Using the Installer for Windows › How the Installer Uninstalls Products

How the Installer Uninstalls Products

The process used by the Installer to uninstall a product, is divided into several steps. Not all steps are executed for all products. Which steps are executed depends on the type of SXP archive files included with the product.

For each step, the Installer refers to the SXP file that was transferred to the local archive at installation time. Therefore, each step is the result of the Installer processing a specific SXP file. If no SXP file was created during the packaging process for an individual product or parameter product, the corresponding step is omitted when the product is uninstalled on the target computer.

SXP files containing user-specific data are only prepared for the Logon function, which performs the actual user profile update when the Installer has finished or at the next log on.

The uninstallation process includes the following steps:

1. Check actions.sxp (Pre-programs)
2. Check gina.sxp
3. Check services.sxp (Services) (Windows NT only)
4. Check original.sxp (Original setup)
5. Check ascnnnn.sxp (ASCII files)
6. Check uininnnn.sxp (.ini files)
7. Check ulinks.sxp (Links)
8. Check gac.sxp (Global Assembly Cache)
9. Check links.sxp (Links)
10. Check ininnnn.sxp (.ini files)
11. Check ufiles.sxp (Product files)
12. Check files.sxp (Product files)
13. Check udirs.sxp (Directories)
14. Check dirs.sxp (Directories)
15. Check sreg.sxp (Registry)
16. Check desktop.sxp (Desktops)
17. Check uactions.sxp (Post-programs)
18. Check actions.sxp (Post-programs)

The proceeding in case of an unsuccessful product removal is considered under Unsuccessful Product Removals.