Add-Remove program missing many programs

[Gene Hora]

Although this has been addressed before all the posts are no longer on the
server. My son's Add-Remove program for the past year or so lists programs
only down to the letter "M" -- thereafter all programs including Microsoft's
to "Z" are missing. The scroll key indicates there are many more programs
but going to the bottom of the scroll line, shows nothing but white space.
EXCEPT about halfway down a large amount of black spaces of different sizes
appears.

I suppose this means a corruption somewhere. Would running SFC correct this
or is it time for reformatting and re-installing Windows? He needs to
uninstall Microsoft Office XP Pro and then install Microsoft Office 2003
Pro, but there's no way to uninstall Office XP. I installed one program,
QuickView Plus, just to see if it would register -- it didn't. There are a
lot of programs missing from the list.

Is there a way to possibly fix this short of re-formatting? Would
appreciate any helpful ideas. Thanks.

 

[R. McCarty]

It's a known issue with Windows. Uninstall is stored alphabetically in the
Registry. If an entry is added that it's name exceeds a certain length then
that entry and all those below it are not displayed. If you are comfortable
with Registry editing, you can repair the issue yourself.
Click Start, Run (Type ) Regedit [Enter]
Regedit is a dual-pane editor. Key headings are shown in the left pane &
Keys and values shown in the Right pane.
Navigate (+/-) to:
HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Uninstall
Click the + to expand the key. The listing will start with "Unusual" stings
of characters called Class Identifiers, scroll down a ways and the normal
alphabetical list will begin. Your problematic entry is probably the next
one after the last that appears in Add/Remove. Any Registry change or
deletion should be "Exported" before making a change. What you would
want to do is Right Click the Key heading in the Left Pane. When the
context menu opens click "Export" and pick a representative name to
save it as.

 

[Alan Edwards]

You might try this:

Add or Remove - White Space caused by Autocad
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_a.htm#ws

If not, try this (though it was written for Win9x)
At least, you can see if all the keys are there and can possibly
uninstall Office 2000 (though I am not really sure that is
necessary-get a more informed opinion in the Office group)

All Installed Programs May Not Be Displayed in the Add/Remove Programs
Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240348

I have fixed several of these recently for others.
The problem will occur in these two situations:

1. The uninstall keyname for an application is greater than 63
characters.
Solution: Rename the keyname.
e.g. this is invalid
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234]

2. The DisplayName for the key is greater than 63 characters.
Solution: Shorten DisplayName
e.g. this is invalid
"DisplayName"="1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234"

*** Note that the invalid entry that can cause this is not necessarily
connected with the ones missing so you must check all entries.

If you need a second opinion, export the key to a Registration file
and email it to me.


.....Alan
-
Alan Edwards MS MVP Windows -Internet Explorer