Uninstalling an MSI file from the command line without using msiexec. There are many ways to uninstall an MSI package. This is intended as a reference. The first few paragraphs provide important MSI tidbits, then there are 1. MSI file. Puh. Sections 1, 2 and 3 are the normal uninstall approaches and hence recommended. Personally I use option 3 or 5 from section 3 both options with logging, but option 5 runs silently as well. If you are very busy, skip all the babble and go for one of these it will get the job done. If you have problems uninstalling altogether and are looking for an alternative to the deprecated Msi. Zap. exe and or Windows Installer Clean. Up Utility MSICUU2. Fix. It tool from Microsoft or the international page. Installshield Custom Action Command Line Parameters Power' title='Installshield Custom Action Command Line Parameters Power' />Installshield Custom Action Command Line Parameters In BatchMay apparently work for other install issues as well. If you think MSI and Windows Installer is more trouble than its worth, you might want to read about the corporate benefits of using MSI files. Installscript MSI setups generally come wrapped in a setup. To read more about the parameters to use for uninstalling such setups please see these links setup. Setup. exe and Update. Installshield Custom Action Command Line Parameters' title='Installshield Custom Action Command Line Parameters' />InstallShield Setup. CommandLine Parameters InstallShield setup. Using these parameters, administrators. Permission is granted to copy, distribute, andor modify this document under the terms of the Open Publication Licence, Version 1. Command Line Parameters. Some MSI files are installed as part of bundles via mechanism such as Burn Wi. X Toolkit or Install. Shield Suite projects. This can make uninstall slightly different from what is seen below. Here is an example for Install. Shield Suite projects. Be aware that running uninstall silently or interactively can cause different results. For a rather lengthy description of why this is the case, please read this post Uninstall from Control Panel is different from Remove from. If you are unexpectedly asked for the original installation media when trying to uninstall, please read this answer Why does MSI require the original. If you got CCleaner or similar cleanup tools installed, perhaps jump to section 1. If uninstall is failing entirely not possible to run, see sections 1. Using the original MSIIf you have access to the original MSI used for the installation, you can simply right click it in Windows Explorer and select Uninstall. You can also uninstall via command line as explained in section 3. Using the ARP AddRemove Programs Applet. Just got to mention the normal approach though it is obvious Go startrunappwiz. ENTER in order to open the addremove programs applet or click add remove programs in the control panelClick Remove for the product you want to uninstall. Using msiexec. exe command line directly or via a batch fileYou can uninstall via the command prompt cmd. You do this by passing the product GUID check below for how to find this GUID or the path to the original MSI file, if available, to msiexec. For all the command lines below you can add qn to make the uninstall run in silent mode. This is how an uninstall runs when triggered from the addremove applet. Option 1 Basic interactive uninstall access to original MSI file. Option 2 Basic interactive uninstall via product GUID no access to original MSI file here is how to find the product GUID same link as below. X. Option 3 Interactive uninstall with verbose log file. LV C msilog. log. X L C msilog. Option 4 Interactive uninstall with flushed, verbose log file verbose, flush to log option write log continuously, can be very slow. L C msilog. X L C msilog. The flush to log option makes the uninstall slow because the log file is written continuously instead of in batches. This ensures no log buffer is lost if the setup crashes. Note that specific custom actions inside the MSI can crash without the setup rolling back ignore exit code is specified. Flush to log can help capture this sort of information. In other words, enable this option if your setup is crashing and there is no helpful information in your verbose log file. Remove the exclamation mark to turn off the flush to log option and the uninstall will be much quicker. You still get verbose logging, but as stated some log buffer could be lost. Option 5 recommended Silent uninstall with verbose log file no flush to log see previous option for what this means. QN L C msilog. X QN L C msilog. Quick Parameter Explanation since I recommend this option X run uninstall sequence. QN run completely silently. L C msilog. log verbose logging at path specified. X product guid of app to uninstall. Again, how to find the product guid. How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup MSI to specify in the uninstall command. Top tip If you create a log file for your uninstall, you can locate problems in the log by searching for value 3. This is particularly useful for verbose files, because they are so, well, verbose. How to find the product GUID for an installed MSI More information on logging from installsite. How do I create a log file of my installation Install. Shield logging. Msiexec command line options overview of the command line for msiexec. MSDN. Here is the Technet version. Using the cached MSI database in the super hidden cache folder. MSI strips out all cabs older Windows versions and caches each MSI installed in a super hidden system folder at System. RootInstaller you need to show hidden files to see it. NB This supper hidden folder is now being treated differently in Windows 7 onwards. MSI files are now cached full size. Read the linked thread for more details recommended read for anyone who finds this answer and fiddles with dangerous Windows settings. All the MSI files here will have a random name hex format assigned, but you can get information about each MSI by showing the Windows Explorer status bar View Status Bar and then selecting an MSI. The summary stream from the MSI will be visible at the bottom of the Windows Explorer window. Or as Christopher Galpin points out, turn on the Comments column in Windows Explorer and select the MSI file see this article for how to do this. Once you find the right MSI, just right click it and go Uninstall. You can also use Power. Shell to show the full path to the locally cached package along with the product name. This is the easiest option in my opinion. To fire up Power. Shell hold down the Windows key, tap R, release the Windows key, type in powershell and press OK. Then maximize the Power. Shell window and run the command below get wmiobject Win. Product Format Table Name, Local. Package Auto. Size. Using the. NET DTF Class Library part of the Wi. Excel Link 2007 Crack. X toolkit using Microsoft. Deployment. Windows. Installer. public static void Uninstall string product. Code. Installer. Configure. Productproduct. Code, 0, Install. State. Absent, REBOOTR l uninstall. A Windows Installer major upgrade may happen as part of the installation of another MSI file. A major upgrade is authored by identifying related products in the MSIs Upgrade table. These related setups are then handled as specified in the table. Generally that means they are uninstalled, but the main setup can also be aborted instead typically used to detect higher versions of your own application present on the box. Using an advanced deployment system Remote Administration System. SCCM, CA Unicenter, IBMs Tivoli, Altiris Client Management Suite, and several others. These tools feature advanced client PC management, and this includes the install and uninstall of MSI files. These tools seem to use a combination of msiexec. WMI, etc. and even their own way of invoking installs and uninstalls.