Can't uninstall Virtualbox remnants from Win7 Host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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Zoli1972
Posts: 2
Joined: 23. Dec 2014, 00:55

Can't uninstall Virtualbox remnants from Win7 Host

Post by Zoli1972 »

Hi,

I need to uninstall all remnants of an old 4.3.18 Virtualbox installation on a Win7 Host, which I'd like to upgrade to Win10.

Unfortunately, although I went through all suggested steps such as search for an uninstaller / files / registry and device manager entries,
the Win10 installer still claims to have an incompatible version of Virtualbox installed, and is refusing to proceed Win10 upgrade installation.

My question is now, what other steps should I consider?
Is there a (trusty!) uninstaller / cleaner I can try to kill the remnants?

I tried CCleaner, Tried to clean the registry with it, but no entries for VBox were found.
I looked for drivers in the device manager, but found none.
I and also looked vor "VBox" entries in the registry manually, but found nothing.
I looked for VBox driver files in System32 folder. There were some, which I deleted manually.
Should I reinstall, then uninstall a current version of Virtualbox? <-- This would be a step that I'd like to avoid.

Reinstalling Windows on this machine is not an option at all.

Thanks
Zoli
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20945
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Can't uninstall Virtualbox remnants from Win7 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Zoli1972 wrote:I went through all suggested steps such as search for an uninstaller
Did you find the 4.3.18 installer here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloa ... _4_3_pre24

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualb ... 16-Win.exe

I'd try installing that then uninstall it.

I'd also make a verified Macrium Reflect image or two of that Windows 7 PC (as well as a custom Restore CD built on that PC) before fooling with this Virtualbox glitch or upgrading to 10. A good restorable * image is always a nice fallback to have if something goes wrong (and lets face it it's a PC and Windows is involved: something is going to go wrong).

* on "restorable": a complete test of the restorability of the image is to actually restore it onto another hard drive in the same PC and be sure the restored hard drive boots and runs. Do this to two separate images, then upgrade/hose the original to one's heart's content.
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