txt
}
<# Action to perform if the condition is true #>
} else {
[pscustomobject]#{
Application_Name = $program_name
Application_Availability = 'Not Installed'
Application_Status = $null
}
}
}
}
" :: System Software Audit Report :: " | Out-File .\System_Software_Details.txt
$result | Tee-Object -FilePath ".\System_Software_Details.txt" -Append
timeout 60
Although I am getting the application active which are working and functional but in my output in Text file application status shows : Application_Status = 'Not Working. Error Log is generated as although my application is working fine
My second concern is I am unable to handle the application which is giving me an error
$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"
$myshell.sendkeys("{ENTER}")
timeout 1
$myshell = New-Object -com "Wscript.Shell"
$myshell.sendkeys("{ENTER}")
I think checking filesystem paths is an option but a bad one - you cannot ensure in any case that the expected path is used. Checking the filesystem is only necessary for portable applications.
A better approach is to check the following registry keys, by doing so you get the same result as it is displayed under add/remove programs:
HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" -Name DisplayName,DisplayVersion,InstallSource,Publisher,UninstallString
Another way is to query wmi/cim:
Get-CimInstance -query "select * from win32_product"
But by doing so you generate foreach discovered software product an event in the windows event log (Log: Application, Source: MSIInstaller).
To verify if you can start successfully an application by using start-process you need also to specify the parameter -wait and then check if the return code is 0.
$runningProcess -eq $true doesn't necessarily work as $runningProcess is not a boolean but an object. Alas it always returns false.
TL;DR
If you look at your code you see that to get to "...Not Working..." you have to evaluate ($runningProcess -eq $true). Ergo it returns false.
There's always get-package.
$list = '*chrome*','*firefox*','*notepad++*'
$list | % { get-package $_ }
Name Version Source ProviderName
---- ------- ------ ------------
Google Chrome 104.0.5112.102 msi
Mozilla Firefox (x64 en-US) 104.0.1 Programs
Notepad++ (64-bit x64) 7.8.9 msi
Faster as an argument list and no wildcards:
get-package 'google chrome','mozilla firefox (x64 en-us)',
'notepad++ (64-bit x64)'
Or with the threadjob module:
$list = '*chrome*','*firefox*','*notepad++*'
$list | % { start-threadjob { get-package $using:_ } } |
receive-job -wait -auto
I came across the basis of this script in another post here, however, I would like to take it a bit further and have been experimenting. What I am seeking to achieve is to get the name, state of the antivirus installed on the device and of course I want to filter out Windows Defender. Here is what I have so far...
The issue I have with the current code that I am not sure how to get around is that I am getting the state code for Windows Defender also.
I would greatly appreciate your advise and assistance.
clear
function Get-AntivirusName {
[cmdletBinding()]
param (
[string]$ComputerName = "$env:computername" ,
$Credential
)
$wmiQuery = "SELECT * FROM AntiVirusProduct"
$AntivirusProduct = Get-WmiObject -Namespace "root\SecurityCenter2" -Query $wmiQuery #psboundparameters
[array]$AntivirusNames = $AntivirusProduct.displayName | sort -unique
[array]$AntivirusState = $AntivirusProduct.productState | sort -unique
$AntivirusState
Switch($AntivirusNames) {
{$AntivirusNames.Count -eq 0}{"Anti-Virus is NOT installed!";Continue}
{$AntivirusNames.Count -eq 1 -and $_ -eq "Windows Defender"} {Write-host "ONLY Windows Defender is installed!";Continue}
{$_ -ne "Windows Defender"} {"Antivirus Product(s): $_."}
}
}
Get-AntivirusName
If you want to rule out Windows Defender, but do want to get a console message, I would change the function like below:
function Get-AntivirusName {
[cmdletBinding()]
param (
[string]$ComputerName = $env:COMPUTERNAME,
$Credential
)
$wmiQuery = "SELECT * FROM AntiVirusProduct"
$AntivirusProduct = #(Get-CimInstance -Namespace "root\SecurityCenter2" -Query $wmiQuery #psboundparameters)
if ($AntivirusProduct.Count -eq 0) {
Write-Host 'Anti-Virus is NOT installed!' -ForegroundColor Red
}
elseif ($AntivirusProduct.Count -eq 1 -and $AntivirusProduct.displayName -like '*Windows Defender*') {
Write-Host 'ONLY Windows Defender is installed!' -ForegroundColor Cyan
}
else {
# filter out Windows Defender from the list
$AntivirusProduct = $AntivirusProduct | Where-Object {$_.displayName -notlike '*Windows Defender*'} | Sort-Object -Unique
# output objects with both the product name and the status
foreach ($avProduct in $AntivirusProduct) {
[PsCustomObject]#{
AV_Product = $avProduct.displayName
AV_Status = $avProduct.productState
}
}
}
}
Get-AntivirusName
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)
I'm having issue with a script I've written and would love some help.
