Archiving an application

Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...

On 06/01/2017 07:26 PM, Jason wrote:
Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...

App or program? And yes, your last sentence says it all.
There used to be a program that you could load and it would take samples
of the system before and after and then mark all the things touched. I
haven't seen that in years.

"Jason" wrote

| Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
| installed Windows app?

There used to be Quarterdeck Clean Sweep, which
worked beautifully. Then Symantec bought it and did
their usual hatchet job. These days there's probably
pressure not to produce such a thing.

The first thing to check would be whether there's
an uninstall config file in the program folder. If so,
it will list what needs to be undone, thus telling
you what was done.

If it was installed via MSI it's possible to track
down all the details, though it might be tedious.

Some installers are more secretive. You might
try running Procmon at startup to see what it does.
Typical things to check:

Program Files folder
Program Files\Common files folder
App Data folders. All of yours, plus all users
Registry keys under HKLM\Software and HKCU\Software

The vast majority of software will contain itself
in those areas, but there could also be registered
libraries in the system folder or other more exotic
items. You might be able to check for those by
looking at what it loads in Process Explorer. But
it really all depends on what the software is.

One other note: If you figure it out then do the
backup and copy it to another system. That way
you can not only test your backup but also, if it
doesn't work, you may get clues via Process
Monitor or error messages as to what you missed.

Jason wrote:
Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...

When a program has an uninstall option, there can be a
fairly large "cache" of MSI files, saved from when the
install was done originally. I wouldn't say the installation
process was "forgotten". There can still be elements of it
on the machine.

When Programs and Features offers a "Repair" option,
that can be accessing the cached MSI file. When the
"Repair" option fails and complains the MSI is missing,
sometimes the MSI got unpacked in a randomly numbered
folder at the root level of some partition, and is
now "lost". It's easier to find the needed MSI, if
it got stored in the cache where it belongs. It's not
clear why some installs screw up that way.

And don't expect the filenames of the .msi files
to be meaningfull. Office would not be Office.msi,
but it might be e4718.msi. You could try a search
on "ext:msi" and check out where the stuff is hiding.

I haven't read any articles on the care and feeding of
msiexec, and the above is just visual observation while
looking around C: for stuff to delete :-) No, I don't
delete those.

Paul

"Paul" wrote

|
| When a program has an uninstall option, there can be a
| fairly large "cache" of MSI files, saved from when the
| install was done originally.

MSIs are relatively rare. More likely with
software aimed at corporate. Less likely otherwise.
Most smaller programs use Inno or Nullsoft installers.
Many big programs will use InstallShield. Older will use
pre-MSI IS. Newer is likely to use an MSI wrapped
in custom IS muck. If it is an MSI that may make the
job of documenting the install a lot easier. As you
said, at least the shell should still be around. That
can be found by looking in the Uninstaller keys of
the Registry.

Jason wrote:

Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...

Only if you logged the installation using such a utility would it know
the files and registry entries to grab to put into an archive. After
you've done the installation, it is too late to know what all the
program entails.

A long time ago, I used Zsoft Uninstaller. It would log (snapshot) the
current file and registry states before I started an installation, I'd
do the installation, and then it would log (snapshot) the file and
registry state after the installation. I had to start it manually to
tell it that an install was about to happen. It would compare the two
snapshots and create a log file used to undo all the changes. The
problem with that technique is ALL file and registry changes get put
into the uninstall log and that includes an file and registry changes
made by anything running. That would be the installer making its
changes along with any other process or the OS making changes. You
could edit the uninstall log to remove entries that you suspected had
nothing to do with the installation of a particular program. That way,
you did not undo changes when you uninstalled that were in the log that
did not apply to just the installed program. Alas, the author abandoned
that install monitor so it is stuck as a 32-bit program that hasn't a
clue how registry and file redirection work under a 64-bit version of
Windows. It has been stuck at version 2.5 since Nov 2010. The site
still exists and I suspect the author would love to get donations on
software he abandoned over 6 years ago (sarcasm).

Ashampoo Uninstaller is payware ($60). Along with monitoring
installations (to later facilitate uninstall and cleanup), the will use
the log to build an backup (archive) of the files and registry changes.
That way, if you uninstall then you could reinstall. I've not used that
software and the backup aka archive facility was reported by other
reviewers 2 years ago yet I didn't see mention of it at Ashampoo's site.
There is no online copy of the product's manual to see if such a backup
facility is included to allow re-install.

Total Uninstaller ($30, or more) is another install monitor that says it
can create backups (archives) of an installation to let you re-install a
program or transfer it to another computer from the backup rather than
have to re-install the program.

There was software virtualization machine (SVM) tool from Altiris that
let you install applications into "layers". You could define if a layer
was loaded or not. One use was to allow multiple versions of the same
program to be concurrently installed but have only one version loaded at
a time since many programs cannot tolerate multiple loaded instances of
itself at different versions. You could even configure a layer to
unload if another conflicting layer got loaded. Alas, Symantec
swallowed it up and the software disappeared. I think it went into
their Workspace Virtualization product. Symantec has an info page at
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.DOC1319.html but it redirects
to a Symantec community page. The layers could be stored elsewhere
hence you could restore a program to somewhere else. In fact, as I
recall, layers could be put on a server that a company's workstations
could access. Instead of installing the application on each workstation
or using a standard sysprep image on every workstation which will have
software the employee doesn't need or is missing software they do need,
the employee could retrieve a layer and activate on their workstation.

