Asked by:
Add/Remove programs, error msg when trying to uninstall, setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.

Question
-
I have been searching for a solution and can not find one. Does anyone know what causes this screen setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close?
This happens when I try to uninstall, several programs in the add/remove programs in control panel and from the start menu, I updated my win xp home today and it still does it.
I have a dxdiag file but see no way to attach it here and it is too large to paste.
Monday, January 1, 2007 6:10 AM
All replies
-
We are having the same problem now and I was wondering if you ever received a response about this. We're new to this forum and I didn't see any answers.Sunday, April 22, 2007 12:59 PM
-
I am having the same problem too May 11/07. Dont see any "fixes: here
Alan
Saturday, May 12, 2007 3:54 AM -
PJsPlace wrote: I have been searching for a solution and can not find one. Does anyone know what causes this screen setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close?
This happens when I try to uninstall, several programs in the add/remove programs in control panel and from the start menu, I updated my win xp home today and it still does it.
I have a dxdiag file but see no way to attach it here and it is too large to paste.
Friday, July 13, 2007 5:45 AM -
Hmmm! I have same problem but it is obvious that this site is spectacularly unhelpful. Thank you mr gatesFriday, February 8, 2008 1:43 AM
-
I had this exact same problem and here's how I was able to fix it.
Luckily for me, when I download software I always save the install file to my computer and run it from there. So when I couldn't uninstall a program from the Control Panel, I located the setup file and ran it. Since the program is already installed, it ran the setup for an uninstall. Worked like a charm.
Hopefully this will work for you all.Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:50 PM -
thankyou ,thankyou ,thankyou, I have been trying to get a program off my P.C. forever and yes I do save all my installers in a file on my desktop and never even thought of that, thanks for the info it worked great. now if i could get the installer out of my file and into the recycle bin, I would be even happier . thanks again BnovThursday, April 24, 2008 7:26 PM
-
Gdwin wrote: PJsPlace wrote: I have been searching for a solution and can not find one. Does anyone know what causes this screen setup.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close?
This happens when I try to uninstall, several programs in the add/remove programs in control panel and from the start menu, I updated my win xp home today and it still does it.
I have a dxdiag file but see no way to attach it here and it is too large to paste.
Thursday, May 8, 2008 5:55 AM -
I nearly went crazy trying to find an answer to the same problem. I tried everything, but when I read somewhere here that someone had saved the uninstall to their computer, I realized that even though I never downloaded anything from the Internet, I did have the program disk. I hope you do, too. What I did was this:
Click on Start \ Control Panel \ Add New Programs
Insert the CD belonging to the program that you wish to delete and click on Add a Program from a CD or a Floppy (or something similar to this if you don't have Windows XP Professional.
When I did that, the program on the CD came up and asked me whether I wanted to Modify, Repair or Remove the program. I clicked on Remove, of course, and the program was completely removed.
Good luck. And thanks to the other person who helped me figure out what I could do since I didn't have any installation program saved on my computer (I didn't have to have it, though, because I had the disk).
Monday, September 1, 2008 6:01 AM -
Hi all
You need to uninstall in the in reverse order you installed due to
possible dependencies. So you uninstall the update first, if it has its
own entry, and then the program. Setup.exe probably encountered a
problem because it doesn't exist (because it was the setup program for
the product and not the patch) or the program to which the patch applied
isn't there anymore because you uninstalled in the wrong order. So
install the program again, then the patch (to step atop of itself), and
then uninstall the update first and then the program.
Otherwise, you will need to do some manual editing of the registry and
perhaps some file and folder cleanup. There might be files and folders
left behind that you will need to delete, so look for the path in
Explorer where the program was installed. However, it is also possible
it polluted other directories with files, like C:\Windows or
C:\Windows\System32. In the registry, the entry in Add/Remove Programs
for the item is listed under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall
The entry underneath this key may have the product's name or a name like
"{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}". Each one should have a
DisplayName data item to show the product for that subkey (which is what
you see listed in Add/Remove Programs) so you know which one of those to
delete to get rid of the entry shown in Add/Remove Programs. Backup the
registry or the keys before you change or delete keys.Regards
Leo
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 9:38 PM