In some rare occations you might have problems uninstalling Windows services. Most of the time the reason is that the original files accompanying the distribution "as registered" in the Add or Remove Programs area of Windows have been modified. This is very unfortunate because the installation should be uninstalled prior to installing a new version of a service.

Resolution

There are several options to resolve this problem.

  1. First, try to repair the installation first and then uninstall the same installation. This might only work when you have the original MSI file:
    1. Open "Add or Remove Programs";
    2. Select the application and choose Repair;
    3. You will be asked for the original MSI file. Select this file;
    4. When the MSI file is the correct one, Windows will repair (reinstall) the service;
    5. Now uninstall the same application;
  2. If the above is not succesfull, you can manually remove the files, the Service entry in the list of services and the entry in the "Add or Remove Programs" overview. 
    Note: please first make a backup of your registry before you make any modifications, [click here for instructions]:
    1. First stop the service in the service overview (Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services), select the relevant service and clickstop;
    2. Search for the relevant files and delete them;
    3. Open the register editor (Start>Run>Regedit) and search for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services
      1. Select the node and [export the content to a file] (to restore your actions);
      2. Search for the relevant service below the Services node;
      3. Delete the node representing the service;
    4. Now you have deleted the service and its files, however, the service will still appear in the "Add or Remove Programs" dialog. To remove it from this list. Download this program from Microsoft to manually remove the service from the list: [1] click [here] to visit the relevant site;

After succesfully finishing one of the above actions, the Windows installer will no longer give the warning about a previous version and will install your new service. 

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