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Thread: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

  1. #1
    Metamuse Guest

    Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    I'm a website designer who needs to have Virtual PC running on my Vista Home
    Premium PC in order to test my sites in IE6 on a virtual XP platform.

    Up until recently I'd been using Virtual PC 2007 without any problems
    (although it could have been a beta version..?) but now I get an error
    message about an invalid product key and I can't open it.

    I thought it might have expired so I downloaded the latest version of
    Virtual PC 2007 but can't install it because I can't uninstall the old one.
    It gives me a message saying 'the system administrator has set policies to
    prevent this installation' followed by 'you do not have sufficient access to
    uninstall Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. Please contact your system
    administrator.' I AM the administrator!

    I basically have two problems:
    1) I can't uninstall
    2) I need to get Virtual PC 2007 working

    Has anyone come across this problem before?

    Any help would be gratefully received because I really need this fixed!

  2. #2
    Rick Rogers Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    Virtual PC is not supported on Vista Home Premium, only Business, Ultimate,
    and Enterprise, though there are many reports of it installing and running
    ok. I suspect perhaps that a recent update may have broken this (whether
    from WU or WGA). You may want to look at updates installed prior to this
    problem beginning. The invalid product key message is what makes me believe
    it is related, as VPC doesn't use one for install, but something may be
    checking the key used to install Vista and detecting that it is not for a
    supported version.

  3. #3
    Metamuse Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    Thanks for your help so far. I too have heard that although it's not
    supposed to be compatible, it can work - as it did before, this is exactly
    what I'm hoping for.

    Can you tell me what I need to look at when you say 'updates installed prior
    to this problem'? I bought the computer specifically for testing so I've done
    nothing to it apart from installing browsers and VPC. What can I do to solve
    the uninstall problem?

  4. #4
    Rick Rogers Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    I was referring to updates from either Windows Update or Microsoft Update.
    These can be checked under Installation History in the Control
    Panel/Programs and Features.
    From:
    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro.../overview.mspx

    Under Product Specifications, it reads "It runs on Windows Vista Business,
    Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows XP Professional,
    or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition."

    It may have run initially, but it's not really supported. As I mentioned,
    something installed since the initial setup may have broken the ability for
    it to run in Home Premium. The best thing to do is examine what was
    installed immediately prior to loss of functionality.

  5. #5
    Metamuse Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    I've checked and on the day that I found it didn't work I had four updates,
    two for security and two general Windows ones. Do I need to uninstall these?
    Is it safe to do so?

  6. #6
    Rick Rogers Guest
    I would try uninstalling them, though that may not be the best idea
    depending on what the updates were for (particularly the security ones).

    I uninstalled them and restarted but it's still doing the same thing - I
    can't open or uninstall VPC.

    What can I try next?

  7. #7
    Carey Frisch [MVP] Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    VPC 2007 was designed to only properly run on Windows Vista Business, Windows
    Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows XP Professional, or Windows
    XP Tablet PC Edition.

  8. #8
    Metamuse Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    I've actually had it working for months without any problems at all. Now,
    suddenly it doesn't. Has Microsoft deliberately disabled it?

    I need to view websites in IE6 to check them, but I can't do this on Vista
    without VPC because I also have IE7 installed. Is there another way I can run
    IE6 and IE7 together without VPC?

  9. #9
    Rick Rogers Guest
    Anything else (other programs) you've installed? What we're looking for is a
    trigger, something that is now interfering with its operation.

    To answer your question of Carey, I don't know of any deliberate attempt to
    prevent it from running in Home Premium as of yet.

  10. #10
    Andrew McLaren Guest
    The restriction on running Virtual PC 2007 on Vista Home Edition is purely a
    licensing/marketing issue - there are no technical barriers to running
    Virtual PC 2007 on Vista Home edition.

    (In fairness to Microsoft, "not supported" also usually means they have not
    run the full suite of product validation tests on a specific platform
    combo - so they might not have run the formal test scripts for Virtual PC on
    Home Edition. Hence, they cannot "support" it in the specific,
    PSS/QFE-related sense. But there's no technical facility which is required
    to run Virtual PC, but is missing on Home Edition. In fact a few weeks back,
    Microsoft came very close to changing their policy and supporting VPC on
    Home Edition ... but then retracted, at the last moment).

    Assuming you have the released version of Virtual PC 2007 (ie not a beta
    version), try to uninstall it this way:

    - find Command Prompt under Accessories in the Start menu;
    - right-click it and choose "Run as Administrator"
    - at the administrative command prompt, run this command:

    C:\>MsiExec.exe /X{8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F994B0944160} /l*vx
    vpcuninst.log

    (all on one line, command may be wrapped in post)

    At this point, 3 things could happen:

    1) your existing Virtual PC 2007 installation could succeed; or ...
    2) the command could return an error that package
    8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F994B0944160 was not found; or ...
    3) Msiexec could start uninstalling Virtual PC 2007, but then uninstallation
    will fail with an error.

