Uninstalling Windows Desktop Search
We recommend that you use the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel to uninstall Windows Desktop Search on a single computer. When you do this, check Show Updates and uninstall the newest product or product update first.
When you use Add or Remove Programs to uninstall WDS 2.6.0 or a later version of WDS, you may receive a “Setup has detected the following programs on your computer” message followed by a list of updates. This message says that if Windows Desktop Search is removed, these programs may not run correctly. You receive this message because Add or Remove Programs interprets WDS as a Windows update. Because some product updates are dependent on previous updates, removing a single update may cause problems. However, this is not true of WDS. Removing WDS will not affect the other programs that are listed.
When you uninstall Windows Desktop Search by using a script or a non-Microsoft product, and you cannot use Add or Remove Programs, we recommend that you use the Spuinst.exe program. Although Windows Desktop Search creates a system restore point when it is installed, we do not recommend using System Restore to remove WDS.
To uninstall Windows Desktop Search, obtain Spuinst.exe from the following locations for the following versions of WDS:
Version Location
2.6.0.2083
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371-V2$\spuninst
2.6.0.2057
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371$\spuninst
2.6.5.5373 (Beta)
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB911993$\spuninst
2.6.5.5378
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB911993-V2$\spuninst
2.6.5.5401
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB917979$\spuninst
You can use Spuninst.exe by using any of the following methods:
• Interactive – Spuninst.exe runs without command-line arguments. You will be prompted to restart the computer. To run Spuninst.exe in interactive mode, type the following command at a command prompt:
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371-V2$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
• Quiet – Spuninst.exe runs by using the ‘/q’ or ‘/quiet’ command-line argument. The computer will automatically restart without prompting the user. To run Spuninst.exe in quiet mode, type one of the following commands at a command prompt:
• %systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371-V2$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /q
- or -
systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371-V2$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /quiet
• Passive – Spuninst.exe runs by using the ‘/passive’ command-line argument. You are prompted to restart the computer. If there is no response, the computer automatically restarts. The prompt message displays the wait time in seconds before the computer automatically restarts. To run Spuninst.exe in passive mode, type the following command at a command prompt:
%systemroot%\$NtUninstallKB907371-V2$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /passive
