How to repair Windows installer configuration?

[karl-heinz_hochmuth]

Sometimes, you cannot install newer software on Windows, if an older version is already installed and the configuration is somehow damaged.

SAP MMC, SAP GUI and other SAP applications install themselves using the MSI installer. You see them if you open Windows Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features:



In this blog, I want to show you how you can repair damaged configuration entries, if for example, a newer version of SAP MMC cannot be installed and the existing, old installation cannot be uninstalled.

For Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher, Microsoft provided a tool to fix this automatically:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed...

For Windows Server 2008, this tool doesn't work.

 

Here is an alternative to repair a damaged installer configuration for a certain product.

First, you have to identify the installed product in the Windows registry.

Windows stores all installed products (applications, programs) in this registry hive:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

The "cryptic" hexadecimal number to the left, is the "product code" for the installed application, this case it is {E3054BB9-FB83-4FE8-A7B5-4E28C17538DE}.

Download the tool “msizap” from Microsoft:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370523(v=vs.85).aspx

Here you can find more information on how to use this tool:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783013(v=ws.10).aspx

This tool was originally designed for Windows 2000/2003. However, it still works on newer Windows releases.

Then run msizap.exe in a command prompt with administrative rights!

msizap.exe tw {0308FD52-0D3F-4F67-B667-4C1F6564FB16}

Note: The switches we use are:

T = remove all info for given product code
W = for all users (by default, only for the current user)

All registry information of the software package has been removed.

 

Alternative:

If you’re certain that you have the original installation media files available, then you can try to use them to uninstall the application.

msizap.exe wtp <file path to the msi installer package>

It’s not guaranteed, that this option will work anytime, for example if the registry is damaged “too much”!