Can't uninstall playready PC runtime

Answer 1

Before trying any of the methods listed below first close Windows Media Center completely if it is running. Now open Task Manager (there are numerous ways including right-clicking in the taskbar area and selecting: Start Task Manager

Then select the: Processes tab

At the bottom of the Task Manager window make sure the checkbox for: Show processes from all users is checked (on).

Look for any processes that refer to Windows Media Center. They generally start with the letters 'eh' such as: ehrecvr.exe, ehtray.exe, ehshell.exe, ehSched.exe, ehRec.exe, ehmsas.exe, etc and their description should mention Media Center.

Right-click on each process found and select: End Process. If Media Center is truly not running then you shouldn't see any related processes to end.

Now then...

- Have you tried uninstalling it from within Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs or Control Panel -> Programs & Features (depending on your Windows version)?

If you haven't, then there's your answer.

If you have and the uninstallation failed then what, if any message was displayed?

What exactly happened when you tried?

- Or it could be corrupted or missing uninstaller information file associated with that installation. If this is determined to be the case then the usual fix is to install the program again to create a new uninstall log file.After that you should be able to uninstall it successfully,

- Or perhaps it has already been uninstalled and a phantom entry still exists in Add/Remove (it happens). Newer Windows versions will offer to remove the application name from the list if it believes that it's already been uninstalled but this is not perfect. If you really want to see if it's installed then see if you have a /Program Files/PlayReady folder that is populated with a half dozen or so .dll files. If so, then it is currently installed. If the folder contains no .dll files or the folder does not exist then it has already been uninstalled.

- If you are technically inclined and don't mind doing a little searching through the registry then I can offer another possible solution. It's not as bad as it sounds and nothing in the registry needs to be changed - we're just looking.

Start regedit: Start->Run then type in: regedit

In the left hand pane navigate your way to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData and click on the UserData folder.

Now press: Ctrl-F or pull down the 'Edit' menu and select 'Find'.

In the search box type: PlayReady and click: Find Next

Numerous occurrences of this string will be found so you have to use the F3 key to continue to find the next occurrence.

Each time a match is found look in the right hand pane to see which key name or value is highlighted for the match. You may have to hit: F3 a dozen or more times but continue doing so until the highlighted key name is: DisplayName

Look down the column of key names below DisplayName for a key named: UninstallString

Once you have found it then just go across to the corresponding Data column and you will see something like this:

MsiExec.exe /X{BCA9334F-B6C9-4F65-9A73-AC5A329A4D04}

Everything following the /X will be different but very similar looking. Now write down or copy to the clipboard the entire line starting with: MsiExec.exe and ending with the closing curly bracket: } at the end of the line.

Now all that's left to do is to open a command prompt window by pressing Start->Run and typing: cmd into the run box. Lastly type or paste the string obtained above onto the command line and press <Enter>.

With a bit of luck the uninstallation process will commence.

There are other possibilities but if none of the above works for you or you don't understand some or all of it then it's probably time to get some Microsoft support.

Good luck!