MankyD
14th February 2006 18:06 UTC

Deleting "Application Data" from Multiple Users during Uninstall?
The program I am installing creates a folder in each individual user's "application data" directory when the user runs the app. I'm wondering if there is a way to find every "application data" folder that the app created and remove it when I run the NSIS uninstaller (running with admin priviledges, of course.)

As an addendum to that question, does anyone know if you could do a partial uninstall - only remove shortcuts and application data for each individual user rather than everyone. Then, when the last person to have the program uinstalls it, remove everything?

Afrow UK
14th February 2006 19:27 UTC

Either create a list (INI file or registry) of all application data dirs created on install, and read the list (ReadINI/RegString) on uninstall.
Another option is to create a unique file in any application data dirs created by the installer (with FileOpen, FileWrite, FileClose) and delete those dirs that contain the unique file on uninstall (check if the file exists with IfFileExists).

-Stu

kichik
14th February 2006 20:35 UTC

You can also get every folder with EnumUsersReg and HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. Actually, EnumUsersReg even shows you how to get the profile directories list (SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList).

MankyD
14th February 2006 21:19 UTC

I've come up with a first attempt at a solution (haven't tried kichik's method, but I'll check it out, thanks!) Sorry if this problem/solution seems a bit ameteur, I just started NSIS yesterday:

        FindFirst $0 $1 "c:\documents and settings\*"
        loop:
          StrCmp $1 "" done
          StrCmp $1 "." continue
          StrCmp $1 ".." continue

          RMDir /r /REBOOTOK "c:\documents and settings\$1\Application Data\my_program"

        continue:
          FindNext $0 $1
          Goto loop
        done:

MankyD
14th February 2006 22:00 UTC

kichik's method worked great except for one small catch:

Section "un.install"
...
        ${EnumUsersReg} un.EraseAppDataCB temp.key
...

SectionEnd

Function "un.EraseAppDataCB"
         Pop $0
         ReadRegStr $0 HKU "$0\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" "AppData"
         RMDir /r /REBOOTOK "$0\my_program"
FunctionEnd

Comperio
15th February 2006 00:34 UTC

MankyD,
Your first solution of sweeping through the "C:\Documents and settings" folder won't always work. The PC may not have a "C" drive, or the person setting up the users may have chosen a differnt location for each user's home appdata directory.

The EnumUsersReg suggestion is a more fool-proof solution.