Uninstalling Winthrop Products and Removing previous versions from Programs and Features

This article covers how to uninstall Winthrop Products and also how to remove previous versions showing in Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Winthrop Products use a two-step uninstall process and will not uninstall from the Programs and Features applet in the Control Panel until they have first been uninstalled from the Microsoft Dynamics GP application. This allows the products to clean up all the settings, tables and other SQL objects from the SQL Server as well as removing themselves from the application installation before the files are removed by uninstalling from the control panel.

Uninstalling Workstations and Servers

The installer checks the Dynamics.set launch file in the Microsoft Dynamics GP application folder to confirm if the product has already been uninstalled from the application. If it still shows as installed in the Dynamics.set launch file, you will be shown a message similar to the one below:

GP Power Tools is still installed in the application.

Clicking OK will close the installer and abort the uninstall process. You can then log into Microsoft Dynamics GP and perform the first step of the uninstall process from the About window of the product.

You can find the About window on the Additional menu of the About Microsoft Dynamics GP window or on the menus in the following locations:

• GP Power Tools – Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Routines >> GP Power Tools
• Batch Posting Service Toolkit – Cards >> System
• Visual Studio Integration Toolkit – Cards >> System
• Inventory Costing Per Site – Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Inventory

From the product’s About window click the Uninstall button and follow the prompts to either uninstall the Workstation or the Server. It is recommended to use Workstation uninstall for all but the final workstations/server and then perform the Server uninstall to clean up the server components as well.

Once the first step has been completed in the application, you can uninstall from the control panel Programs and Features window.

If Microsoft Dynamics GP has already been uninstalled, you will not be able to launch it to complete the first step in the application. In this case (as noted on the warning dialog above), deleting the Dynamics.set launch file will allow the uninstall from the control panel Programs and Features window to proceed.

---

Uninstalling before Updating?

When updating a build of our products for the SAME version of Microsoft Dynamics GP, we recommend installing without uninstalling the earlier build. For example: updating from Version 18.0 Build 28 (18.00.0028) to Version 18.0 Build 30 (18.00.0030).

When upgrading to a NEW version of Microsoft Dynamics GP as an “in place” upgrade, we would recommend uninstalling our products and then re-installing once the new GP version has been installed.  For example: installing a service pack, hot fix, or year end update to go from Version 18.5 to Version 18.6 of GP.

Note: Build numbers for our products refer to the feature set of the product. Version numbers refer to the Microsoft Dynamics GP version. It is recommended to always be on the latest build of our products for your version of Microsoft Dynamics GP. Updating refers to new build on same version. Upgrading refers to moving to a later version of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

---

Removing previous versions from Programs and Features

If an old build of our products is not uninstalled before performing an “in place” upgrade of Microsoft Dynamics GP, it will leave the previous version of our product showing in the control panel Programs and Features applet. Over time and multiple upgrades, you could have many versions showing even though only the latest version is actually installed.

These previous versions cannot be uninstalled normally as you will get the “still installed” dialog shown at the top of this article.

To remove the old versions, temporarily rename the Microsoft Dynamics GP application folder to a new name while uninstalling and then restore the name once the previous versions have been removed. This approach will allow the uninstall to proceed and protects the current Microsoft Dynamics GP folder from having any files removed or changed.

I hope you find this information helpful.

David

This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.