'Remnants' Of WinZip From Old Win 7 User Account -Command Line Task?

T R Finlay · 04 Feb 2020

Hello all. Just upgraded (about 10 days ago) to Win 10 Pro Ver 1903 - OS Build 18362.628

My updates are current. Far as I know.

About a year ago I had to reinstall Win 7 due to a virus of some sort, and at the time I entered two new user accounts. After the reinstall , I had some difficulty deleting a previous user account but finally figured out how to delete it. had to do with certain permissions.

I do have a couple of programs (two previous versions of WinZip) that were installed using this now removed user account that still show up in the Control Panel> Uninstall view. When I attempt to 'uninstall' them (there is nothing there, program-wise) I get these messages from Windows Installer:

The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.
Use source:
C:\Users\TomF\AppData\Local\Temp\in0F61D0A5\

Windows appears to be looking for an install package ' 332E6E26_stp.MSI ' which, of course, is no longer on the hard drive.

The path shown no longer exists, and that 'TomF' account no longer exists in the file tree. I removed them (I thought) prior to installing Win 10. Somehow some 'trace' of these two programs still shows in 'Control Panel> Uninstall '

Does anyone know the method for finding these 'remnants' in the registry, and the proper command prompt syntax for removing them (from the registry?) so that they no longer show in the 'Uninstall' view?

Many thanks!

Berton · 04 Feb 2020

When I see similar but more serious issues and before resorting to a reset or reinstall I try a Registry cleaner. There are those who vehemently disagree with that but I've saved quite a bit of time fixing computers doing it but one has to be very vigilant/careful.

Try3 · 05 Feb 2020

Open the Registry [C:\Windows\regedit.exe] and go to the Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
then look through its Sub-Keys to find the one that you cannot remove from the Control panel list and delete that Sub-Key [right-click on the Sub-Key concerned and select Delete].
- Backup the whole Key before starting using RegEdit's Export feature {use .reg format not .txt for the Export} - or backup an individual Sub-Key before deleting it
- This old MS KB is still useful for its Registry explanations How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add/Remove Programs List - KB247501
- There are several other threads in TenForums that cover this topic
- When I write Keys or Sub-Keys I mean the lists in RegEdit's left-hand pane.

My own WinZip entry, just for example, is in Sub-Key {CD95F661-A5C4-44F5-A6AA-ECDD91C240E3}
so it is {CD95F661-A5C4-44F5-A6AA-ECDD91C240E3} that I would select and delete.

By the way, you did not reinstall Win7 a year ago. If you had then all user accounts and applications would have been wiped. Perhaps you did a "Repair install" [aka "In-Place upgrade"] which is misleadingly-named - it is a repair procedure not an installation.
Repair Install - TenForumsTutorials

Many people say that it is worth completely reinstalling Windows 10. Doing so would establish a less problem-prone computer without such annoying remnants.
Clean Install Windows 10 - TenForumsTutorials

By 'Control panel, Uninstall' I think you mean the list in 'Control panel, Programs & features'. There is no 'Control panel, Uninstall' {that was removed after WinXP, wasn't it?}.

Denis

T R Finlay · 05 Feb 2020

Berton said:

When I see similar but more serious issues and before resorting to a reset or reinstall I try a Registry cleaner. There are those who vehemently disagree with that but I've saved quite a bit of time fixing computers doing it but one has to be very vigilant/careful.

Thing is, Win 10 is working just fine for me so far after I upgraded (although it hasn't been that long of a time since that was done). So I will keep your suggestion in mind going forward!

- - - Updated - - -

Try3 said:

Backup the whole Key before starting using RegEdit's Export feature {use .reg format not .txt for the Export} - or backup an individual Sub-Key before deleting it

- This old MS KB is still useful for its Registry explanations How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add/Remove Programs List - KB247501
- When I write Keys or Sub-Keys I mean the lists in RegEdit's left-hand pane.

My own WinZip entry, just for example, is in Sub-Key {CD95F661-A5C4-44F5-A6AA-ECDD91C240E3}
so it is {CD95F661-A5C4-44F5-A6AA-ECDD91C240E3} that I would select and delete.

That's very useful information. I'm going to save it as a doc in my [public] computer tech folder.

Try3 said:

By the way, you did not reinstall Win7 a year ago. If you had then all user accounts and applications would have been wiped. Perhaps you did a "Repair install" [aka "In-Place upgrade"] which is misleadingly-named - it is a repair procedure not an installation.

