Uninstall XP Powertoys in Windows Vista Intended For Windows Vista only Among the snags you'll encounter when upgrading an XP system to Vista is that you may be unable to remove some software written exclusively for Windows XP. The problem is that some installers (which are also the uninstallers) refuse to operate on Vista. A notable example are Microsoft's own Powertoys; try to remove them after Vista has been installed, and you'll get nothing more than a message stating that the software only works on XP. Here's how to remove XP powertoys (and perhaps other software exhibiting the same problem) in Vista: Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Using the right mouse button, drag the file msiexec.exe to an empty spot on your desktop. (Don't use the left button, lest the file be moved instead of copied.) From the menu that appears, select Copy Here. Right-click the msiexec.exe file now on the desktop, select Properties, and choose the Compatibility tab. Turn on the Run this program in compatibility mode for option, choose Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the list, and click OK. Next, go back to Windows Explorer, and navigate to the C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations folder. Here you'll find a handful of .msi installer files, each of which corresponds to a different installed program. Pick one of the .msi files (with a name matching the powertoy to remove), open the Start menu, and type/paste the following line into the Run/Search box (all on one line): %userprofile%\desktop\msiexec.exe /x "C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations\HTMLSlideShow.msi" and press Enter. Note the quotation marks around the path pointing to the .msi file and the spaces on either side of the /x parameter. Change C:\Windows if your Windows folder is located elsewhere. When the uninstall is complete, you can delete the .msi file and then repeat step #7 with the next one until they're all gone. When you're all done, delete the msiexec.exe from the desktop. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows Vista] Question about 'Uninstall XP Powertoys in Windows Vista' (arman_jan: Thursday, February 1, 2007) [Windows Vista] Question about 'Uninstall XP Powertoys in Windows Vista' (Corio: Thursday, February 15, 2007) [Windows Vista] Question about 'Uninstall XP Powertoys in Windows Vista' (Phil Carter: Wednesday, April 1, 2009) Return to "Applications"