Uninstall Product action

Select the uninstallation type from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Uninstallation behavior differs depending on the installer's TsuQuiet level:

• If the installer is not running in silent mode (/q0 or no /q command line option at all; TsuQuiet = 0), then any uninstaller may run because the user will be able to provide any feedback that the uninstaller may require (such as clicking Yes to confirm uninstallation).
• If the running is running in silent mode (/q or /q2 command line option; TsuQuiet > 0), then only uninstallers that have a QuietUninstallString, have additional Arguments (see below), or are InstallMate or Windows Installer uninstallers, may run, because they can be run without user interaction.

Enter the uninstaller registry key name for the product that must be uninstalled. This is the registry key under Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall that contains the uninstallation information for the product that you want to uninstall.

Tip: To uninstall a previous version of the current product, enter <ProductCode> in this field.

Enter additional arguments for the uninstaller, if any. Be sure to enclose any arguments that contain (or might expand to contain) spaces in quotes, for example "argument with spaces" or "<INSTALLDIR>".

Any arguments that you enter in this field are added to the existing uninstaller arguments taken from QuietUninstallString or UninstallString. This field is meant in particular to provide the correct arguments for a quiet uninstallation; in fact, if you provide any arguments in this field, InstallMate assumes that the uninstaller will be able to run in silent mode (see Uninstall type above).

Tip: You do not have to specify additional "silent mode" arguments for the following uninstallers:

• Any uninstaller that has a QuietUninstallString command line;
• Any InstallMate uninstaller, including Tarma ExpertInstall 3.x and Tarma Installer 5.x uninstaller;
• Any MSI-based uninstaller.

Check this box to ask the user for permission before uninstalling the product; clear it to perform the uninstallation without confirmation. This option is ignored if the installer is running in silent mode (/q command line option; TsuQuiet > 0).

If checked, the installer will display Message #00268 as the confirmation prompt. If the user declines the uninstallation, the installation fails.

Select the action's execution mode from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Select the desired visibility of the uninstaller from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

Note: If the uninstaller runs in silent mode, this option may or may not have effect, depending on the uninstaller's implementation.

Check this box to hide the installer's main window while the action runs; clear the box to keep the installer's window visible.

Note: This option only has effect if the action runs synchronously, i.e., with the Time out option selected. During asynchronous actions, the installer remains visible.

Check this box and enter the time-out period in seconds to execute the action synchronously; clear it to execute the action asynchronously. If the action is executed synchronously, the installer will wait for it to complete; for an asynchronous action, the installer starts the action and then immediately continues.

Note: If the time-out period expires before the uninstaller terminates, the installer continues with its next action. However, the uninstaller itself is not terminated; it will remain active in the background until it terminates of itself or is forcefully terminated by the user or the system.

Select the exit code handling from the drop-down list. The following choices are available:

The effectiveness of this option depends on the way the uninstaller is programmed. It is customary that successful completion of a program is indicated by an exit code of zero, and failure by a nonzero exit code. (This is how InstallMate uninstallers behave, for example.) However, not all programs comply with this convention. Furthermore, the Uninstall Product action itself may set a nonzero exit code if it cannot start the uninstaller or if the time-out period expires before the uninstaller terminates (see Exit codes).

Before you use the Exit code option, we recommend that you convince yourself that the uninstaller in question returns an appropriate exit code. If you want to use the uninstaller's exit code to terminate the installation or control the execution of subsequent actions, we suggest that you set the Exit code option to Ignore and use one of the following alternative approaches:

• To terminate the installation if the uninstaller returns a nonzero exit code, insert a MessageBox action immediately after the current Uninstall Product action. Set the MessageBox action's Condition to LastExitCode <> 0 and set its Fail mode to Fail if run. Enter an appropriate error message in its Message field.
• To execute or skip any subsequent actions depending on the uninstaller's exit code, use the conditional expressions LastExitCode = 0 or LastExitCode <> 0, respectively, in the subsequent actions. Please note that the LastExitCode variable will be overwritten by the next Run Script, Run Program, or Uninstall Product action.

Enter the conditional expression that determines if the action will be executed, or leave empty for unconditional execution.

Important: If you use the Uninstall Product action to uninstall a previous version of the current product, then you should set Condition to NOT Installed. This ensures that the uninstallation only takes place during the first installation of the new version and not each time the installer runs for a "Change" or "Repair" installation.