    Case (1) - Uninstall Succeeds
    =============================

    After VPC 2007 is uninstalled, I'm guessing you should be able to go ahead
    and re-install VPC2007 with no problem. But to get good diagnostic
    information about the re-installation, use this procedure:

    - make sure you have a good, recent copy of Virtual PC 2007 Setup.exe (ie,
    don't re-install an old copy if you think you have beta versions floating
    around. It's just a 30MB download, to get a known good copy).

    - open an administrative command prompt;

    - run these commands (assuming a scratch directory of C:\TEMP - but any dir
    will do):
    C:\TEMP>mkdir vpcinst
    C:\TEMP>setup /t c:\TEMP\vpcinst
    VPC Setup will start running. Click "Next" at the first prompt. Then
    click Cancel to exit out of setup.

    - the "/t" parameter will have unpacked the constituent setup files into the
    c:\TEMP\vpcinst directory;

    - C:\TEMP> cd vpcinst
    C:\TEMP\vpcinst>

    - install the XML update:
    C:\TEMP\vpcinst>msxml6-KB927977-enu-x86.exe <enter>

    - next, run the VPC msi file with this command:
    C:\TEMP\vpcinst>msiexec /i Virtual_PC_2007_Install.msi /l*vx
    vpcreinst.log

    This will create a detailed log file "vpcreinst.log" which shows what the
    installer is doing at every stage. If you encounter problems re-installing,
    examine vpcreinst.log for errors and clues. Assuming installation completes
    normally, you can then delete the vpcinst directory and files.

    Case (2) - 8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F994B0944160 package not found
    =================================================================

    8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F994B0944160 is the Product Code GUID for Virtual PC
    2007 RTM. If the Installer can't find this, it would indicate the Virtual PC
    you already had installed might have been a beta edition. You'll need to
    work out the uninstall string for the specific version you have installed:
    - run Regedit as Administrator;
    - navigate to
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products
    - examine the various keys to find which one relates to Virtual PC. Under
    "InstallProperties" will be a value called DisplayName. VPC will have a
    Display Name something like "Microsoft Virtual PC 2007"
    - under the same InstallProperties key will be a value called
    "UninstallString", which will be an msiexec command.
    - copy the uninstall msiexec command to your Administrative Prompt, but
    don't run it just yet.
    - at the end of the command string, add the parameters "/l*vx
    vpcuninst.log", for example:

    C:\TEMP>MsiExec.exe /X{8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F12345678912} /l*vx
    vpcuninst.log

    - *now* press <enter>, and run the command. This will try to uninstall the
    package, creating a detailed log of its actions called vpcuninst.log. Once
    again, if you encounter problems uninstalling, examine this vpcuninst.log
    for errors and clues. This should give you a much more precise idea of what
    the Installer is unhappy about.

    Case (3) - Msiexec starts uninstalling Virtual PC 2007, fails with an error
    ===========================================================================

    Well, you'll be getting the idea by now ... the command:
    C:\>MsiExec.exe /X{8A7CAA24-7B23-410B-A7C3-F994B0944160} /l*vx
    vpcuninst.log
    will create a detailed log file called vpcinst.log. If uninstall fails, make
    a note of the exact text of the error message displayed on the screen; then
    go an examine teh log file to see exactly what msiexec is complaining about.
    The corrective actions wil depend on what you fond; so, if in doubt report
    back here and we'll take it from there.

    The msiexec log files are plain text files, they can be examined with any
    text editor (eg Notepad). The names for the log files are arbitraty - I've
    called them vpcinst.log, etc ... but you can name them anything you like.
    The important bit is the "/l*vx" to turn on detailed, verbose, debugging
    logging.

    As you've seen, most discussion in microsoft.public.windows.vista.general is
    at a pretty simplistic user level. For detailed technical discusson of
    Virtual PC issues, you may get better results in microsoft.public.virtualpc.

    Hope this helps - let us know how you get on!

  11. #11
    Metamuse Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    I tried running command prompt and ran the command as you suggested. It
    tries to uninstall but then I get the message:

    "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed"

    Would this have created a log file? I searched my computer for
    "vpcuninst.log" but it couldn't find any items matching my search.

  12. #12
    Andrew McLaren Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    That makes it sound like you have a version of Virtual PC other than the
    2007 RTM version. Each versio gets a unique GUID identifier. Maybe you have
    a beta version? Search
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products
    for the right package ID that you need to uninstall with, as I described in
    Case (2).

  13. #13
    azns13 Guest

    Re: Vista Home and Virtual PC 2007 - can't uninstall

    i jus came across this issue and i just deleted the microsoft virtual pc
    folder in the program files directory and ran the installation again. i
    kno this is old put i never found the correct solution so incase some
    else searches this issue they'll find my post.

  14. #14
    Guest
    Once you run the setup(whether if you got "This action is only valid for
    products that are currently installed"), you can try to uninstall it.

  15. #15
    Paddy Guest

    Re: SPAM!

    >SPAM!

    Nice fried.

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