VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

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chalkmar00n
Posts: 3
Joined: 2. Aug 2022, 16:59

VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

Post by chalkmar00n »

Hi folks,

latestly, I guess after some Windows updates, my guest system didn't start anymore. There was always a memory error message.
(FYI: I had the same issue on a Windows 10 host, where the guest system ran for months, with no probs)

Then I've upgraded, VB from 6.1.34-r150636 to 6.1.36-rc152435, which worked in the first place, but when enabling the extension pack for usb, there was again the memory error and I also couldn't activate anything other than NAT under the network settings.
Then I've tried to uninstall VB completely (as some howtos suggested) and this doesn't work at all.
Uninstalling from Windows immediately gives an installer error, because the installer searches for a misspelled file name under AppData\local\temp
Pic1
Pic1
Screenshot 2022-08-02 164632.png (16.97 KiB) Viewed 2080 times
The correct file is that path and it's called VirtualBox-6.1.34-r150636.msi, but it's not possible to access it. Starting this .msi directly in the temp folder ends with
Pic2
Pic2
Screenshot 2022-08-01 193829.png (11.43 KiB) Viewed 2080 times
And no, renaming it to that misspelled filename doesn't work either.

Then I removed VB with a 3. party uninstaller, which removed obviously everything, but when I try to install the newest version (freshly downloaded) again, I get the same error from the installer.
At the moment, I cannot reinstall VB, or do anything with it...

My question now: Is there a fix for this, or how can I remove manually everything from VB ?

Thanks,
Oli
mpack
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Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

Post by mpack »

VirtualBox needs access to the previous install in order to run the uninstaller. From the random name and the temp location I'm assuming that you originally ran the installer from inside your browser, and this has since been cleaned away.

See the user manual for how to extract the MSI file from a setup executable. Download the correct setup executable, extract the MSI, and give it the name and path mentioned in the error message.
chalkmar00n
Posts: 3
Joined: 2. Aug 2022, 16:59

Re: VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

Post by chalkmar00n »

Well, I think, I already did, but obviously, I'm doing something wrong here...

Version 6.1.34 is what I need to access, right ?
For some reasons, exactly this version is currently not downloadable on the Oracle website, but I still have the original .exe and I've extracted it by:

Code: Select all

VirtualBox-6.1.34a-150636-Win.exe --extract 
--> extracts the .msi in the Temp folder. In the Temp folder I've created that random folder name from my error message, copied the extracted .msi in and also renamed it to the random file name from the message.
No matter what I try, I'll get an error:

Code: Select all

msiexec /i "RandomFileNameInRandomFolder.msi"
tells me, wether this is not a valid installer file, the file doesn't exist, nor do I have permissions...
Same with the original extraced file in the Temp folder...

Weird is, that performing the installation by double clicking the original .34 Version ends with an error message that this is not a valid paket for the version .36 (!)

I have no idea, what I've done to create such a mess here...

Cheers,
Oli
fth0
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VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

Post by fth0 »

What happens if you try the VirtualBox 6.1.36 installer instead? Does if offer to Install or to Repair or Uninstall?
chalkmar00n
Posts: 3
Joined: 2. Aug 2022, 16:59

Re: VB won't uninstall - Windows 11

Post by chalkmar00n »

That was it, fth0 !! Thank you !!
Extracting the .36 Version and performing the msiexec with the renamed filename did the trick and gave the repair and uninstall options.
Thanks again, now I can work on my actual probs... ;)
Oli
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