HOWTO: Manually Uninstall Visual Studio with MSDN Library

• Microsoft Visual Studio versions 6.0, 6.0 sp1, sp2, sp3
• MSDN Library

SUMMARY

This article describes how to manually remove Visual Studio 6.0 and the MSDN Library, as well as any other HTML Help collections installed on the system. When you manually uninstall Visual Studio, you must uninstall the MSDN Library as well.

NOTE: Only use these steps as a last resort. Whenever possible, remove Visual Studio 6.0 and the MSDN Library using the Add/Remove Programs application in Control Panel.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: These steps will remove all Visual Studio and earlier language programs from the system. This includes but is not limited to the Visual Studio subcomponents. Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, and Visual InterDev installations and all customizations for these products will be lost.

WARNING: These steps will remove all HTML Help collections from the system. This includes but is not limited to MSDN Library installations and the Platform SDK documentation. All customizations for these collections will be lost.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).


Before you begin:

• If your computer is running Windows NT, make sure you are using administrator permissions.



• Close all running applications.

1. Open Windows Explorer.



2. From the Tools menu, choose Folder Options.



3. Click the View tab.



4. Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files and folders.

1. Open Windows Explorer.



2. From the View menu, choose Folder Options.



3. Click the View tab.



4. Under Advanced settings, select Show hidden files and folders.

1. Use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel to remove the Visual Studio installations listed.



2. Use Add/Remove Programs to remove any other language programs, such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, and Visual InterDev, and all customizations for these products.



3. Use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel to remove all MSDN Library installations listed.



4. Use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall any other HTML Help collections, such as the Platform SDK documentation.



5. On the Start menu, point to Search (Windows 2000) or Find (Windows 95/Windows 98 or Windows NT), and click (For) Files or Folders.



6. Search for and delete all occurrences of the following files on your local hard drives:




*.CHK
*.TMP
HH.EXE
HH.DAT
HHCOLREG.DAT
HHCTRL.OCX   *** do not delete from computers running Windows 2000 ***
ITSS.DLL     *** do not delete from computers running Windows 2000 ***
ITIRCL.DLL   *** do not delete from computers running Windows 2000 *** 

NOTE: Some of the files listed may not be found on your system. Skip these files and continue.


7. Delete the installation folders for any Visual Studio products. The default folder is:




Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 

8. Delete the installation folders for any MSDN Libraries (the previous step may have deleted these if they were installed to the default location). The default folders are as follows:




Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN98 (for the MSDN Library for Visual Studio 6.0)
Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN (for the MSDN Quarterly Library releases) 

9. Use Regedit.exe to delete the following Registry keys if they exist:




HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DevStudio
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\HTML Help Collections
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic (versions)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DevStudio
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualFoxPro 

10. Use Regedit.exe to delete any instance of the key for Visual Studio or MSDN Library under the following key:




HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall 

11. Empty the Recycle Bin.



12. Restart the system and disable any antiviral software.



13. Update the HTML Help system by running the HTML Help update available from http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/localize.asp.



14. Reinstall Microsoft Visual Studio and MSDN Library.



15. Reapply the current Visual Studio service pack.



16. Test the product.

1. Locate the path containing user profiles. By default this is C:\Documents and Settings. For an upgrade, it may be located under <Windows Directory>\Profiles.



2. For each user, go to <User Profile Directory>\Local Settings\Temp.



3. Delete all collection files (.col) from this directory.

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q240350 HOWTO: Manually Uninstall the MSDN Library

Q201420 HOWTO: Manually Uninstall and Update HTML Help

Q216109 HOWTO: Troubleshooting MSDN Library Run-Time/Install/Uninstall Problems

© Microsoft Corporation 2000, All Rights Reserved.
Contributions by Chris Wojahn, Microsoft Corporation

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbMSDN kbVS600 kbVS600sp2 kbVS600sp3 kbDSupport
Version : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0 sp1, sp2, sp3
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto