PRB: Directories & Registry Entries Left After Deinstall (134981)

SYMPTOMS

In Windows NT, Windows version 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups, removing all Visual FoxPro files by using the Visual FoxPro Setup program does not remove the main Visual FoxPro directories and related subdirectories. Also, in Windows NT and Windows 95, registry information is not removed.

CAUSE

This is by design. The Visual FoxPro directory tree is not removed for safety reasons. Removing the directory tree could also delete user files and adding in the algorithm to check for user files versus FoxPro files would have added an additional level of complexity to the removal option.

RESOLUTION

After the removal process has completed, you can delete the directory where Visual FoxPro was installed by using File Manager.

To remove the Registry entries in Windows 95 and Windows NT, you need to delete the Visual FoxPro key and all its subkeys by using the Registry Editor. Microsoft does not support the use of the Registry Editor, so you are urged to exercise extreme caution when working with the registry files. The Visual FoxPro registry entries are found in HKEY_CURRENT_USER on Local Machine in the Microsoft folder.

MORE INFORMATION

The README help file distributed with Visual FoxPro provides the following information. Note that the last sentence of the first paragraph is incorrect:

To remove Visual FoxPro from a hard disk in Windows for Workgroups or Windows NT, double-click the Setup icon in the Visual FoxPro program group. Then choose Remove All from the Visual FoxPro Setup dialog box. This process does not remove user files.

CAUTION: Though the removal procedure offers several opportunities to keep files or shared components, it offers no final warning before it starts to delete all Visual FoxPro files. Press ESC to stop the removal process.

Any user-created files stored in the Visual FoxPro installation directory are removed. To preserve these files, you must move them to a different directory location before running Setup.

In Windows 95, this behavior is somewhat different in that the removal process does prompt for the deletion of the directory tree. This is done as part of the requirements for Windows 95 certification.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Run the Visual FoxPro Setup program contained in the Visual FoxPro program group, and choose Remove all. When the software has been removed, start the File Manager and verify that the directory where Visual FoxPro was installed is still present.