Add or Remove Programs

The Add or Remove Programs is a feature in Microsoft Windows that lets a user uninstall and manage the software installed on their computer. This feature was introduced in Windows 98 as Add/Remove Programs, later renamed Programs and Features in Windows Vista and Windows 7, and then Apps & features in Windows 10.

How to open Add or Remove Programs in Windows 10

1. Press the Windows key , type Apps & features or Add or Remove Programs, and press Enter .
2. A window similar to the picture below should appear.

1. From this window, you’ll be able to manage how Windows installs programs and also uninstall any programs that were installed.

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Click Programs and Features or under the Programs section click Uninstall a program.
3. From this window, you’ll be able to manage how Windows installs programs and also uninstall any programs that were installed.

See the link below for additional help with uninstalling software in Windows.

Open Add or Remove Programs in Windows 7 and 8

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Under the Programs section, click Uninstall a program.
3. A window similar to the one shown below should appear with a list of all the programs on your computer.

1. From the Programs and Features section of Windows, you can uninstall a program, adjust Windows features, and view installed updates.

1. Press the Windows key , type Programs and Features or Add and remove programs, then press Enter .
2. A window similar to that shown above should appear.
3. From the Programs and Features section of Windows, you can uninstall a program, adjust Windows features, and view installed updates.

See the link below for additional help with uninstalling software in Windows.

How to open Add or Remove Programs in Windows Vista

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Under the Programs section, click Uninstall a program. If the Control Panel is showing icons, click Programs and Features.
3. From the Programs and Features window, you can uninstall a program, adjust Windows features, and view installed updates.

1. Press the Windows key , type Programs and Features, then press Enter .
2. A window similar to that shown above should appear.
3. From the Programs and Features section of Windows, you can uninstall a program, adjust Windows features, and view installed updates.

See the link below for additional help with uninstalling software in Windows.

How to open Add or Remove Programs in Windows XP

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
3. A window similar to the one below should appear with a list of all the programs on your computer.

1. To remove a program, select it on the list, and then click the Change/Remove button.

See the link below for additional help with uninstalling software in Windows.

How to open Add/Remove Programs in Windows ME and 98

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. A window should open that allows you to uninstall software in Windows.

Should I write «Add/Remove Programs» or «Add or Remove Programs?»

Unless you’re talking about very early versions of Microsoft Windows (Windows 98 or Windows ME), this section is called «Add or Remove Programs.»

With Windows Vista and Windows 7, if you’re writing about uninstalling and managing software in Windows, refer to this section as «Programs and Features.» With Windows 8 and Windows 10, it should be referred to as «Apps & features.»

Configuring Add/Remove Programs with Windows Installer

You can supply all of the information needed to configure Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel by setting the values of certain installer properties in your application’s Windows Installer package. Setting these properties automatically writes the corresponding values into the registry. If the installer detects that the product is marked for complete removal, operations are automatically added to the script to remove the Add/Remove Programs folder in Control Panel information for the product.

If an application is not registered, it is not listed in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. For more information, see Adding and Removing an Application and Leaving No Trace in the Registry.

Applications that have been installed in the per-user installation context are displayed in the Add/Remove Programs of the current user. Applications that have been installed in the per-machine installation context are displayed in the Add/Remove Programs of all users. Applications that have not been installed per-machine, and have only been installed as per-user applications for users other than the current user, do not appear in the Add/Remove Programs of the current user.

Note that installation packages that use the LIMITUI property must also contain the ARPNOMODIFY. This is required for a user to obtain the correct behavior from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel utility when attempting to configure a product.

