[wix-users] Uninstall user settings

Christopher Painter chrpai at iswix.com
Tue May 2 19:18:10 PDT 2017 

I remembering figuring out how to enumerate and load user hives back in 2003 on Windows XP. Then Windows Vista came along and Microsoft broke it:

http://blog.iswix.com/2006/10/vista-deferred-ca-consideration.html

And then Microsoft  fixed it:

http://blog.iswix.com/2008/05/welcome-back-sebackupprivilege.html

Either way, I wouldn't bother trying to do any of this. It's just too unreliable.  The application left user data behind in the HKCU... no biggie generally.  Your supposed to leave user data behind in MSI world.

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Hoover, Jacob
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 11:11 AM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings

I suppose I missed option D which would be to enumerate every profile, manually load the ntuser.dat file, remove the keys if they exist, and unload them.  But if you opt for that one, good luck... So many things to go wrong that I wouldn't consider it viable myself.

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Hoover, Jacob
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 11:04 AM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings

Personally I would opt for a semi-custom action which adds temporary records to the Registry table and let Windows Installer handle the details of rollbacks. However, the fundamental problem here is that the application is storing per user settings in the registry for a non per-user install.  The users hive is not loaded unless they are currently logged in.

So your choices are:
  A) Change the install to a per user install, which will ensure that the hive is loaded (and thus the ability to author the removal via wix with no CA)
  B) Change the storage mechanism of the application from the registry to the file system, and use a semi-custom CA to enumerate local profiles and add the settings files to the RemoveFile table.
  C) Ignore it, and admit that because a per machine installed application is adding per user settings (not the installers fault), that the installer cannot clean this up.


-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Parkes, Kevin
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 10:42 AM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings

Thanks for the hint Nir Bar. I'm not familiar with NetUserEnum - if I pass 23 for level, it returns ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL. How do I get it to return USER_INFO_23 structures?


-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Nir Bar
Sent: 20 April 2017 12:44
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Cc: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings

You can create a custom action to do that:- Enumerate users and get their SID with NetUserEnum that gets USER_INFO_23 structures
- Open the HKEY_USERS registry hive with SID string as subkey
- Delete the key


Nir Bar
JetBA.net- WiX User Interface Library



---- On Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:02:57 +0300  Kevin Parkes <kevin.parkes at wacom.com> wrote ---- 

Correct, it's the app that makes the settings. I could add "removeKeyOnUninstall" but what about registry entries for users other than the current one? 
 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Hoover, Jacob 
Sent: 19 April 2017 17:31 
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> 
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings 
 
I read this as his Application creates reg entries not his installer, in which case you would need to add a Registry element to the MSI authoring to "removeKeyOnUninstall" the app created keys. 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of John Cooper 
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 11:08 AM 
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> 
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings 
 
Is this a perUser or perMachine application? Removal of the Components should remove the registry entries. If it doesn't, something is wrong with the authoring. Permissions issues can be an issue. Also, on 64-bit OS's, the path to a 32-bit key might not be what you expect. 
 
-- 
John Merryweather Cooper 
Senior Software Engineer -- Integration Development Group -- Enterprise Notification Service Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.® | Lenexa, KS  66214 | Office:  913-341-3434x431050 JoCooper at jackhenry.com 
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Parkes, Kevin 
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 11:02 AM 
To: 'wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org' <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> 
Subject: [wix-users] Uninstall user settings 
 
The e-mail below is from an external source. Please do not open attachments or click links from an unknown or suspicious origin. 
 
I have an application which creates registry entries under HKCU and my QA people are complaining that uninstalling the app doesn't remove the registry entries. Is there a (standard) way of handling this or is it just a case of "that's how Windows (Installer) works, live with it"? 
 
Thanks 
 
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