Home > Fixes, Pascal, Programming, Projects, Windows Live Messenger > Windows Live Messenger Uninstaller v0.01

Windows Live Messenger Uninstaller v0.01

December 26th, 2009 eddsn Leave a comment Go to comments

This is the first public version of the Windows Live Messenger Uninstaller (v0.01).

What the tool does is basically remove a broken Windows Live Messenger installation. It really uses only the windows installer (msiexec.exe) to do the job combined with the CLSID of the installation that uniquely identifies the WLM version.
The symptoms might be that when you want to reinstall the application it might say that it is already installed, while actually it is not. When trying to remove it with the usual Configuration – Add/Remove software steps, it might not even appear in the list, while the setup of the WLM says it is really installed.

I decided to build this tool since there are a lot of people strugling with this problem [1][2][3][4]. All these existing solutions presented by people on these sites use the single command with a CLSID key (eg. msiexec /x {B1403D7D-C725-4858-AACC-7E5FA2D72859}), but since the key is different for each WLM version such a solution might only be useful if you have that exact version. It can also be done manually by changing the registry keys, but I thought this would speed up the work significantly since there might be a lot of keys to search in (The location we are talking about here is: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\])

I heard of people formatting the entire hard drive because of not being able to resolve this, so I really hope this gets around and avoids a lot of headaches.

You can download this first version of the tool below.

Download binary | Download source code (pascal)

MD5 hash binary: 7525a442da4b4515c8166debfc4a4d01
MD5 hash source code: 28efa8f882c5354c6c4845393724e99a

Requirements
The tool is tested on Windows 7, but should also work on XP and Vista.

Usage
The tool is very simple to use. If it finds an installation it will give you the uninstall command that you can use to manually remove it. You can also press RUN and it will run the command automatically for you.

Note: This software comes with absolute no warranty! By using this program you agree that I am not responsible for anything caused by this software whatsoever.

Future releases
If you have any comments, suggestions or bugs, please put them here in the comments. If it is useful I might add/fix it in the next release.

Currently I’m planning to build a more general remover for the Windows Live series, since there are also other components that could get broken.

References
[1] http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_uninstall_windows_messenger.html#comments
[2] http://ayumilove.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/how-to-install-remove-windows-live-messenger-2009/
[3] http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/02/11/remove-and-uninstall-windows-messenger/
[4] http://www.vistax64.com/live-messenger/185883-cannot-uninstall-windows-live-messenger-beta-2009-a.html

Untrue descriptions on other sites linking to this page
The link to this topic is already published on several sites, but unfortunately the presented description of the tool is misleading. For it says that I’m claiming to have a better tool than all the other existing solutions, which is of course not true. This is only another alternative that may solve the problem.
In my description I was only referring to the existing solutions presented on the topics and comments on these that I used as references (see above [1][2][3][4]) and not on any other existing tool that probably uses other methods.

Softpedia certification

The tool can now also be downloaded from Softpedia.

Related posts:

  1. “Show my webcam” not available and grey webcam during video call problems in Windows Live Messenger 14.0.8117.416
  2. Enable transfers/sharing of files with potentially unsafe file types in Windows Live Messenger
  3. Windows Live Essentials Offline Installer
  4. Large file sizes after compiling with Lazarus

  1. jessica
    July 20th, 2010 at 03:13 | #1

    it actually worked!! THANK YOU! i have been trying for so long to get rid of WLM, and im pretty good with computers, but this is the only thing that worked:D thanks a million!:)

  2. Nobe
    July 24th, 2010 at 20:24 | #2

    Hi.. I tried it but “Windows Live Messenger not found!”, i’m sure that there must be something left in the system that cause error when i try to re-install WLM..
    I’vw downloaded the source code (pascal) too, but how to use that?

  3. Nobe
    July 24th, 2010 at 20:50 | #3

    Add: I just tried ccleaner (this software has removed all the useless registry included WLM),

    tried RegCure too.. (but i deleted it manually, didnt work too..)

