Silent Uninstall of Windows Agent

Last Modified

Fri Aug 04 16:25 GMT 2023

Description

• How can I uninstall the Windows Agent silently to use a maintenance or reinstall script?

Environment

• N-able N-central
• Windows Agent

Solution

1. Find the uninstall key in the registry.
   • This is found in:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\orComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

2. Find the Uninstall String inside the registry key.
   • Example:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{1D9F5D88-12AA-427F-8A33-DED71D60E4D9}Shows:DisplayName - Windows AgentComments - N-able N-central 12.2.1.67UninstallString - MsiExec.exe /X{1D9F5D88-12AA-427F-8A33-DED71D60E4D9}

3. Use this key to run a silent uninstall by simply adding /qn to the command line.
   • Please note that this key is a GUID and is different for each version of the agent, however, looking for DisplayName of Windows Agent we can easily find the correct string.
4. After maintenance, reinstall the agent as required.
   • If you are using a script to reinstall the agent it is recommended to consider clearing the asset tag for the agent as well.
   • https://documentation.n-able.com/N-central/troubleshooting/Content/kb/How-to-delete-asset-tag-values-manually.htm