How to completely remove Internet Explorer

[jbclem]

My goal here is to install Outlook Express on this installation of WinXP sp3.  But unfortunately, this XP version came with IE and OE removed.  And I tried to install IE 8, thinking it came with Outlook Express.  That was wrong and then it looks like I tried to remove IE 8 by deleting it from C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer.  A dumb move because that left the many registry entries for Internet Explorer.  And now when I try to install IE 6, it fails with an error message telling me that there is a later version of IE installed.

I'm guessing that I need to remove all the registry entries for Internet Explorer, but there are many.  Does this sound like the correct move, and does anyone know how I can clean Internet Explorer from the registry in a quick and easy way?

 

 

 

 

[jbclem]

I forgot to mention that when I looked in Add/Remove Programs (Control Panel) there wasn't an entry for Internet Explorer.

Edited August 5, 2018 by jbclem
grammar

[Bersaglio]

Try opening \WINDOWS\ie8\spuninst\ folder and running spuninst.exe from there with Administrator privileges.

[jbclem]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had searched for "uninst" but not "spuninst".  At any rate, there was no Windows/IE8 or Windows/IE? folder.  I did find an IE8 uninstall log which showed the Windows/IE8/spuninst file was in place at one time. 

The problem remains, many internet explorer references in the registry.  Do you know of a way to search for and remove selective registry entries at one time?  Or better, what kind of registry entry would trigger the error message:

"Setup has detected a newer version of Internet Explorer already installed on this system.  Setup cannot continue".

 

[jumper]

Spuninst.exe can be extracted from the IE8 package with 7zip. Or reinstall IE8.

[heinoganda]

@jbclem

Follow the instructions of @Bersaglio , go to the Windows folder and search for the folder IE8, where the folder spuninst is located and in this spuninst.exe. If this folder is not available, the IE8 can not be uninstalled. During IE8 regular installation, the files and settings are copied from the existing IE in the %windir%\IE8 folder. If present, SP3 may have been subsequently installed, in which case uninstalling is also not possible.

@jumper

Where does the data come from the initial Internet Explorer 6? 
 

Edited August 6, 2018 by heinoganda

[jumper]

> Where does the data come from the initial Internet Explorer 6?
There was no previous version installed: "this XP version came with IE and OE removed"

Checking my XP/IE8 (upgraded from IE7) system, I see that the files in Windows\IE8 are IE7 files to be restored if IE8 is uninstalled. It also contains the folder Spuninst containing the IE8 version of Spuninst.exe as previously noted. If this folder is missing, extracting Spuninst.exe and Updspapi.dll to any temp folder might allow for the removal of registry entries (and possibly the removal of more files if their location is stored in the registry).

That said, I recommend the reinstallation of IE8 followed by its normal uninstallation.
Or restore a system backup point from before the initial IE8 install.
Then IE6 and/or Outlook Express should install.

[jbclem]

I reinstalled IE8.  It didn't show up in Add/Remove Programs, so I went to the Windows/IE8 folder and ran spuninst.exe.  The uninstall program ran, I restarted the computer and tried to install IE6 again.  The problem is still there, so I can't install IE6.

[Mathwiz]

When IE8 is installed, it appears in Add/Remove programs under "Windows" Internet Explorer 8. If you look for it in the I's, you won't find it.

As for IE8 registry entries, try running regedit and looking under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer. (Naturally, this time it's "Microsoft" Internet Explorer, not "Windows" Internet Explorer. M$ is nothing if not inconsistent.) There's a Version value under that registry key (as well as a W2KVersion and Build value). Not sure what you need to set them to in order to install IE6, but I think some folks here (might try a PM to apreese16) may still have IE6 installed.

Edit: You might try setting Version (and W2KVersion) to 6.0.2600.0 to see if that lets IE6 install. Also set the "IE" value under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Version Vector to 6.0.

Back up all the registry settings first: right-click the "Internet Explorer" key, click "Export," and give it a file name. That way you can just double-click the .reg file you create to put everything back as it was.

Edited August 6, 2018 by Mathwiz

[heinoganda]

@jbclem

I created a "medicine" for you, where the uninstall folder is created (%windir%\ie8) and an uninstall of IE8 is possible, just like the original IE6 restores files and settings. If interested, send me a PM.

 

Update

Have you sent a message (PM)!

Edited August 9, 2018 by heinoganda

[antiproton]

On 8/5/2018 at 4:24 PM, jbclem said:

My goal here is to install Outlook Express on this installation of WinXP sp3....

 

 

You don't have to install IE6 to install Outlook Express. All you need is 2 or 3 CAB files from IE6. I recommend getting them from IE6 SP1.

The two main CAB files are MAILNEWS.CAB and WAB.CAB. I installed Outlook Express on POSReady 2009 a few years back until the POSReady 2009 registry hack for XP made customizing POSReady 2009 unnecessary. There is a third CAB file OEEXCEP.CAB which I did not use and I am not sure what it does. If you know, please enlighten me.

