Using Powershell to delete REG key for all users

Hey all, not sure if this is the right place to ask, especially considering how pointed the question is.

We're trying to do a thorough clean install of a software due to changing the version (specifically, we're moving from SolidWorks 2017 to 2020 SP04). However, the issue is that uninstalling everything just doesn't actually clean everything. There seems to always be something left, especially in the registry. And of course, part of the registry is exclusive to each user, meaning I just can't clean everything through the Admin account.

So the question is this: Knowing that HKEY_USERS should contain all users that are on the computer, can I, through a Powershell script or something, delete the relevant registry keys for all users on the computer and how.

I've managed to find a few snippets of Powershell code through Google but it's not always clear what it does or why, and most importantly what I need to adapt.

So yeah, anyone got maybe some pointers?

RickC said:

Code:

$users = (Get-ChildItem -path c:\users).name
foreach($user in $users)
 {
 reg load "hku\$user" "C:\Users\$user\NTUSER.DAT"
 # Do whatever you need with "hkey_users\$user" here which links to each users' HKU
 # Example: Delete the 'Connected PDF' key without asking for confirmation
 reg delete "hkey_users\$user\SOFTWARE\Foxit Software\Foxit Reader\ConnectedPDF" /f
 reg unload "hku\$user"
 }

Hah! That is literally the piece of code I found when googling. I guess this at least confirms that it works. Fortunately, I have a computer ready for testing. I'll try that and Revo.

Hey, sorry for the delayed update, but my schedule changed drastically recently.

So, first off, I tried Revo. It ended up being horrifically slow, and kept borking in the middle of the uninstall. So I dropped it.

Then I tried Wise, both the uninstaller as well as the Reg cleaner. While it uninstalled fine, the Reg cleaner did not in fact manage to do what I was hoping for. Which is to say, to remove everything for every user on the computer.

So now I've tried using the Powershell code. I've modified it for my needs but unfortunately there still seems to be an issue.

Code:

Erreur : Le processus ne peut pas accéder au fichier car ce fichier est utilisé par un autre processus.
Remove-Item : Impossible de trouver le chemin d'accès «C:\Users\Administrateur\Desktop\hkey_users\Administrateur\SOFTWARE\Solidworks», car il n'existe pas.
Au caractère C:\Users\Administrateur\Desktop\rem_solidworks.ps1:7 : 2
+  Remove-Item -Path hkey_users\$user\SOFTWARE\Solidworks -Recurse -For ...
+  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
+ CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Admini...WARE\Solidworks:String) [Remove-Item], ItemNotFoundException    
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand

Translation: The process cannot access the file because it is in use. And then says that it cannot find the path for the RemoveItem, because the path is indeed wrong.

Now this is expected for the Admin account as I'm logged on it to run the script, but it seems that the script doesn't try to load any other NTUSER after failing to load this one.

Now I realise this has turned into practically strictly a Powershell question but still, any help would be appreciated.

KeithM said:

So plese post the code you ran that generated the error!

Uuuhh, the code is already there. It's the exact one that was posted by RickC. The only difference is the software I want to delete. And Remove-Item since I want to delete the entire thing, subkeys and all, not just the key itself.

Code:

$users = (Get-ChildItem -path c:\users).name
foreach($user in $users)
 {
 reg load "hku\$user" "C:\Users\$user\NTUSER.DAT"
 Remove-Item -Path "hkey_users\$user\SOFTWARE\Solidworks" /f
 reg unload "hku\$user"
 }