Please note I'm very new to powershell.
I've written a script that uses a txt file that contains remote computers on a domain, I appears to be working to some degree but in the event of a machine being offline I get errors which then loop the script.
$machines
$pcname
Name = 'Machine'
Expression = { $_.PsComputerName }
}
ForEach ($System in $Machines)
{
#Pings machine's found in text file
if (!(test-Connection -ComputerName $System -BufferSize 16 -Count 1 -ea 0 -Quiet))
{
Write-Output "$System Offline"
}
Else
{
#Providing the machine is reachable
#Checks installed programs for products that contain Kaspersky in the name
gwmi win32_product -Filter {Name like "%Kaspersky%"} -ComputerName $Machines | Select-Object -Property $pcname,Name,Version
}
}
At present this runs and output's like so:
Machine Name Version
UKTEST01 Kaspersky Security Center Network Agent 10.1.249
UKTEST02 Kaspersky Endpoint Security 10 for Windows 10.2.1.23
But in the event of a machine not being reachable the following error is given:
gwmi : The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
At C:\Scripts\Powershell\Kaspersky Endpoint Security 10\Script\New folder\Kaspersky Checker working v2.ps1:15 char:9
+ gwmi win32_product -Filter {Name like "%Kaspersky%"} -ComputerName $Mach ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Get-WmiObject], COMException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetWMICOMException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetWmiObjectCommand
And then moves to the next machine in the list, and then repeats from the beginning again.
I'd like for this to simply show as:
UKTEST03 Offline
And stop once the last machine in the txt file is done.
Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
This is the perfect time to use a Try/Catch/Finally block. The flow is this : Try the block of code here, if you encounter an error, suppress the message and do what is in the Catch block instead.
I've modified your code a bit, so simply copy this whole code block and drop it in, replacing your Else {scriptblock} in your original code.
Else
{
#Providing the machine is reachable
#Checks installed programs for products that contain Kaspersky in the name
Try {Get-WMIObject -Class win32_product -Filter {Name like "%Kaspersky%"} `
-ComputerName $Machines -ErrorAction STOP |
Select-Object -Property $pcname,Name,Version }
Catch {#If an error, do this instead
Write-Output "$system Offline }
}
}
Your completed answer
I've folded in the change you requested, to keep your script from running on every machine in $machines instead of $system, as you likely intended.
ForEach ($System in $Machines){
#Pings machine's found in text file
if (!(test-Connection -ComputerName $System -BufferSize 16 -Count 1 -ea 0 -Quiet))
{
Write-Output "$System Offline"
}
Else
{
#Providing the machine is reachable
#Checks installed programs for products that contain Kaspersky in the name
Try {Get-WMIObject -Class win32_product -Filter {Name like "%Kaspersky%"} `
-ComputerName $System -ErrorAction STOP |
Select-Object -Property $pcname,Name,Version }
Catch {#If an error, do this instead
Write-Output "$system Offline "}
#EndofElse
}
#EndofForEach
}
You could try this:
$machines=... # your machines' names
foreach ($machine in $machines)
{
trap{"$machine`: not reachable or not running WsMan";continue}
if(test-wsman -ComputerName $machine -ea stop){
gcim -Class CIM_Product -Filter 'Name like "%Kaspersky%"' |
select pscomputername,name,version
}
}
I'm using gcim because gwmi is deprecated.
Correction: the correct name is Kaspersky; I corrected it.
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