By 'Control panel, Uninstall' I think you mean the list in 'Control panel, Programs & features'. There is no 'Control panel, Uninstall' {that was removed after WinXP, wasn't it?}.
Denis

I have an HP desktop, about 12 years old, and it has this feature allowing reinstall of the ‘system.’ The 'system' data came from a ‘D’ drive partition on the HDD. It’s called [ HP_RECOVERY (D:) ] in the Win Explorer view. That is how I ‘redid’ Win 7. The procedure seems similar to what you describe, above.

Aside from the issues in the ‘Uninstall a program’ view, the PC is running well. It also ran well after I ‘redid’ Win 7. I went to Win 10 because of the end of MS support, and because I feel I should keep up with current Operating Systems as long as I’m using a PC with several MS Programs on it.

Here’s my Control Panel view (obtained by typing ‘Control panel’ in the ‘ Type here to search’ box). You may see why I described it in the manner I did:

'Remnants' Of WinZip From Old Win 7 User Account -Command Line Task?-mycontrolpanel.jpg

It may be a few days before I work on the registry. Since I don't want to just leave this thread open, and since I have no reason to doubt your instructions, I'll mark this as solved.
Thanks a lot for your help. Tom F.

Try3 · 05 Feb 2020

Tom,

I understand your comment about Uninstall now.
- If you click on 'Uninstall a program' it will take you to Control Panel, Programs and Features
- I had actually forgotten the words on the Category view you are using for the Control panel. I always use the View by dropdown selector in the upper-right of your diagram to set it to Small icons so I can see everything directly.

There is no particular need to mark the thread as solved. Whether you do so or not, I will get a notification email when you next post to this thread.

All the best,
Denis

T R Finlay · 06 Feb 2020

Try3 said:

Tom,

I understand your comment about Uninstall now.
- If you click on 'Uninstall a program' it will take you to Control Panel, Programs and Features

Pun time: I guess we were just looking at things from another view point! (groan)

Try3 said:

There is no particular need to mark the thread as solved. Whether you do so or not, I will get a notification email when you next post to this thread.
All the best,
Denis

After backing up both the 'uninstall' key and the two specific sub keys that you described to me, I went ahead and did the registry editing you recommended (deleting the specific sub key) on one of the two 'remnant' WinZip versions (they evidently only remained in the registry). Exited the registry editor, looked at the 'Uninstall a program' view, and...one 'WinZip' program Icon removed!

I'll take care of the other one soon. The reason this mattered to me is because I intend to install WinZip on this PC again, and I did not want any 'traces' of the previous versions that might interfere with a new, later version installation.

Any thoughts on WinZip? Is it reliable? I've been using it for years, and I do occasionally get zipped files (usually photos) from a few folks so I will need a zip/unzip utility of some sort.
Thanks again! Tom F.

Try3 · 06 Feb 2020

Tom,

I've been using WinZip since the nineties and am happy with it. Other people just use the 'compressed files' facility within Windows 10 or a free utility such as 7zip.
- I'm on v18.5 having decided to update when I started using Windows 10 [during its Preview period].
- I think I upgraded because there was a problem using the very old version with Windows 10 but I haven't got any notes to explain that vague memory. I also have a vague memory that I subsequently discovered a solution to that perceived problem but, again, I have no notes about it.
- This is very strange because I make notes about everything. Perhaps I just upgraded on a whim because I saw that my old version made me eligible for an upgrade for only £13.

I use WinZip on its own to make 'temporary local backups' before doing any grand re-arrangement or editing of large numbers of files. When, say, I'm tidying up a topic and intend to weed out documents that are no longer required but realise that I'll make mistakes along the way.

I use the command line add-on ["CLI"] in my backup routine. WinZip - Command Line Download Page
- I stopped using MSBackup in about 1995 [in a fit of pique when they changed the format of the backups - I think that was MSDOS 5.0].
- I create backups on an external drive - a complete [RoboCopy} Mirror image of my documents, music, ... folders and a WinZip incremental backup of just the changed documents.
- I can only remember having to use these incremental backups twice in the last decade to rescue old versions of files but it's worth it because I have already done the hard work - I have written out the necessary instructions in a batch file so I can just tell it to run and then have a pot of tea while it does it job.
- There is one shortcoming in its use for incremental backups - it creates every subfolder and then puts the intended changed files inside so it's hard finding out what's in there
- - So I use RoboCopy to make a sort-of-mirror image of all changed files in a temporary local folder [it recreates the relative folder paths within that for each changed file] and then I use WinZip to backup that temporary local folder using relative paths from the temporary local folder
- - I end up with a WinZip incremental backup that only contains those folders needed to house the files and it is easy to see what's what.

Denis