Force uninstalling MSI from Windows machine.

Recently I had troubles uninstalling a test MSI that I had installed. The uninstallation just won't happen and roll-back of the uninstall with subsequent failure.

Utility msizap.exe can be used to uninstall the software

1) Download the utility - its a part of the Windows SDK. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370834(v=vs.85).aspx

2) Find the product code of the software you want to purge. From powershell issue the following command:

PS C:\Users\Administrator.BW> get-wmiobject Win32_Product | Format-Table IdentifyingNumber, Name

IdentifyingNumber                                           Name
-----------------                                           ----
{B862B671-59FD-7457-AFA0-C738FB7ABD60}                      Windows SDK Intellidocs
{4653CB40-DF74-3770-8FB0-24472395D885}                      Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 Utilities for Win
{4B6C7001-C7D6-3710-913E-5BC23FCE91E6}                      Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.3
{22D02951-5B4C-36FD-801E-ACB3595760B4}                      Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 Samples (40715)
{965DF723-5688-359E-84D2-417CAFE644B5}                      Microsoft Visual C++ Compilers 2008 Standard Edition
{26A24AE4-039D-4CA4-87B4-2F83218066F0}                      Java 8 Update 66


Here the IdentifyingNumber is the product code that needs to be used.

3) To remove the software run the command like below. I am removing a product with product code "{DFBF441F-22BE-4836-A34C-D6AF75A62EC3}"

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin>MsiZap.Exe TP! {DFBF441F-22BE-4
836-A34C-D6AF75A62EC3}
MsiZap V 5.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved

MsiZapInfo: Performing operations for user S-1-5-21-2768696249-2423275357-252691
9009-500
Searching for the Windows Installer InProgress key. . .
Searching for the product {DFBF441F-22BE-4836-A34C-D6AF75A62EC3} cached package.
 . .
Searching for install property data for product {DFBF441F-22BE-4836-A34C-D6AF75A
62EC3}. . .
Searching user's global config location for product {DFBF441F-22BE-4836-A34C-D6A
F75A62EC3} data. . .
  Searching for product F144FBFDEB2263843AC46DFA576AE23C upgrade codes in Softwa
re\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\\UpgradeCodes...

4) Ensure the product is removed from the program and features list.