For programs that have already been installed, no install monitor will
help you build an archive or backup of what files and registry changes
are associated to a program. You're too late since migration requires
preparation. During an installation, you need to record all those
changes to then use during an uninstall or to build an archive.

When you install a program, and for those that actually use an installer
and not just some copy script, they create a log file of the additions,
deletions, and changes they made for files and registry entries. Upon
uninstallation, that log file is fed to the installer to have it undo
all those changes. However, any changes made after the installation
completes will not be recorded in the log file because the installer is
no longer running. Configuration changes, database creates or changes,
or anything else changed while *using* the program won't be record in
the installation log. So the installer won't see those after-install
changes when it is fed its install-time log file. I suppose you could
dig into those installer logs to see what install-time changes that they
recorded.

Sorry but I have not heard of an after-installation forensic program
that will dig into an installer's log file to determine what file and
registry changes were made to then record the registry changes into a
backup and then hope it can still find all the files on your storage
media to copy them into the backup.

Why can't you use a backup image of your old computer to restore in on a
different or new computer?

On 02/06/2017 00:26, Jason wrote:
Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...


If you don't have the original installation files either on a CD, DVD or
USB drive then NO is the answer because in Windows you always need the
installation files to make life easy. Whether you can fix this by trial
& error by having another system on which the program runs and copying
the registry entries from one system to another is a different matter
but it is going to take a heck of a long time to get this fixed that
way. Either buy the program or download it from pirate sites which you
use all the time and use your 25TB disk space to store it!!! You told
us you have 25TB of disk space on your system or on your network. You
can always buy more disks for $50.00 to save $3.00 on Windows APP!!
Makes a very good sense here!! Don't you think so? Value of time is
ignored here because you are jobless!!




--
With over 500 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

On Thu, 1 Jun 2017 20:37:42 -0500 "VanguardLH" wrote in
article
Ashampoo Uninstaller is payware ($60). Along with monitoring
installations (to later facilitate uninstall and cleanup), the will use
the log to build an backup (archive) of the files and registry changes.
That way, if you uninstall then you could reinstall.


I believe the Revo uninstaller has an installation option. I should look
into that - never have.

On Thu, 1 Jun 2017 19:26:39 -0400 "Jason"
wrote in article -
september.org

Thanks to all for your comments. They pretty much sum up what I've thought
about. I'd ignored the fact that many programs use 3rd-party installers
which makes what I want to do even less likely :=(

"Jason" wrote

| I'd ignored the fact that many programs use 3rd-party installers
| which makes what I want to do even less likely

Nearly all use a 3rd-party installer, but they vary
quite a bit. Inno installs usually have an uninst.dat
file that lists details. Nullsoft installs... They have
an uninstaller EXE but I don't know if there's a
log file. VLC has an install log. Likewise with Firefox.
Those are all in the program folder. It depends on
the software.

Jason wrote:

I believe the Revo uninstaller has an installation option. I should look
into that - never have.

How is it going to do a reinstallation from an archive that for an
installation it never monitored? I wouldn't trust the database of
install logs to be accurate for my particular installation.

From their web site:

Revo Uninstaller *Pro* creates backups of removed registry keys,
values, files and folders. Backup Manager is the main part of that
system. It helps you to manage backup information stored by Revo
Uninstaller Pro after deletion registry entries, files and folders.

The other levels of the backup system a

Creating system restore point before each uninstall
Full Registry backup before each uninstall
Full Registry backup once each day Revo Uninstaller Pro is started

It is unclear if you need to use a log file that was created by its
monitor (only available in the payware Pro version) during an
installation or if its uninstallation database gets used; however, a
database of uninstall logs does not mean they have one that matches your
particular installation. For example, what happens if their uninstall
log from their database does not list a file that the installer put on
your computer?

I've used Revo Uninstaller (free). It is not as thorough to get rid of
remnant files and registry files as I am. I suspect you must use its
install monitor to create a log and then on using it for uninstall it
will use that log to copy registry entries and files into a backup for
later reinstall. This would be the same feature that I mentioned in
Total Uninstaller and Ashampoo Uninstaller.

As mentioned, the problem with before and after snapshots to create a
log of the differences before and after an install is that the log will
list all changes, not just those committed by the program's installer.
Hopefully they let you edit their install log so you can get rid of
changes unrelated to the program's installation.

I found a copy of their product manual at:

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo...er_how_to.html

Section 4, "Backup Manager" talks about backing up the registry changes
that Revo will commit when it uninstalls a program (but it still unclear
if that would only be when using its install monitor or by using a
static log from its database). The default is to backup all registry
commits on uninstall by Revo. You have to make sure to set the option
to also backup the files. For this to work to migrate software to
another computer for which you don't have its installation media, you
would have to install Revo on that other computer and somehow gets its
backup store to the new computer. I see nothing about it creating its
own installer from the backup for a particular program.

