smashing windows

Since I started working more frequently with Microsoft products, I've been running into all kinds of problems. Most of it is my fault--I tend to approach technology from the standpoint of how it should be, not how it actually is. Apparently, one gets into a lot of trouble applying this approach to Microsoft software.

For example, Windows gets very crabby if you have a mix of Office 2003 and Office 2007 products installed. If you happen to discover this the hard way like I did, good luck fixing it! It seems reasonable to me that uninstalling the Office 2007 components, rebooting, and re-installing Office 2003 components would be a good fix. Nope. How about uninstalling everything remotely connected with Office, rebooting, and installing Office 2003? Ah, no. You, my friend, are fubar'd--just like me. This is the sort of thinking that gets Microsoft software all screwed up--what the hell were you thinking?

Later, I tried installing SQL Server 2005. The installer bombed on the MSXML 6.0 installation and then refused to install any SQL Server components or tools. However, it kindly installed the SQL Server documentation and Visual Studio components--which both take an immense amount of disk space and offer no functional happiness. I uninstalled everything SQL Server (odd how you can install multiple components from one installation wizard, but then you need to manually uninstall each component--if you're lucky enough to know which those are). The strange thing was that I already had MSXML 6.0 installed on my system. When I downloaded MSXML 6.0 and separately tried to re-install it, I was told that the administrator had prohibited that action and I was not allowed to install the software on my system.

I found this error message quite strange--because I no longer work at IBM. (If I still worked at IBM, I wouldn't have batted a lash.) Before firing off a snotty note to the help desk, a quick Google showed that the message was a bit on the misleading side. As near as I can figure, my MSXML 6.0 installation got hosed somewhere along the way and didn't want to uninstall or re-install.

In both cases, I needed a strong-arm uninstaller. You know, the kind of uninstaller that REALLY uninstalls a product--as opposed to the Windows uninstaller, which doesn't. Fortunately, that kind of uninstaller is out there, you can get it, and somewhat surprisingly, Microsoft provides it.

So, the upshot is, if you're having problems installing or uninstalling Microsoft software, you will want to check out the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. Notice it's available from Microsoft Support. This is because Microsoft would like you to believe that you might not actually need the tool. Don't listen to them, you do. Just make sure you read the support article before you use it.

The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility helped me fix my two problems. It removed all Office components from my system so I could re-install cleanly. A quick wave of the utility wand banished MSXML 6.0 from my system so that the SQL Server installer could set it up itself.

Now I have a whiter, brighter smile! Thanks, Windows Installer Cleanup Utility!