Tag Archives: Force Uninstall

How to Force Uninstall a Program That Won’t Uninstall

Issue:

You installed a program. Now you want to uninstall it. You open up the Apps & Features (in Windows 10), click on the program name, click Uninstall button and you get an error. The program cannot be uninstalled.

Solution:

Method 1:

UseĀ Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (given by Microsoft) to uninstall the program.

Method 2:
  1. Type regedit in Cortana and click on the program.
  2. Find the program name. For example JetBrains.
  3. Continue finding the program by pressing F3 until you find it under the sub-folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall or the sub-folder Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall (you verify this path by looking at the path under the top menu and looking at the DisplayName in the right panel).
  4. Copy the value of the key UninstallString.
  5. Type run in Cortana and click on Run application.
  6. PasteĀ the value of the key UninstallString and click OK.
  7. If you still get the error then just delete the sub-folder under the sub-folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall or the sub-folder Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
  8. Restart your computer.