Manually Uninstall a WHS Add-in

From We Got Served Wiki

Sometimes, for whatever reason, Windows Home Server does not successfully uninstall an add-in. You end up in a state where the add-ins tab shows the add-in installed but it doesn't work and it will neither uninstall or reinstall. So... what to do. What you will need to do is to uninstall it manually. This Wiki will take you through the process of how to do

What you will need

• Remote Desktop Connection or Advanced Admin Console
• Registry Editor (regedit)

What to Do

The first thing to do, if you haven't already, is to reboot your server. Sometimes that will clear the problem. If not, then do the following:

1. Make a note of the EXACT name of the add-in that cannot be installed ("WHS Disk Management 1.0.8.4" for example).
2. Gain access to to your Windows Home Server either through a Remote Desk Top connection, the Advanced Administrative Console add-in or monitor and keyboard if you have one attached. If you loaded Advanced Admin Console, on the far right side of the toolbar is a down arrow. Click that and a menu should appear. Select Registry Editor. If you are using a Remote Desktop Connection or direct access, click the start button, select RUN and then type "regedit".
3. In Regedit navigate to:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\RegisteredAdditions\

4. Locate the subfolder that references the name of the problem add-in ("WHS Disk Management 1.0.8.4" for example) and delete it. (See Picture 1)
5. Exit regedit.
6. Open and then close the WHS console from within the remote desktop session to free up any in-use files.
7. Using "My Computer" navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\
8. If present, delete the add-in console tab file, "HomeServerConsoleTab.DiskMgt.dll" in this example. (See Picture 2)
9. Close My Computer.

Done

That's it. You might want to reset the console or reboot your server at this point to start off fresh. You can then reinstall the add-in if you want.

Additional Info

As always, you need to be very carefull when you are editing the registry because a mistake can be costly. Also, when deleting the console tab dll file, make sure that you have the right one or you could damage some other add-in.

I do not mean to pick on the Disk Management add-in as I have had no problems with it nor need to use this procedure. However, I have to use SOMETHING as an example and that just happened to be the most recent add-in loaded on my server.

Credits

This page was originally written by Etoa for We Got Served using information supplied by Sam Wood.