Uninstalling from safe mode??

[StumblingForward]

Is it possible to uninstall software from add/remove programs.
I have tried and i get a message saying it cannot be done in safe mode, if so then that is one of the stupidest things ive seen microsoft do.
if you can help that would be wonderful.
thanks

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein

 

[linney]

The nature of Safe Mode is such that it only loads the basic drivers and services. Therefore the installers from Microsoft may not work as they require the Windows Installer Service to run.

If you feel like experimenting -

The following registry key lists the driver and service groups enabled in safe mode:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal

It sounds like you are having some other problems, if so, start a new thread with the details of any specific problems and you should, with luck, get some help for that?

 

[wasisnt]

Ive noticed that some programs you can and some you cant. I think it just depends on the program.

MCSE NT 4.0, MCP (2003), A+ & Network +

Free Computer Help and Tips:

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[linney]

If the program has a self-contained Uninstaller.exe (and Setup.exe from an install point of view) then Safe Mode works. If it relies on the Windows Installer Service then it can't do much from Safe Mode.

 

[StumblingForward]

To shed a little more on the situation, my wife and I have a computer repair shop, a customer had brought his laptop in cause of it was not starting. The laptop would start, get to the log in screen, ask for his password and would then start to load the desktop, it would play the microsoft music and then there is an alarm like sound, and it wouldn’t go any farther.
The customer told me that the sound was from a McAfee virus/spyware/firewall program he has installed and that the sound was an alert that there was spyware found in the system.
I asked him some other things about it and found out that the subscription for it had run out.
I can start it fine in safe mode but as far as doing anything else in safe mode it is limited. I run msconfig and disabled everything in startup hoping that I could get it to start normally that way but it still would get hung at the loading screen. What I was trying to do was uninstall the McAfee and load a different anti-virus/spyware programs and see if they will clean it up. I can use a bootable cd to get into the system but would like to know if there was any way to install/uninstall from safe mode, doing this from safe mode would just be more convenient and save some time but it is not something that will stop me from fixing the problems.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein

 

[StumblingForward]

The following registry key lists the driver and service groups enabled in safe mode:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal

Is there a way to add a value to enable the install/uninstall feature?
Im sure there is some way to do this by editing the registry. which raises another question. Can you edit the registry from safe mode?? Ill have to play with that and see.

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein

 

[linney]

You mention you disabled startup programs from MsConfig, but did you also disable the startup of the Non-Microsoft services from Services in MsConfig?

You can edit the Registry from Safe Mode. See how things are setup in that reg key and see if you can add the Windows Installer Service (C:\Windows\system32\msiexec.exe).

 

[StumblingForward]

to answer your question I did not disable the non-microsoft services, i was on my way out the door when i posted this origanaly. My wife got to the shop first thing and got the computer working again. after she had disabled the non-MS items she was able to get it to start normaly and then deal with the problems.
thansk for all the help, i will play around with the registry and see if i can enable that, will post again if i get it to work, dont know if it will be usefull but it will be interesting to see if it will work.
thanks again

Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein