Uninstalling Autodesk products

There are many ways to remove software, but I personally prefer to extract each products GUID from the registry. After I have dumped all product GUID’s, I prepare a removal script.

You can navigate manually into your client registry to extract the product GUID’s or you can be creative and prepare a script that will export these locations to text file for you.

x86 location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\microsoft\windows\currentversion\uninstall

x64 location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\wow6432node\microsoft\windows\currentversion\uninstall

I prefer to remove the product silently without any UI. After the product is removed, I remove registry entries and local folders & files.

ie.

rem Uninstall product by guid
start /wait msiexec /x <GUID> /q

rem Remove registry key
reg delete "hkcu\software\autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1" /f
reg delete "hklm\software\autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1" /f
reg delete "hklm\software\wow6432node\autodesk\autocad\R19.1" /f

rem Delete folders & files
rd /s/q “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014"

After the removal script completes, I like to run the Microsoft Win Cleanup Utility (msicu2.exe). Then highlighting all products I removed via script, and removing any leftover instances of them via cleanup utility.

Rebooting the client after completing the removal. Using a script to remove the products using their GUID, is much faster than using programs & features. When you are handling a large number of client machines, you will want to save as much time as possible.

The 2014 product does include an uninstall tool, as well as uninstall text files under the deployment image folder "SMS_SCCM scripts". These files will include the majority of the product GUID needed to uninstall, but some products GUID won't be listed, which you would need to extract yourself.

ie.

::::== Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 x64 CRT Runtime 9.0.30729
::::Manual uninstallation only

::::== Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014
::call :funcUninstall {5783F2D7-D000-0409-0102-0060B0CE6BBA}, "Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014"

Something to note, Microsoft has replaced the msicu2 with Microsoft Fix it. msicu2 still works fine with Windows 7 32/64bit clients, but if you are interested in the new Fix it. You can read more about it over at Microsoft’s website. http://support.microsoft.com/mats/Program_Install_and_Uninstall