components/files left, product removed

[EP]

I have a major problem where on some testing machines, the product was
removed via add/remove programs, but all files and registry entries have
remained.
So now the product doesn't show up in add/remove, but all of it's components
are still installed.

So I thought I'd run setup.exe again and it would recognize the existing
features and reinstall them.

Instead it installed, and I was able uninstall it and it left the files
behind again! Not just files but folders, shortcuts, registry entries, file
associations, file mappings, services, etc....


Is there any way to clean residue from this bad uninstall? I'd like to make
a tool to do so (hey I'll post it here when I'm finished for all to use),
but I don't know what APIs I can use to find this residue if it thinks the
product was uninstalled.

 

[Luke Surace]

Are your components set as permanent? maybe this is why everything is being
left behind.

There are already tools available to cleanup msi based installs. Try
searching google

 

[EP]

no, they normally remove and are marked as shared.
but, a few times a testing machine (a QA machine that has the product
installed/uninstalled 10 times a day) will have this happen to it.

 

[Luke Surace]

It is quite possible that during your many installs/uninstalls, the
component reference count could have been broken which would give the
components and extra count and not uninstall.

I would test a couple of installs/uninstalls (say 3) and if that works ok
then your install should be fine.