Pesky Pop-Up Failed Program Install/Uninstall Screens On Windows 7

[malletKATman]

I have pesky detritus remaining from a failed app install and a different uninstall that plague me at system startup and at other times periodically on my Windows 7 SP1 PRO 64-Bit system. I’ve searched around online to find out what I would have to manually delete in folders and/or the Registry to get rid of this junk whose efficacy has long disappeared. Any suggestions as to what I should do?

The first picture is for a Realtek Hi-Def Audio driver that was long ago replaced, but still this ancient installation failure crops up at every system startup.



The second problem is for a SEIKO EPSON available app update checker that I no longer use, whose SEIKO-written Uninstall run fails because it’s Setup.msi file went missing, probably when the first Uninstall attempt failed.



After clicking on “Uninstall”:



Of course the E:\Users\Dick\AppData\Local\Temp\EPSOSNAV_Ter… folder has long ago disappeared. I cannot get any help from SEIKO EPSON. A periodic pop-up screen now occurs telling me I must update this product before I can use it. Instead I’d just like to kill enough of it that its periodic "Update" pop-up screen never appears again. I can get rid of its C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86) on my own.

 

[jcgriff2]

Hi. . .

Try SysInternals AutoRuns - Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals

Download and extract the EXE from the zip file to Desktop.

AutoRuns is a stand-alone executable and does not get installed.

RIGHT-click on autoruns.exe, select Run as Administrator.

AutoRuns will load; check bottom-left of screen for registry loading status.

Click on Logon tab - look for Seiko Epson entries. Un-check the box to disable it/them.

The other thing that you could try is to reinstall the driver. It may give you an option to fully reinstall it, then you could uninstall it.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[malletKATman]

Thanks for responding and the suggestions, “jcgriff2”.

I forgot about Autoruns, I actually have an older version on my system. Mark Russinovich is truly a Windows Internals guru; I use his Process Explorer all the time. I ran my old version, and all the Epson entries are associated with the scanning and printing - I have an Epson printer-scanner connected via Wi-Fi to my LAN – except for an Epson Customer Participation service which probably means I opted for customer participation when I installed the printer software long ago. I didn’t find anything associated with the Epson Software Updater, which was the installation that failed an Uninstall. I tried the re-install some time ago and had forgotten that too – Hey, I’m old – but that hangs up the same way; first it tries to uninstall what it finds lingering and hangs in the same place.

I think these two problems are somewhere else in the system – pending installs or uninstalls in progress. The Realtek Audio Driver installation is marked somewhere (system files, Registry?) as an Install-In-Progress, and the Epson Software Updater uninstall is similarly marked as an Uninstall-In-Progress. (Sometimes these procedures require a reboot to complete.) I need to remove those markings or disable them somehow. I really don’t care about any other lingering detritus now that I have a 1TB SSD Windows partition. These two problems are not interfering with anything else in the system that I notice and are not preventing other installs or uninstalls.

I am simultaneously working a very complex Windows Update problem with another expert (“softwaremaniac”) on this site, but any Op Sys that allows 3rd party installs or uninstalls to mess up Op Sys updates and upgrades would qualify as one of the poorest designed OSs in the history of computing. Thus it’s very difficult for me to believe my two threads are connected.

 

[malletKATman]

I ran my old version, and all the Epson entries are associated with the scanning and printing - I have an Epson printer-scanner connected via Wi-Fi to my LAN – except for an Epson Customer Participation service which probably means I opted for customer participation when I installed the printer software long ago. I didn’t find anything associated with the Epson Software Updater, which was the installation that failed an Uninstall.

I should not have typed the quoted stuff without upgrading to the latest Autoruns version. When I did, I didn’t find anything new in the Logins display but I sure did in the Everything screen. There were entries for both the archaic Realtek Audio driver and I was able to delete that. I found some other entries with a File Not Found status, including for the SEIKO Software Updater. However, when I tried to delete the entry through Autoruns I got a initially terrifying message from the Task Scheduler service, to wit:



and the Delete did not succeed. The Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services screen will not allow me to stop that service, so all I could do was Disable the entry. Some other File not Found status entries could not be deleted, to wit:



Unfortunately none of all this prevented the initial Realtek Audio InstallShield Wizard screen from appearing at system startup, to wit:



It appears the solution is elsewhere.

 

[jcgriff2]

Do you know how to use Process Explorer (make sire that you download the newest version as Mark R. has made many changes to it) to find the name of the app that is generating the screen? You click on the little wheel; left click on it; hold it down, then place it on top of the annoying screen. Then release the mouse.




It will reveal the name of the app that is generating it by highlighting it in blue in Process Explorer.

Process Explorer - Windows Sysinternals

https://live.sysinternals.com/procexp.exe

Once we know the name of the app, we can do a system-wide search for it.

Don't change too much while you're working with softwaremaniac though please. Finish with him first.

Regards. . .

John

 

[malletKATman]

All right John, that's what I'll do. I'll wait to proceed here (and updating Process explorer) until softwaremaniac completes his work. That will likely be weeks from now. Thanks again for all your help.

