Computer Won’t Allow Deletion Of Files?

Question

I have gone to add and remove programs to remove some programs from my computer and get a message saying… Unable to locate the installation log file ‘e: /programs/Plextor/uninstall. Uninstallation will not continue. I have already gone in and tried to delete the programs manually and succeeded. However my computer will not register that the programs are gone instead it thinks that the programs are still in the E: drive. Unfortunately I no longer have an E: drive on my computer it was removed and replaced with a new hard drive which is now called H: drive. I am unable to reinstall any of my older programs because my computer still thinks that they are on my computer even though they are not. My computer has no viruses nor does it have adware or spyware. I have triple checked. If anyone has any ides on how to delete these programs please tell me. And no doing a search for them does not work because they are technically not there anymore.

Answer 1

This is definitely an at your own risk answer. I have had this problem occasionally and what I have done was to search the registry manually for program entries and deleted all the references to the missing program. There are also programs like System Mechanic that will go in and clean your system and fix or delete broken shortcuts and orphaned registry keys, etc. If you are not comfortable or familiar with the registry (most people aren't) this might be a safer option.

Answer 2

When you manualy deleted the programs, you probably deleted the files necessary for uninstalling the programs. Can you restore them from the Recycle Bin, and then uninstall the programs properly?

Otherwise, manually deleting the programs' files is not enough to uninstall the programs, because there is probably still information about the programs in the Windows Registry. You'll need to get a Registry "cleaner" product which will find the information in the Registry that doesn't have associated program files, and delete that information.

If you edit the Registry manually, as another answer suggests, be VERY careful about what you're doing. Making mistakes in editing the Registry can corrupt your system. If you do this, be sure to set a System Restore backup point beforehand.

Answer 3

Why did you delete file from your hard drive before you uninstalled the software? This is a serious problems. If you have those files in the recycle bin then, just restore all those file then uninstalled the software from Add/Remove. You have delete the requests file to uninstalled.

Answer 4

Your best bet is to go into your registry and delete the left over information. In Windows XP ... go to start -> run -> regedit

Then do a search for the file in question. Anything you find ... delete.

You might want to backup the registry before deleting anything, although as long as you only delete stuff pertaining to this software in question, you'll be fine.

Answer 5

Not a problem...

These are just entries in the add/remove table...

Most can be cleaned up by either manual removal or a simple tool like Spybot...

Get spybot at: http://spybot.info

Once installed, make sure you use the "advanced" option, then use the uninstall tool to remove faulty uninstall table entries.

Answer 6

it is not that the old progs are still there. you have deleted the files. but to uninstall completly you also need to delet the registry entires.

so you need to modify the registry. i recommand you not to modify it manually. we have lot of registry cleaner. get the one and clean registry. thet you can see no item (related to the program that you have deleted) in add/remove progs.

Answer 7

Are you System Admin on the thing? Make sure you logged in correctly.

2. Crapcleaner will do it. free. google it.

3. try out the FREE games that don't even need to be Installed on the hard drive! http://pclinuxos.com has the free download, burn it to CD ('burn image to Cd' in Nero>file>). Reboot form CDrom.