Forum Discussion

esc1's avatar
esc1
Level 2
9 years ago

Advise on how to uninstall Backup Exec 15 manually

I recently installed Backup Exec 15 on a server with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard.  After a batch of Windows Updates, BE stopped working.

Initially, I tried doing a repair; it failed.  I then tried to uninstall BE through Control Panel\Programs and Features to do a clean install; that too failed.  I was able to uninstall LiveUpdate and SQL.

At this point, I have manually deleted the BE folders in Program Files (x86), ProgramData and the Symantec folder on my D drive where I installed the product.  I've also removed all the keys mentioning Backup Exec from the registry.  When I try to kick off a fresh install it prompts me to do a repair or uninstall, both of which fail.

Clearly the install is still finding remnants of the previous install.  Any help on where to locate these leftover files, or how to do a clean install and get around this would very much appreciate as we don't have a service contract.

 

 

  • Issue resolved.  Let me start by saying that if you have a service contract, by all means call support and have them help you through this process.  I am sure, with their help and guidance, the process would have been a lot less painful than it was for me.

    I started by backing up my reigstry.  I then searched through the registry for the following keywords: Backup Exec, Backupexec, Bkupexe, and 14.2.1180 and deleted any key that had an entry with one of those keywords.  This is an extremely lenghtly process.

    I deleted the c:ProgramData\Symantec\Backup Exec folder.

    I searched the hard drive for the same keywords as above and deleted any files that matched.  I emptied the trash can and rebooted the server and was finally able to do a clean re-install of Backup Exec 15.

     

     

  • Issue resolved.  Let me start by saying that if you have a service contract, by all means call support and have them help you through this process.  I am sure, with their help and guidance, the process would have been a lot less painful than it was for me.

    I started by backing up my reigstry.  I then searched through the registry for the following keywords: Backup Exec, Backupexec, Bkupexe, and 14.2.1180 and deleted any key that had an entry with one of those keywords.  This is an extremely lenghtly process.

    I deleted the c:ProgramData\Symantec\Backup Exec folder.

    I searched the hard drive for the same keywords as above and deleted any files that matched.  I emptied the trash can and rebooted the server and was finally able to do a clean re-install of Backup Exec 15.

     

     

  • For manual uninstallation, you need to log a formal support case so that the engineer can do the uninstallation for you.

  • Thanks for pointing me to that article.  It was definitely the level of detail I needed, but unfortunately a lot of the references in the article are apparently not the same for BE 15.  Urgh!

  • The steps below are from a 3rd party website so use them at your own risk. I seem to remember this used to be on the old Symantec site but not sure why it was removed:

    http://outwardtruth.com/SUPPORT/uninstallbackupexec11d.htm

    Thanks!