    I’ve tried and revo uninstaller (it didnt work well, it didnt detect any trace of WLM)..

    Arghh.. It keeps stuck on 39%

  4. July 25th, 2010 at 11:49 | #4

    @Nobe
    Soon I’m planning to release a new version of the tool with more thorough analysis of the system for traces. Keep an eye on the blog until then.

  5. Nobe
    July 25th, 2010 at 16:23 | #5

    @eddsn
    Looking forward for it.. I really need msn.. alot of contacts there.. thanks before..

  6. Yoanie
    July 25th, 2010 at 21:26 | #6

    Will this link work for uninstalling windows live essentials?

  7. Thai
    August 17th, 2010 at 06:48 | #7

    Well god be darn… this thing actually work!!! wow man… you’re the man… i’ve been trying to FIND IT AND DELETE IT and trying to reinstall it again… thanks alot man… u are the man… u are the man!!!

  8. Thai
    August 17th, 2010 at 07:09 | #8

    wait wait, how come it says “Failed because service is temporarily unavailable, please try again later” it keeps saying that every time i try to log in =(

  9. August 21st, 2010 at 14:24 | #9

    Nobe :
    Hi.. I tried it but “Windows Live Messenger not found!”, i’m sure that there must be something left in the system that cause error when i try to re-install WLM..
    I’vw downloaded the source code (pascal) too, but how to use that?

    Nobe I think that the WLM is really removed and you’re getting some other error while trying to install WLM. Can you give me the precise error or some screenshots when it stops?

  10. August 21st, 2010 at 14:26 | #10

    Thai :

    wait wait, how come it says “Failed because service is temporarily unavailable, please try again later” it keeps saying that every time i try to log in =(

    That should be something else that is causing the problem, since you have succesfully reinstalled WLM. :)

  11. August 21st, 2010 at 14:28 | #11

    Yoanie :

    Will this link work for uninstalling windows live essentials?

    It won’t work for other Windows Live Essentials products, or WLE itself. But as you might have read, I’m planning to build a general remover for all the other Windows Live products too. Like I said to Nobe, keep an eye on the blog. ;)

  12. August 21st, 2010 at 14:31 | #12

    nis :

    mijn windows live messenger is succesvol verwijderd.

    ik krijg nu wel steeds bericht als ik iets wil openen van :kan geen toegang krijgen tot het opgegeven apparaat/pad/bestand

    en daarboven staat
    c:\programs~1\java\jre6\bin\ssvagent.exe

    enig idee hoe ik hiervanaf kom ?

    Als je eens googlet dan vind je vast wel een oplossing. Misschien dat dit helpt:
    http://www.oplossing.be/index.php?action=printpage;topic=35832.0

  13. Annie
    September 5th, 2010 at 22:21 | #13

    OMG. HONESTLY. I’VE LOOKED THROUGH EVERYTHINGGGG. WEBSITES, YOUTUBE TUTORIALS AND THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT HAS WORKED. I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR 3 DAYS TO FIX THIS. THANK U. THAT’S ALL I CAN SAY. NOW I CAN GO TO SLEEP.

Comment pages
1 2 3 254
  1. December 26th, 2009 at 15:17 | #1
  2. December 27th, 2009 at 14:05 | #2
  3. December 27th, 2009 at 18:10 | #3
  4. December 28th, 2009 at 19:09 | #4
  5. December 29th, 2009 at 11:33 | #5
  6. December 31st, 2009 at 08:33 | #6
  7. January 1st, 2010 at 08:32 | #7
  8. January 3rd, 2010 at 03:54 | #8
  9. January 6th, 2010 at 10:19 | #9
  10. January 6th, 2010 at 15:59 | #10
  11. May 8th, 2010 at 14:43 | #11
  12. May 29th, 2010 at 13:52 | #12