Clean uninstall of Autodesk Revit 2011 products

Published date: 2010-Apr-12 ID: TS14633513 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011

Issue

There may be circumstances where Autodesk Revit® 2011 products need to be removed from the workstation. The following process will ensure all residual files are properly removed as well.

Solution

To uninstall Revit 2011 products and remove any remnants from your system, use the following procedure. The end result is a clean system on which you can reinstall. Please ensure to backup any custom family or template files prior to following this procedure:

1. Log on as a Local System Administrator and disable any Antivirus programs.
   
   
2. In the Windows XP Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the specific Revit 2011 product. For Windows Vista & Windows 7, Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall.
   
   
3. In the Windows XP Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the 3 Autodesk 2011 Material Libraries in the following order. For Windows Vista & Windows 7, Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall:
   
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011
   
   
4. After the product is uninstalled, use Windows Explorer to locate and delete the following folders as appropriate. For steps 3 & 4 substitute the product name below based on which Revit 2011 product you are uninstalling; all paths listed by default are for Revit Architecture 2011:

   
   Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 & RAC 2011
   Autodesk Revit Structure 2011 & RST 2011
   Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 & RME 2011

   Where %username% is present below substitute the current Windows login name.

   For Windows XP installations (32 and 64 bit):
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Autodesk\REVIT\2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\RAC 2011

   For Windows Vista and Windows 7 installations (32 and 64 bit):
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\2011

5. Open the system registry and locate then delete the following registry keys listed below as appropriate (Windows Start menu > Run > Regedit).

   Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com.

   Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
   
   For 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   
   For 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011

6. Restart the workstation.

Before reinstalling Revit products

1. In Windows Explorer, delete the contents of your Windows Temp folder, but do not delete the Windows Temp folder itself. You can locate the Temp folder by entering %TEMP% in the Address bar of Windows Explorer.
2. Use the End Task feature to end any anti-virus programs.

Note: Disabling anti-virus programs from the system tray may not be sufficient. Virus checking programs may block certain activities that are seen as suspicious (for example, accessing the registry, adding/removing/updating DLL files, and so on), even though these activities are common when installing or removing programs.

Several anti-virus programs can be disabled by right-clicking the taskbar icon and selecting Disable from the shortcut menu. For more information about disabling your anti-virus software, refer to the vendor of that software.

Important! It is important that you not only disable the anti-virus software but also use the End Task feature to end the anti-virus software.

To verify that an anti-virus program is not still running in the background as a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident Program):

Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

1. Press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete].
2. Click Task Manager.
3. On the Processes tab of the Task Manager, select the process for the anti-virus program and then click End Process.

You are now ready to install Revit 2011 products on the clean system.