Need to uninstall Sophos on my client/server machines

Hello all,

as the scripted uninstall for SESC article suggests you should gather the current applicable uninstall strings (that not necessarily are solely msiexec) and use them to build the script. This is recommended especially for SESC as many versions are available to an SESC customer. Central is stricter but taking controlled updates and Early Access programs into account you can still have more than two versions of a component.

Heard that Sophos is working on a flexible tool that assesses the installed components and gathers the correct uninstall strings. Until then the mentioned method is your best option. Please note that the product codes might change without notice.
An article that lists all potential components is IMO simply not feasible - and furthermore you'd have to consult it right before using the script, last week's codes might be outdated.

Christian

Hello QC , 

So , is there other option than msiexec ? the only way is do a script that run the uninstall string code ? if so , it's impossible to get all of the msiexec codes on the machines client

Hello AyoubSEFYAOUI,

other option than msiexec
the UninstallString contains whatever command performs the uninstall, it's up to the application what it puts there. For products installed with the Windows Installer it's msiexec.exe. Of the Sophos components e.g. Intercept X (HitmanPro.Alert, Clean) and Endpoint Defense have their own uninstall programs.
If by other option you mean an alternative command to an msiexec.exe that's in the UninstallString then no.

it's impossible to get all of the msiexec codes
admittedly there's a number of them, dunno for Central but for SESC it's five to ten or so. Normally you endpoints would use more or less the same versions but even if not it's still not something I'd call impossible. OTOH a complete list of potential codes provided in an article likely has to contain four or five times the number of codes you actually need. And the definite drawback of such a list is that someone might store it locally "for convenience" and not check for a new version before using it at a later time. There's a recommended order of uninstalling, a component that's higher up on the list skipped can result in issues that might be hard to resolve.

Christian

Hello AyoubSEFYAOUI,

other option than msiexec
the UninstallString contains whatever command performs the uninstall, it's up to the application what it puts there. For products installed with the Windows Installer it's msiexec.exe. Of the Sophos components e.g. Intercept X (HitmanPro.Alert, Clean) and Endpoint Defense have their own uninstall programs.
If by other option you mean an alternative command to an msiexec.exe that's in the UninstallString then no.

it's impossible to get all of the msiexec codes
admittedly there's a number of them, dunno for Central but for SESC it's five to ten or so. Normally you endpoints would use more or less the same versions but even if not it's still not something I'd call impossible. OTOH a complete list of potential codes provided in an article likely has to contain four or five times the number of codes you actually need. And the definite drawback of such a list is that someone might store it locally "for convenience" and not check for a new version before using it at a later time. There's a recommended order of uninstalling, a component that's higher up on the list skipped can result in issues that might be hard to resolve.

Christian