PROBLEM:

For several years we have uninstalled Office using a command like:

\\cal-s2\office365$\Office365ProPlus\setup.exe /uninstall ProPlus /config \\cal-s2\office365$\uninstall-Office365ProPlus.xml

but it now errors out with:

Office Deployment Tool
SETUP [mode] [path]
SETUP /download [path to configuration file]
SETUP /configure [path to configuration file]
SETUP /packager [path to configuration file] [output path]
SETUP /customize [path to configuration file]
/download Downloads files to create an Office installation source
/configure Adds, removes, or configures an Office installation
/packager Produces an Office App-V package from an Office installation source
/customize Applies settings for Office applications

This indicates that the /UNINSTALL switch no longer functions and that /CONFIGURE is what must now be used to remove apps.

SOLUTION:

You can still use the Office Deployment Tool Setup.exe (which you can source directly from Microsoft HERE)

\\<server path>\setup.exe /configure \\<server path>\uninstall-Office365ProPlus.xml

so with UNC paths, mine looks like:

\\cal-s2\office365$\Office365ProPlus\setup.exe /configure \\cal-s2\office365$\uninstall-Office365ProPlus.xml

with uninstall-Office365ProPlus.xml containing

<Configuration>
<Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="True" />
<Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="True" />
<Remove>
<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
</Product>
</Remove>
</Configuration>


8 Comments

Jaytea · July 25, 2022 at 8:06 am

What is the .xml for uninstalling Visio?

    Engy · June 21, 2023 at 7:59 am

    you can try editing your installation .xml and replace <Add and </Add with <Remove and </Remove.

drbdanish · January 23, 2020 at 4:46 pm

This article is very useful. I used config file to uninstall office 2019 click to run product with below config settings.

abdulrehmanbinaltaf · January 7, 2020 at 5:21 am

thanks dear its working fine…

Stoian Ionut Bogdan · September 3, 2019 at 12:13 am

Did you mnage to implement the uninstall using SCCM?

    Ian Matthews · September 8, 2019 at 11:21 pm

    Hi Stoian; No, we decided to push it using just PDQ, sorry.

Troy · April 19, 2019 at 7:36 am

NICE!! This works when nothing else did. Thanks!

David Richmond · March 11, 2019 at 4:29 pm

Amusing – was just working on this and found your reply on that technet thread 🙂 Serendipitous! Appreciate the write-up. Will be baking a very similar solution into SCCM for a Software Center uninstall, let’s see if it works…

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