Mailbag: How can I perform an unattended uninstall of the .NET Framework?

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Question

You have written blog posts in the past describing the command line parameters that can be used to install the .NET Framework in silent or unattended mode (here, here, here and here for example). What are the command line parameters required to perform a silent or unattended uninstall of the .NET Framework?

Answer

The following command lines can be used to perform silent uninstall of the .NET Framework redistributable. This is a fully automated uninstall with no visible UI and no user interaction required.

  • .NET Framework 1.0 - dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /p Microsoft .NET Framework Full v1.0.3705 (1033) /q"
    Note - this command line varies depending on what language version of the .NET Framework 1.0 you have installed. You will have to change 1033 to be the 4 digit language code of the language of the .NET Framework 1.0 you have installed
  • .NET Framework 1.1 - dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /q"
  • .NET Framework 1.1 language pack - langpack.exe /q:a /c:"inst.exe /u /q"
  • .NET Framework 2.0 - dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /q"
  • .NET Framework 2.0 language pack - langpack.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /q"

The following command lines can be used to perform unattended uninstall of the .NET Framework redistributable.This is a fully automated uninstall with visible progress UI but no user interaction required.

  • .NET Framework 1.0 - Unattended mode was not supported in 1.0
  • .NET Framework 1.1 - dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /qb"
  • .NET Framework 1.1 language pack - Unattended mode was not supported in 1.1 language packs
  • .NET Framework 2.0 - dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /qb"
  • .NET Framework 2.0 language pack - langpack.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /qb"

The following command line can be used to perform silent uninstall of the .NET Framework SDK (the same command line will work for versions 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0):

setup.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /q"

The following command line can be used to perform unattended uninstall of the .NET Framework SDK 1.1 and 2.0 (unattended mode was not supported in 1.0):

setup.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /u /qb"