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Credentials not cached and Cannot uninstall Sophos Endpoint

Alex Friend

Hi,

I have Sophos Endpoint Defense installed on my home standalone PC. This software was installed from my employer's web site around 2011. Sophos is still the AV software of my employer. Since 2011 and until a few weeks ago, the software auto-updated (every 60 mins) from one of my employer's servers (Oxford Brookes University) without problem. I have Sophos 10.6 running under Windows 7.

 A few weeks ago, the task bar system tray Sophos icon was reporting 'Update Failed'. If I try to manually update, it reports 'Could not contact server' and see log file image below. I enquired with Oxford Brookes IT help desk and they said that nothing at their end had changed but that they now recommend staff to install the free Sophos AV as the setup I have is now reserved for on-site managed PCs. They said I should uninstall Sophos and then install the free Sophos AV. I tried uninstalling it as Administrator. In Control Panel it shows these programs for Sophos:

I doubleclicked the first item in the list 'Sophos AV' attempting to uninstall it but after about 30 secs it returned:

I shut down and restarted in Safe Mode, and tried again to uninstall it but got a (probably spurious) message about Sophos not being correctly installed.

'SophosAdministrator User Group' was perhaps an Oxford Brookes server-side permissions group. It doesn't exist on my laptop as far as I can see.

Not being able to uninstall Sophos, I found a way to get Sophos to autoupdate but I have to go through the same routine at the start of each work session.

I start Sophos from the system tray icon, click Configure Updating link and at the Properties for Sophos AutoUpdate, I click 'Change' button and re-enter my password, click OK etc. and close Sophos window. When I manually 'Update Now' from the system tray icon, it updates fine and then continues to autoupdate every hour. (PS I have x'd out my ID in the image below.)

I have to go through that routine at the start of each work session.

It seems that my credentials are not being cached properly, or perhaps a configuration file is corrupted and just needs re-creating.

BTW: Here is example of the log for a failed update:

Could you please let me know:

a) whether there is a way of getting Sophos to save my credentials so I don't have to re-enter them at each work session. If not,

b) how do I uninstall my current instance of Sophos?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

Alex.

 



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  • 0

    Hello Alex,

    first of all, an uninstall requires the Windows Installer, but the Installer is not available in Safe Mode.

    It seems strange in several ways: To configure AutoUpdate you have to be a member of the (local) SophosAdministrator group - but then you should be able to uninstall and shouldn't get the 3005 error (could you nevertheless post the log mentioned in the article?). Also the credentials you enter for AutoUpdate should stick. The Programs and Features screenshot shows that the Sophos Remote Management System is installed - this would make it a managed installation (that the download location is named Unmanaged_XP might not have any significance). Do you perhaps occasionally connect to your site with VPN? Which credentials are in the Configure updating window at the start of the session?

    Christian 

  • 0 in reply to QC

    Hello Christian,

    From inside Sophos from the View updating log  link, the log file shows the following for a failed update:

    The alc.log in \programdata\sophos\etc doesn't contain the above data. Can you advise which *.log file I should send?

    I do use VPN to connect to my workplace from home. The ID and p/w are the same as for the problem Sophos Update.

    Best wishes,

    Alex.

  • 0 in reply to Alex Friend

    Hello Alex,

    doesn't contain the above data
    it does, but in raw format. In the same folder the ALUpdate logs contain the detailed information.

    Christian

  • 0 in reply to QC

    Hi,

    I have decided that I don't want to get my Sophos auto-update to work again. I just want to uninstall Sophos altogether and then reinstall it from your web site.

    I am the administrator of my laptop but I cannot uninstall Sophos because 'I don't belong to the Sophos Administrator Group'. That group doesn't exist on my laptop. It must be a global group created by my employer's IT services department and which formerly administered my Sophos software on my laptop until my employer changed policy and advised staff to install directly from your site.

    Is there some way that I can take control of my Sophos installation so I can uninstall it? eg. taking ownership of Sophos install files, cancelling a group policy, editing registry entries?

    Thanks.

    Alex

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