Forcing an uninstall

[dairyman]

This is embarrassing... 

When I posted a topic about Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition giving me an error when starting up, I was told to uninstall and reinstall the program. I did not do this because I have a slow connection speed and limited data allowance. Instead of solving the error, I ignored it, searched for an alternative, and found SharpDevelop. SharpDevelop was great, but didn't have as many features as Visual Studio 2008 did. So now I'm stuck with SharpDevelop.

But is it OK if I just delete Visual Basic files, run CCleaner's registry cleaner and then install Visual C#? The reason I'm installing Visual C# is because I'm more used to programming in C# now.

My OS is Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2.

Thanks in advance.


Edit: I was going to use the web installer, but still can't because I don't know the download size of Visual C#. Cannot download the ISO because CD-ROM drive is stuffed.

Edit 2: There's a missing DLL called MSVCR90.DLL. Also, this is the BETA 2 version of Visual Basic 2008. I don't know what to do. Help!

[dairyman]

Alright, here's some more info.

Dependency walker says:

Error: The Side-by-Side configuration information for "c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 9.0\common7\ide\VBEXPRESS.EXE" contains errors. This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem (14001).
Warning: At least one delay-load dependency module was not found.
Warning: At least one module has an unresolved import due to a missing export function in a delay-load dependent module.

I checked the application configuration and the assembly and some of the things that should have being in the assembly were not there.

Checked the Event log, 9 errors with the source "SideBySide". Here are the errors sorted first to oldest:
----
Generate Activation Context failed for C:\program files\microsoft visual studio 9.0\common7\ide\vbexpress.exe. Reference error message: The operation completed successfully.

Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC90.CRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Generate Activation Context failed for C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\vbexpress.exe. Reference error message: The operation completed successfully.

Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC90.CRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Generate Activation Context failed for c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 9.0\common7\ide\VBEXPRESS.EXE. Reference error message: The operation completed successfully.

Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC90.CRT. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.
----
Now that I think about it, the connection speed and limited data allowance are not a problem, since I did manage to download Visual Basic 2008 Beta 2.

I can't run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. (Again, caused by the broken CD-ROM drive)

I'll report what I find in the future.

Thanks for your time. 

[Deerpark]

Cannot download the ISO because CD-ROM drive is stuffed.

Use daemon tools. No need to bun the ISO to install it.

I can't run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. (Again, caused by the broken CD-ROM drive)

What do you need your disc drive for?

[dairyman]

Use daemon tools. No need to bun the ISO to install it

Thanks. I'll try it.

What do you need your disc drive for?

I thought I read somewhere that you would have to reinstall all your programs. Then again, I have terrible memory, so maybe it didn't say that I need to reinstall the programs at all.

[Deerpark]

The Installer Cleanup Utility only cleans the installers you choose to clean. So you shouldn't need to reinstall anything.

[dairyman]

Thanks for the reply.

After checking the download size of the ISO, I don't think the ISO is a good choice. I'll use the web installer instead.

When I go to the uninstaller for Visual Basic 2008 Express Beta 2, it says "Installing", and then it goes to an error page. Then I get an error message saying that the installer has encountered a problem and needs to close.

Will the Installer Cleanup Utility help me fix this? Or do I need to manually uninstall it?

Thank you for your time.

[Deerpark]

Try reinstalling VS 2008 and then uninstall it.

[dairyman]

I can't, because if I download the latest version (which is the only one I can find) it asks me to remove the pre-release first, but I can't uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs OR manually uninstall it. Add/Remove Programs just says that it cannot be Installed. I didn't choose to Install it I chose to uninstall.. I don't have the VS 2008 CD.

Simply put: I cannot reinstall and uninstall.

[patio]

Good time to put  Revo Uninstaller  to the test...

[dairyman]

I tried Revo Uninstaller, but it kept asking for the Visual Studio 2008 CD. I don't have the CD.

[Soviet_Genius]

Maybe you could try deleting the Visual Basic folder and then deleting the Add/Remove programs entry using CCleaner?

[dairyman]

Maybe you could try deleting the Visual Basic folder and then deleting the Add/Remove programs entry using CCleaner?

OK, but what about registry keys? Will CCleaner remove those too?

[Soviet_Genius]

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it will if you run the registry cleanup in it after you delete the program. Or maybe you could remove the entries using regedit?

[dairyman]

I found out that it's because some assembly files are missing.

Locking topic.