You did not way if you were trying to migrate software between computers
that run the same OS or different ones. What if you install a 64-bit
program on 64-bit Windows but the other computer to which you want to
move the 64-bit software is 32-bit Windows? If you were going to also
migrate Windows to the other computer (provided it is *not* an OEM
license) and then install Revo Uninstaller and then restore its backup
store from your backups to finally get to use Revo to reinstall (copy)
the program on the new computer, seems restoring from a backup image
would be a lot easier and faster.

The way Revo is designed, its uninstall backup is really meant to
reinstall the uninstalled software on the same computer. Moving the
software to another computer means having to install Revo on that other
computer and somehow get the uninstall backup over there.

https://www.martau.com/document/tran...-to-new-pc.php

That's for Total Uninstallers. Looks like they do the same. You create
the uninstall backup, export it, and then import it to Total Uninstaller
that you first had to install on the other computer.

Seems it would've been so much simpler if they zipped up the files that
they were going to uninstall (zip files can retain NTFS permissions) and
saved a batch file full of reg.exe commands to effect changes in the
registry of the other computer. The problem with zip files is that they
may not properly restore NTFS permissions or SAM (account) controls.
Two years ago, 7-zip did not properly restore permissions, especially
inheritence, on folders; see
https://sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/bugs/1493/). Several other zip
tools, like Peazip, use code from 7-zip. Instead of creating a zip
archive and restoring from that, backup programs usually manage the NTFS
permissions okay. So they could do a backup, like other backup
programs, and would need a manager to yank out the files to put them
into the file system. That's probably why Revo and Total Uninstaller
want you using their backup manager in their program to extract from
their backups to know where to put the files and get the permissions
correct. Alas, it's too bad they cannot roll their backup manager into
an executable onto which the backup is attached as a huge data block so
it would be a self-extracting and self-directing reinstallation module.

You are not going to find the archive feature available in freeware.
The uninstall backup feature is available only in Revo Uninstaller *Pro*
($40 - but there's a 10-year anniversary sale so you can get it for
$10). You can buy it to try it but can get a refund with the trial
period (pay, decide, ask for refund if not happy). Don't know how long
the sale will last. Supports lasts only until the next major version
gets released. Still, $10 is pretty cheap. Total Uninstaller costs
money ($30) as does Ashampoo Uninstaller ($60).

On 06/02/17 03:52, Good Guy wrote:
On 02/06/2017 00:26, Jason wrote:
Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...


If you don't have the original installation files either on a CD, DVD or
USB drive then NO is the answer because in Windows you always need the
installation files to make life easy.

How's that making your life easy? Ain't it easier to just tell the
package manager to make a new package, even with the option of telling
to use the configuration that you have on the current machine to be
included in the new package, makes it so simple to move applications and
settings between machines.


way. Either buy the program or download it from pirate sites which you
use all the time

Ah, that explains why you got your machine infected again, you are
pirating all your software, ain't that stupid.

Goof Boy wrote:

On 02/06/2017 00:26, Jason wrote:
Do there exist utility programs that can create an archive of an
installed Windows app? I'd like to remove an app for which the
installation media are no longer present for later restoration.
In all the years I've used Windows I cannot recall seeing anything like
that. I can think of lots of difficulties doing so but am curious if
anybody had attempted this. Registry entries would likely be a
problem...


Vs lbh qba'g unir gur bevtvany vafgnyyngvba svyrf rvgure ba n PQ, QIQ be
vafgnyyngvba svyrf gb znxr yvsr rnfl. Jurgure lbh pna svk guvf ol gevny
& reebe ol univat nabgure flfgrz ba juvpu gur cebtenz ehaf naq pbclvat
gur ertvfgel ragevrf sebz bne system to another is a different matter
but it is going to take a heck of a long time to get this fixed that
way. Either buy the program or qbjaybnq vg sebz cvengr fvgrf juvpu lbh
hfr nyy gur gvzr naq hfr lbhe 25GO qvfx fcnpr gb fgber vg!!! Lbh gbyq
hf lbh unir 25GO bs qvfx fcnpr ba lbhe flfgrz be ba lbhe argjbex. Lbh
pna nyjnlf ohl zber qvfxf sbe $50.00 gb fnir $3.00 ba Jvaqbjf NCC!! Znxrf
n irel tbbq frafr urer!! Qba'g lbh guvax fb? Inyhr bs gvzr vf
vtaberq urer orpnhfr lbh ner wboyrff!!

On Thu, 1 Jun 2017 23:55:12 -0500 "VanguardLH" wrote in
article
You are not going to find the archive feature available in freeware.
The uninstall backup feature is available only in Revo Uninstaller *Pro*

I have the Pro version. I have never looked into the Install feature, but
your post motivates me to do that! Thanks.