Can't uninstall

[bkay]

I want to uninstall XAMPP. I installed it several months ago and have not used it over two or three times. It appears to be dead. It won't come up. I went to the instructions for uninstalling, which said use the script. Windows cannot find the script. "uninstall" is mispelled in the script. I tried spelling it correctly, but that didn't work. I see below there's another mispelling of "uninstall", could that be the problem?

I don't understand these alternate instructions.

It's also possible to remove/delete by your own:

1.stop all serves
2.remove the Windows services
3.stop the XAMPP Control
4.delete the startmenu/desktio icons
5.delete the XAMPP directory
As with the unnstall script, 1st backup things you still need, 2nd delete...

Any place to look for a tutorial? Any other ideas?

bkay

[bkay]

Yes, the link you gave me was the same thing I have already seen and quoted in my question. I have no clue what "stop all serves" means. Nor, do I understand what "Windows services" to remove or where to go to find them. That's the question, not the answer. Ditto with the rest of the instructions.

Yes, I've seen this and I don't understand what it means.

1.stop all serves
2.remove the Windows services
3.stop the XAMPP Control
4.delete the startmenu/desktio icons
5.delete the XAMPP directory

Bkay

[Sharley]

...Yes, I've seen this and I don't understand what it means.

1.stop all serves
2.remove the Windows services
3.stop the XAMPP Control
4.delete the startmenu/desktio icons
5.delete the XAMPP directory

It has often been (still is) an issue with XAMPP not having competent translators for instructions including readme files and even in some forum replies.

Try this and see if it helps you understand the instructions:

1. Stop all the running XAMPP servers (serves) by opening your XAMPP Control Panel and instructing each "Running" server to Stop - click on the Stop button.

2. Remove any XAMPP servers running in Windows as a Service (the server starts when Windows boots) and indicated in the XAMPP Control Panel by a tick in the Svc box - remove the tick by clicking on it.

3. When you are satisfied that there are no ticks in the Svc boxes and there are no servers Running (all stopped) then it is time to click on the Exit button in the XAMPP Control Panel (Stop the XAMPP Control).

4. Delete the Start Menu and Desktop XAMPP icons - the start menu can be found usually in the User's folder and the exact location depends on your Operating System which you did not mention in this Topic.

5. Delete the XAMPP install directory and is usually C:\xampp in a default installation - make sure you have a backup copy of your needed files from the htdocs folder before deleting or they will be lost.

You should now have uninstalled XAMPP as per the poorly translated manual uninstall instructions.

You could also simply just delete the C:\xampp folder as per the readme_en.txt file but...
...checking to make sure that all the servers are stopped and any Windows Services are removed helps to give you a clean start for re-installing XAMPP.

Not a strict requirement but a reboot after completing the manual uninstall process often helps and may reveal any Windows Services started by XAMPP that have not been removed as they will attempt to start up again on boot up - check your Task Manager for any Apache, MySQL and/or FileZilla entries in the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager after a reboot.

Good luck

[xfsgpr]

How about rebooting your system in safe mode and then deleting the folder called:

c:/xampp (or wherever you have installed the XAMPP]

The reason for rebooting in safe mode is to make sure no services are running that could stop you from deleting anything. Alternatively, you could launch XAMPP Control Panel from your desktop icon and then stop the two items that are shown as running.

hth

[bkay]

Thanks, I took the easy way out. I started in safe mode and deleted the folder.

Now I'm going to reinstall.

Thanks for the help.

bkay

[Sharley]

Thanks, I took the easy way out. I started in safe mode and deleted the folder.

Now I'm going to reinstall.

Removing just the XAMPP folder in safe mode will not clear any Windows Services that you may have placed in the registry via the Svc tick boxes in the XAMPP Control Panel and which may cause issues when you try and re-install.

Once the XAMPP folder has been deleted then to remove Apache, MySQL etc. Windows Services from the registry would require using regedit to manually find and delete these service entries - service as in starts when Windows boots.

If you can reinstall without any issues then you can breathe a sigh of relief, if not then come back here for possible help.

[xfsgpr]

[quote="Once the XAMPP folder has been deleted then to remove Apache, MySQL etc. Windows Services from the registry would require using regedit to manually find and delete these service entries - service as in starts when Windows boots."
[/quote]

To remove any registry entries then the best tool to use is CCleaner. Although I have not seen any problems with this tool, some caution taken does not harm or cost anything.

Ccleaner, slim version can be downloaded from here:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/slim

hth