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c#excelwindows-installeradd-inuninstallation

Uninstall an application programmatically

We have an Excel AddIn say A written in C#, Add-In Express. The installer is built from setup project in VS. Now we want to integrate it to another bigger add-in application say B. we want to be able to uninstall A during installation of B. B is also written in C#, but its installer is built from Advanced Installer.

I tried VBA like below, AddIns only contain "A XLL Add In" but not "A COM Add In". so it does not work. So I am thinking to write an exe to detect if A is installed and if so, uninstall it. and call the exe in installer of B.
Anyone know how to "uninstall a program in C#" ? or there is better solutions? thanks Once I can detect A and uninstall it in an exe, I will be able to hook it in installer of B. Installer/Uninstaller class in .NET is not an option since I am not using them in installer of B. 

Dim item As AddIn
Set item = Application.AddIns("A COM Add In")

If Not item Is Nothing Then
    item.Installed = False
    'item = Nothing 'Not sure if this does anything
End If

    Dim item As AddIn
Set item = Application.AddIns("A XLL Add In")

If Not item Is Nothing Then
    item.Installed = False
    'item = Nothing 'Not sure if this does anything
End If
Solution

  • You can uninstall the previous version by invoking MSI directly:

    msiexec /x YOUR-PRODUCT-CODE

    Replace YOUR-PRODUCT-CODE with the real product ID used in your MSI package which installed the AddIn A.

    You may want to add /qn option to completely suppress its UI.

    MSI also provides API you can use to find out if the product is installed and to uninstall it.