I extracted the contents of MAILNEWS.CAB and WAB.CAB into separate folders. Quite a number of the files had been updated since IE6 SP1 was released so I copied and extracted the updated files from an XP Pro SP3 installation CD and replaced the outdated files.

At this point I am a little uncertain about what I did next.

The MAILNEWS and WAB folders each contain a file named setup50.exe. I think I ran setup50.exe in each of the folders in an attempt to install Outlook Express and Windows Address Book. If running setup50.exe doesn't work then I right-clicked on msoe50.inf and clicked "Install" (and wab50.inf for Windows Address Book). It was either running setup50.exe or right-clicking the inf files.

Beyond that, there were four post-SP3 updates released for Outlook Express the earliest one being made obsolete leaving three. KB978542, KB2423089, KB2544893-v2. These will install in the normal manor.

[heinoganda]

For user @jbclem I have created 3 packages for

1. the Internet Explorer 8 is uninstalled and the original IE6 files and settings are restored,
2. Outlook Express 6 and WAB installed and
3. a small update rollup where the required updates for IE6, OE6 and WAB installed.

Edited August 10, 2018 by heinoganda

[jbclem]

 Here's what's happened...I downloaded heinoganda's fix packages, but during the installation it turned out that I had to have a WinXP installation disk.  Which I didn't have...so with every request for a missing file I searched through my computer and found most (but not all) of the requested files, but with no idea which versions these files were from.  The end result was that IE6 was installed (but only works on a few websites), and when I tried to run OE6 I'd get an error message that msoe.dll was missing.  The missing file is in the C:\Program Files/Outlook Express folder.  Is there another place it should be?

I couldn't find anyway to uninstall heinoganda's fix, so I tried to run my ie6setup.exe which failed with the usual message about a newer version already installed.

Today I went back to the suggestion from antiproton and pulled out the MAILNEWS.CAB folder, extracted all the files and ran setup50.exe .  Nothing visible happened.  Then, just for the heck of it, I ran msimn.exe and the Outlook Express 6 configuration window opened up.  I proceeded through the configuration and then downloaded some email. 

Next I closed Outlook Express and tried to start it via Internet Explorer 6.  That failed with the error message that OE couldn't be started because msoe.dll couldn't be loaded.  So I went back to the extracted msimn.exe (still in it's extraction folder) and OE6 started up.

But now I notice that the emails I downloaded are only showing the From, Subject headlines, and nothing in the message area.  Perhaps there's a setting that I need to correct for the message content to show.

So that's the current state of affairs...OE6 is starting up but not working properly.  I'd like to be able to uninstall heinoganda's IE6 and see if I can get the extracted Outlook Express setup50.exe file to work to try to make a proper installation from the extracted Outlook Express cab files.

 

 

 

 

 

[heinoganda]

1 hour ago, jbclem said:

Here's what's happened...I downloaded heinoganda's fix packages, but during the installation it turned out that I had to have a WinXP installation disk.  Which I didn't have.

Which package was required for the installation media of Windows XP sp3? 1,2 or 3? If it was the second, the files can be found in the folder "%TEMP%\XPSETUP.TMP\I386". You may need to install the second package twice, reboot after the first time, and then again.

1 hour ago, jbclem said:

I couldn't find anyway to uninstall heinoganda's fix, so I tried to run my ie6setup.exe which failed with the usual message about a newer version already installed.

Regularly IE6 is part of Windows XP sp3, it was restored with the first package of the folder "%windir%\ie8", of which in the folder "spuninst" spuninst.exe is executed. Meaning that the IE8 is uninstalled and the IE6 files and settings are restored (For me, the question is whether it has been tried to delete various files? Can the first package nor to possibly missing files to expand, you would have to tell me which you are missing. ).

I tested the packages myself in a regular Windows XP sp3 and POSReady 2009 and was able to install it back on IE6 and Outlook Express 6.
Regularly POSReady 2009 is delivered with IE7 and without Outlook Express 6.

Edited August 16, 2018 by heinoganda

[antiproton]

On 8/10/2018 at 1:37 AM, antiproton said:

At this point I am a little uncertain about what I did next.

The MAILNEWS and WAB folders each contain a file named setup50.exe. I think I ran setup50.exe in each of the folders in an attempt to install Outlook Express and Windows Address Book. If running setup50.exe doesn't work then I right-clicked on msoe50.inf and clicked "Install" (and wab50.inf for Windows Address Book). It was either running setup50.exe or right-clicking the inf files.

@jbclem

Did you try right-clicking on the .inf files and selecting "install"?

It's been a few years. After reading about your experience I don't think clicking on setup50.exe installed OE. I believe I had to right-click the .inf files, msoe50.inf and wab50.inf.