Ensuring a complete uninstallation of PostgreSQL after a botched instal Windows)l

Question

I recently attempted to install PostgreSQL on a Windows XP SP3 machine using the EnterpriseDB installer. The installation was not successful, probably because I did not remember to turn off my antivirus (MS Security Essentials). So I ran the uninstaller that was installed by the installer, removed a leftover object in my user account, turned off the antivirus and reset a firewall exception for the port and the process, and re-downloaded and re-ran the installer.

After this I have not been able to start the server using any of the standard methods. A helpful person on the EnterpriseDB Installation forum looked over the installation log for my second installation attempt and said that the installer was running in “upgrade mode”, apparently because the installer found some trace of the previous installation not removed by the uninstaller. See posting, here, for his comments and the complete installation log: http://forums.enterprisedb.com/posts/list/3879.page

What is the likely cause of a failure to completely uninstall such as this one? How can I either: 1) assure that the next time I run the uninstaller it runs to completion, or 2) check whether it has removed everything and remove any leftovers manually?

I think to do the latter I would need a complete list of all the places that the installer touches.

I would be grateful for any help or suggestions that anyone could offer.

Sincerely, andrewH

Answer 1

Take a look at the Revo Uninstaller. When uninstalling a program, it attempts to detect files and registry entries that were left behind, and provides you an opportunity to remove them. If you're about to install a program, you can turn on its tracker mode, which will track the installation and allow it to do a more thorough job.

That said, you should always double check what it offers to remove, because it's possible that it may incorrectly identify items for removal.

There's a free version of the program but I think the tracker is part of the paid version. You can check the page on their site that compares the two.

Answer 2

If you've mangled an install by hand-deleting things, then run an uninstaller, the uninstaller probably failed to do anything. Windows will generally notice that the program directory containing the uninstaller is missing and simply remove the program entries from the installed programs list in the registry.

This doesn't remove anything else the program might have had, like Windows services, user accounts, registry entries, etc.

Your first try should be to run the installer again, and when it completes, run the uninstaller. Hopefully that'll give it a chance to clean up the leftover remenants of the first install, after which a subsequent install may actually work correctly.

If not, you might need to (carefully) remove the remaining fragments of the hand-deleted install yourself, including the service, installation registry entries, etc etc. If you do this wrong you can make everything worse - make sure you have good backups before attempting a manual cleanup of a busted install.