Regards,

Dick

 

[Torchwood]

You also have 2 other programes that are/maybe the cause of your problems :- registry mechanic and SoftwareUpdater

view the logs from then, see what happening - most forums regard these as un-neccessary and possibly damaging, any others in the lower part of programs/features we cant see.

Roy

 

[malletKATman]

You also have 2 other programes that are/maybe the cause of your problems :- registry mechanic and SoftwareUpdater

view the logs from then, see what happening - most forums regard these as un-neccessary and possibly damaging, any others in the lower part of programs/features we cant see.

Roy

I have another much more serious thread in the Windows Update Sysnative Forum, Windows 7 PRO SP1 64-Bit Multiple Windows Update Failures from Dec 2018 On, associated in part with registry problems. The Registry has cleaned through efforts on that thread by softwaremaniac, yet the problems described here persist.

The problems I describe in this thread occurred long ago and are the direct consequence of specific failed Install or Uninstall actions, not periodic usage of a registry cleaner or a software updater. I was using Registry Mechanic for 9 years on this box before the problems reported in both these threads occurred (the last version actually issued by PC Tools before any corruption allegations were posted, I believe, blamed on subsequent releases by the new owners of the product). But while softwaremaniac has been working on my serious Windows Update issues I have restricted it to leave the Registry alone and run only to handle privacy issues: adware and tracking cookies, and I intend to leave it that way.

I never actually ran the SEIKO EPSON Software Updater; it came as a package with my Epson 200 Wi-Fi printer. I attempted to uninstall it six months ago before I replaced by original 9 year old C: SSD with only 80GB of a Windows partition (20GB were portioned to run the Ubuntu Linux distro), and I was running out of room. I replaced that drive with a 1TB C: SSD just after the Windows Update problems started last December. I used a different software updater package weekly for some years before on this box, and throughout that time there were no problems with Windows Update, nor with any app installs or uninstalls.

 

[jcgriff2]

@malletKATman - Can you provide us with an AutoRuns ARN (default file extension) file? It may help if we can see what you are seeing,

First, if not already done, please download the most recent version of AutoRuns -

Direct EXE file download - no zip file - save to Desktop - https://live.sysinternals.com/autoruns.exe

Go to the autoruns file on desktop, RIGHT-click on it, select "Run as Administrator"

Allow AutoRuns to scan the registry. When the bottom-left status says "Ready" --

Click on FILE; Click on SAVE; save the file to Desktop as an ARN file (ARN will be after the period in the file name) - use autoruns.arn as the file name.

RIGHT-click on the ARN file, select "Send to Compressed Zipped Folder". There should now be a new file on your Desktop named autoruns.zip

Upload it and attach to your next post.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[jcgriff2]

@malletKATman - Sorry to bother you again so soon, but. . .

Also, please run this general troubleshooting app that I wrote over 10 years ago. It has been updated many times since then!

Download and SAVE to Documents folder - SysnativeBSODCollectionApp.exe - Sysnative

Go to Documents and simply double-click on the file. You will see screens begin to open up. That's fine.

It could take up to 10 minutes to run, but for most, it takes just a few minutes.

It creates a folder in Documents named SysnativeFileCollectionApp and the app will zip up the folder and create a zip file in Documents named -

SysnativeFileCollectionApp.zip

Simply upload the zip file to your next post.

There are about ~25 files in the newly created folder. Feel free to look through them.

Those files are a treasure trove of information to a system troubleshooter.

None of the files contains any personal or security related information, I assure you.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[malletKATman]

I downloaded yesterday, hopefully that’s current enough. As this is a 64-bit system I “installed” (unzipped to C:\Program Files\Autorun) the 64-bit version (64EXE, 64DLL, CHM files). I also removed the default scan filters so you should see all the Windows and Empty registry entries – as much as possible as I understand the Autoruns app.

 

[malletKATman]

@malletKATman - Sorry to bother you again so soon, but. . .

Also, please run this general troubleshooting app that I wrote over 10 years ago. It has been updated many times since then!

Download and SAVE to Documents folder - SysnativeBSODCollectionApp.exe - Sysnative

Go to Documents and simply double-click on the file. You will see screens begin to open up. That's fine.

It could take up to 10 minutes to run, but for most, it takes just a few minutes.

It creates a folder in Documents named SysnativeFileCollectionApp and the app will zip up the folder and create a zip file in Documents named -

SysnativeFileCollectionApp.zip

Simply upload the zip file to your next post.

There are about ~25 files in the newly created folder. Feel free to look through them.

Those files are a treasure trove of information to a system troubleshooter.

None of the files contains any personal or security related information, I assure you.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

I clicked on your link and attempted a download. It failed, with the following screen:



I “Tried Again” a couple of times; same result. My browser is Firefox 65.0.2, which I have been using to download all the material asked to run by both you and softwaremaniac in my Windows Update thread. Until this, every download (and upload, for that matter) to your websites has been successful using this version of Firefox.

