Automating the Uninstallation of Norton Antivirus 2007

[CelticWhisper]

Subscription expiry time is coming up on many of our copies of NAV2007 and we're looking to reinstall with some new/unused licenses (we buy the 10-user group licenses and install them as old copies expire, alas we're stuck with some 2K7s instead of going to all 2K8s) However, because the licensing system is a pain in the can, it's not precisely straightforward for us to just uninstall the old copy and reinstall the new one.

So, what our intrepid helpdesk tech has figured out is that the old Norton demons can be exorcised by a 3-step process including:

-Uninstalling via Add/Remove Programs

-Running a Norton Removal Tool that is downloaded from Symantec's support site

-Deleting the "Symantec" key under HKLM\Software

What I'd like to do is automate the process, at least as much as it can be automated, so the users can then install the new copy with the new serial number. The registry key deletion should be no problem, but invoking the uninstaller and the removal tool might prove tricky. Does anyone have any experience scripting uninstallation that follows the "safe" procedure of going in via Add/Remove Programs? I know there's the "uninstall" registry key that contains the paths to the uninstaller files, but I tried copying the path to one (RealPlayer) once and pasting it into a DOS window and the uninstallation halted with some error I don't quite recall. Seems that just copying the path to the C:\Program Files\MyProgram\Uninst000.exe or whatever isn't always enough.

Also, any way to make it forced/complete/silent or otherwise necessitating as little user interaction as possible?

Thanks much.

[MHz]

I would be guessing that NAV is using the Wise installer. I am not aware of silent uninstallation for it. You could look at handling the complete process with VBS using sendkeys, VBS with AutoItX.dll or AutoIt3 alone (or perhaps other languages with AutoIt3X.dll). You should be able to read the uninstall string from registry, run the string and automate any dialogs afterwards. Running a Norton Removal Tool from the script should to be easy as well as removing other registry entries.

An uninstall string should work from a cmd prompt unless you forgot to use quotes as the string should have already. A working directory is not passed from registry so paths in the string are normally absolute paths. I have seen some uninstall strings using a guessed 8.3 path used and that can cause errors if incorrect.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

according to nortons site, you dont need to uninstall before running the removal tool

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...005033108162039

so that cuts you down to 2 steps

however there is also an official yet unsupported utility from symantec called NoNav that is supposed to scrub everything related to norton AV from the system

http://www.mickelson.org/files/zips/nonav.zip (found via http://www.mcse.ms/message1638323.html )

that might take things down to 1 step

[CelticWhisper]

We seem to have trouble getting the registry key deleted. Can someone verify if this is typed correctly?

@echo off
echo "Deleting HKLM\Software\Symantec Registry Key..."
REG DELETE HKLM\Software\Symantec /va /f

Does HKLM have to be spelled out as HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or does the REG command actually recognize the "HKLM" abbreviation?

Thank you very much.

[antinouskalisto]

I use the Norton Removal Tool 2008.0.1.19 with AutoIt and there is only one step I can not skip. The CAPTCHA. I have not found an easy way to automate this step, I find it easier to just do that one manually.

There is no need to Uninstall from Add/Remove Programs first. There is no need to delete the Symantec key you reference. The Norton Removal Tool does a really good job, If it leaves anything behind....it's never bothered me or Kaspersky. Kaspersky is known to complain if even a small fragment of another AV is found.

If you need assistance in automating the NRT with AutoIt (after first trying it on your own, ofc) I can help.

P.S. : Yes, HKLM is fine, it knows what that is. You don't have to spell it out.

Edited November 30, 2007 by antinouskalisto

[jinkazama]

Same problem here! How can we bypass this captcha?