The installer uses the following public properties to manage Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Property name	Brief description of property
ARPAUTHORIZEDCDFPREFIX	URL of the update channel for the application. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPCOMMENTS	Provides Comments for the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPCONTACT	Provides the Contact for Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPINSTALLLOCATION	Fully qualified path to the application’s primary folder. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPHELPLINK	Internet address, or URL, for technical support. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPHELPTELEPHONE	Technical support phone numbers. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPNOMODIFY	Prevents display of a Change button for the product in Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Note: This only affects the display in the ARP. The Windows Installer is still capable of repairing, installing-on-demand, and uninstalling applications through a command line or the programming interface.
ARPNOREMOVE	Prevents display of a Remove button for the product in the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. The product can still be removed by selecting the Change button if the installation package has been authored with a user interface that provides product removal as an option. Note: This only affects the display in the ARP. The Windows Installer is still capable of repairing, installing-on-demand, and uninstalling applications through a command line or the programming interface.
ARPNOREPAIR	Disables the Repair button in the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Note: This only affects the display in the ARP. The Windows Installer is still capable of repairing, installing-on-demand, and uninstalling applications through a command line or the programming interface.
ARPPRODUCTICON	Identifies the icon displayed in Add/Remove Programs. If this property is not defined, Add/Remove Programs specifies the display icon.
ARPREADME	Provides the ReadMe for Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPSIZE	Estimated size of the application in KB.
ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT	Prevents display of the application in the Programs List of the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Note: This only affects the display in the ARP. The Windows Installer is still capable of repairing, installing-on-demand, and uninstalling applications through a command line or the programming interface.
ARPURLINFOABOUT	URL for application’s home page. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.
ARPURLUPDATEINFO	URL for application update information. The value the installer writes under the Uninstall Registry Key.

For information regarding the Set Program and Defaults tool, refer to the section Working with Set Program Access and Computer Defaults.

Program Is Not Listed in Add/Remove Programs After Installation

Symptoms

After you install a program on your computer, the program is not listed in the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. Also, other programs that are installed on your computer and that were previously listed in Add/Remove Programs may no longer be listed.

Cause

This problem can occur if the program you installed creates a registry key name that is longer than 60 characters in length. Add/Remove Programs only lists program names it locates up to the point it encounters this situation.

Resolution

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in WindowsTo work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

Uninstall the Program

The installation program may detect that this program is already installed on your computer and provide an option to uninstall it. When this program is removed, the other missing programs in Add/Remove Programs are listed again.

Run the Uninstall Program Included in the Uninstall Folder

Some programs create a folder under the Winnt folder that contains a «$» character at the start and end of the folder name. This folder may contain an uninstall program that you can run to remove the program you previously installed on your computer. Note that these folders are usually hidden, and that you may need to configure Windows Explorer to view hidden files and folders. To do so, right-click Start, click Explore, click Options on the View menu, and then click Show all files.

Use the Uninstall Command Displayed in the Registry

Use Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) to view the following registry key:

Double-click the UninstallString registry value, copy the contents of the Value Data box by selecting the contents and pressing CTRL+C, and then quit Registry Editor.

Click Start, click Run, press CTRL+V to paste the uninstall command, and then click OK.

Shorten the Registry Key Name

Run Regedit.exe to view the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Click the registry key for the program you installed, click Rename on the Edit menu, and then use a name with less than 60 characters. Note that if the DisplayName value is longer than 32 characters, it is not displayed. To rename it, double-click DisplayName and use a name up to 32 characters in length.

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

More Information

Programs are sorted alphabetically within the Uninstall registry key, and any keys listed after the long key name are ignored.

How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add/Remove Programs List

This article applies to Windows 2000. Support for Windows 2000 ends on July 13, 2010. The Windows 2000 End-of-Support Solution Center is a starting point for planning your migration strategy from Windows 2000. For more information see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy.

Summary

This article describes how to manually remove items from the Add/Remove Programs tool if the item is still displayed after you try to remove the item from Add/Remove Programs.

More Information

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
Programs that are compatible with Windows may have an uninstallation program or feature. The Add/Remove programs tool lists all of the Windows-compatible programs that have an uninstall program or feature. You may need to manually remove the program from the Add/Remove Programs list if you uninstall a program and the registry key that is used to display the program name is not removed correctly:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then press ENTER.

Locate and click the following registry key:

After you click the Uninstall registry key, click Export Registry File on the Registry menu.

In the Export Registry File dialog box, click Desktop in the Save in box, type uninstall in the File name box, and then click Save.

Each key under Uninstall represents a program that appears in Add/Remove Programs. To determine which program that each key represents, click the key, and then view the following values:

DisplayName — the value data for the DisplayName key is the name that is listed in Add/Remove Programs

UninstallString — the value data for the UninstallString key is the program that is used to uninstall the program

After you identify the registry key that represents the program that is still in Add/Remove Programs, right-click the key, and then click Delete.

After you delete the key, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.

In Add/Remove Programs, verify that the program for which you deleted the registry key is not listed.