 

[malletKATman]

I tried the download again with IE Explorer, the most dangerous browser on the planet, and ran your app. With all due respect, it’s altogether too paternalistic for a power user (where you have to put it, where the output goes, not using %PATH%, etc. I like to keep My Documents clean, with nothing but documents. IMO it's best to use the Desktop for temporary files). You also neglected to tell me that you needed the CMD script version of Autoruns placed in my Documents folder, so your run was incomplete.

 

[jcgriff2]

I tried the download again with IE Explorer, the most dangerous browser on the planet, and ran your app. With all due respect, it’s altogether too paternalistic for a power user (where you have to put it, where the output goes, not using %PATH%, etc. I like to keep My Documents clean, with nothing but documents. IMO it's best to use the Desktop for temporary files). You also neglected to tell me that you needed the CMD script version of Autoruns placed in my Documents folder, so your run was incomplete.

The app does use environment variables, but the final output is written to %userprofile%\Documents. You can delete the folder and the zip file at any time.

For info - that app is from here - Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 + Vista

It is also used by at least a half-dozen other forums, including Bleeping Computer and Malwarebytes Forums.

It has been executed by over 500,000+ OPs and I rarely ever hear anything negative about it.

If you'll note in the BSOD Instruction link, there is some issue with Firefox. No idea what the problem could be.

I only use IE - good choice on your part! :)

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[jcgriff2]

Why do you have Java installed? You are asking to be infected.

Do you need it for an app or a game?

You do not need it for the Internet.

 

[jcgriff2]

I downloaded yesterday, hopefully that’s current enough. As this is a 64-bit system I “installed” (unzipped to C:\Program Files\Autorun) the 64-bit version (64EXE, 64DLL, CHM files). I also removed the default scan filters so you should see all the Windows and Empty registry entries – as much as possible as I understand the Autoruns app.

Beware of playing with \Program Files directory.

\Program Files is a virtualizable directory and AutoRuns may very well be in your Virtual Store folder -

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

This is typically what happens - I saved some files into the Program Files directory, and now they’re gone!

If you run the x86 version of AutoRuns - the link I gave you to Live Sysinternals will automatically kick off an x64 version if x64 is detected on your system.

Did you find the rogue app with Process Explorer?

What are these 3rd party items in Login tab? The first is dated 1992 -

TN1496_Window Mr Hyde BrineSoft c:\program files (x86)\brinesoft\mrhyde1\n1496.exe 6/19/1992 5:22 PM

CrystalDiskInfo.lnk CrystalDiskInfo Crystal Dew World c:\program files (x86)\crystaldiskinfo\diskinfo32.exe 11/18/2018 10:07 PM

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

 

[Torchwood]

Update to my previous post

Wrote SoftwareUpdater actually meant PefrectUpdater my bad.


Roy

 

[malletKATman]

OK, to start with, my User Profile is not defined on the C: Windows partition; it’s on my E: Winchester HDD. Secondly, there is no VirtualStore sub-folder in my E:\Users\Dick\AppData\Local folder, to wit:



(That’s my port of the Unix ls command, BTW. Years ago I ported most of the useful Unix commands to first PC-DOS, then MS-DOS and finally Windows NT.)

Thirdly, I have been putting not-formally-installed executables in my C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files(x86) folders, depending upon whether they are 64 or 32 bit, for nine years without incident. I even went through a complete replacement of all the official Microsoft system software by Microsoft Premium Support technicians who I turned to first for the other problem thread I have on your forums, Windows 7 PRO SP1 64-Bit Multiple Windows Update Failures from Dec 2018 On: (see my initial two postings in that thread), and nothing in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files(x86) was disturbed in that process.

Did you find the rogue app with Process Explorer?<

To what “rogue app” do you refer? Do you mean PerfectUpdater? I have used that for many years to keep my drivers up to date and it has been scanned repeatedly with my top-5 malware protection software . It is not rogue software.

Why do you have Java installed? You are asking to be infected.

Do you need it for an app or a game?
You do not need it for the Internet.<

Yes, you do on many web sites. Firefox allows detailed control of where Java scripts may be run, and I only allow it in my list of trusted web sites. Does IE allow this level of control?

What are these 3rd party items in Login tab? The first is dated 1992 -<

CrystalDiskInfo is an excellent disk drive health monitor, requested by softwaremaniac, I believe, at the beginning of my other thread. See the opening salvos there. As to Mr. Hyde (which I have been using for years), there’s a reason why the ‘P’ in “PC” means “Personal”.

 

[jcgriff2]

The only drivers that you need to keep up-to-date are video (if NVIDIA or ATI), audio, wifi, Ethernet and any 3rd party devices that you have.

"Rogue" app - that screen that pops up at logon.

Regards. . .

John

 

[jcgriff2]

Have you ever run silentrunners.vbs ?

It shows all start-up apps/scripts, whether out in the open or hidden.

Give it a try so that we can find that rogue start-up app that causes the screen(s) to appear.

That's the rogue app that I refer to - the one that brings up the screen(s).

SilentRunners.vbs - Silent Runners - Download

I do believe that you can run it from your Desktop. :)