Can’t uninstall, can’t repair, and just want to make that install disappear? MSIZap it…

Linchi Shea - MSIZAP is Your Friend

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One of major problems with Windows Installer is that its install packages can be so complex that it sometimes confuses the heck out of the Installer. I don’t know about you, but I have run into enough install/patch problems, and wasted countless number of hours when a SQL Server edition, version, or hotfix simply refuses to install and spits out strange error messages that turn out to have nothing to do with the real problems. Trying to fix these installer problems is like performing brain surgery on yourself—the chance of success is just not very high, at least judging from my own experience and even with help from the Microsoft support engineers.

Now, there are times when you can afford to obliterate an installed product, or whatever remains in its mangled state, and those are times you may find msizap.exe extremely useful and can save you tons of grief.

What msizap.exe can do for you is to wipe the slate clean by removing the file and registry settings that make up the Windows Installer configuration information for an installed product. Note that it removes the file and registry settings, not the files and registry keys themselves. If there are files of the product left in the file system, and registry keys/values left in the registry, you would have to delete them yourself.

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Windows Installer Development Tools - Msizap.exe

“Msizap.exe is a command line utility that removes either all Windows Installer information for a product or all products installed on a computer. Products installed by the installer may fail to function after using Msizap.

On Windows 2000 and Windows XP, administrative privileges are required to use Msizap.exe.

This tool is only available in the Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers and should not be redistributed. Use the recent version of Msizap.exe (version 3.1.4000.2726 or greater) that is available in the Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers for Windows Vista or greater. [GD: v3.1.4000.2726 is included as part of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility mentioned below…] Lesser versions of Msizap.exe can remove information about all updates that have been applied to other applications on the user's computer. If this information is removed, these other applications may need to be removed and reinstalled to receive additional updates.

Syntax

msizap T[WA!]{product code}

msizap T[WA!]<msi package>

msizap *[WA!] ALLPRODUCTS

msizap PWSA?!

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Microsoft Help and Support - Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

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Microsoft has updated the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. With the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, you can remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information. You may want to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program if you experience installation (Setup) problems. For example, you may have to remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information if you have installation problems when you try to add (or remove) a component of your program that was not included when you first installed your program.

The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does not [GD: Emphasis added] perform the following functions:

Remove Windows Installer

Remove files of any programs that are installed by Windows Installer, such as Microsoft Office 2003

The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does [GD: Emphasis added] perform the following functions:

Provides a dialog box in which you can select one or more programs that were installed by Windows Installer

To do this, select the programs that you want in the Installed Products list in the Windows Installer CleanUp dialog box. After you make this selection, the utility removes only the Windows Installer configuration information that is related to those programs.

Removes the files and registry settings that make up the Windows Installer configuration information for programs that you select

If you use this utility to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program and you plan to reinstall the program, you should reinstall the program in the same folder where you originally installed it. This prevents duplication of files on your hard disk or disks.

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First off, how do you get a good, hopefully won’t jack up my machine, version of MSIZap? The easiest way seems to be via the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility [direct download]. This not only gets you a “good” copy of MSIZap, but a GUI wrapper (MSICUU.exe) for it too…

As Linchi notes, MSIZap can be a dangerous tool as it is pretty much doing open heart surgery on your Windows Installer data. [Insert “With great power…” Spiderman quote here]. Again please note that MSIZap is NOT an uninstaller, it is a Windows Installer configuration/data nuker…