Uninstalling NI Software if I Cannot Use Add/Remove Programs

Issue Details

I have a Windows operating system, but I cannot access the Add/Remove Programs from my Control Panel.  Is there a way that I can remove or repair my NI software without access to the Add/Remove Programs?

Solution

If you have NI Package Manager installed, follow the instructions outlined in this documentation. 

If not, there are two ways to uninstall NI software if NI Software cannot be found in Add/Remove Programs.

1. You can attempt to run the uninstaller manually by finding uninst.exe from the <National Instruments>\Shared\NIUninstaller directory.



There is a possibility that run the  uninst.exe will open the NI Package Manager(NIPM).
To prevent this, at the command prompt, go to 𝙲: \ 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚖 𝙵𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 (𝚡𝟾𝟼) \ 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 \ 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 \ 𝙽𝙸𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 with the 'cd' command
and enter 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝.𝚎𝚡𝚎 / 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚠𝙰𝚕𝚕 / 𝙸𝚐𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚎𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 / 𝙽𝚘𝙽𝙸𝙿𝙼. With this command, it is possible to uninstall without going through the NI Package Manager.




2. If the uninstaller cannot be found in the specified directory, you can attempt to run the custom Windows Uninstaller for the NI software you are attempting to uninstall. 

1. Open Windows Command Prompt by going to the Windows Start button»Run... and type in cmd and hit Enter. (Note: Make sure that you are running Command Prompt as Administrator )
2. Enter the command wmic product > filename.txt This will generate a list of all programs installed on your computer. It will take a decent amount of time depending on how much software is installed on your computer
3. Navigate to the filename.txt file that was generated from the command. It will be located in the same path that you ran the command from. By default, C:\Users\<username>
4. Open the file with a text editor such as Notepad or Microsoft Word.
5. Scroll up/down to the NI software you would like to uninstall.
6. Scroll to the right to see the specific .msi file that is associated with that software program. The .msi file usually takes the form of a series of alphanumeric characters. i.e. 187fd.msi
7. Copy the directory path and file name of the .msi file and paste it into the Windows Explorer Address Bar.
8. This will run the uninstaller for the software the .msi file is associated with.
9. If you cannot find the uninstaller, the software may have been improperly installed. If this happens, you should run the installation of the software again, then attempt an uninstall.