How to uninstall ClickOnce application?

Question

I was looking everywhere for this answer, but all related questions on SO are very old. This question is from 2009 and the best (and only answer) has 3 steps. Really? I mean.. isn't Uninstaller a basic feature of every Installer?

Why Microsoft would create a feature that basically installs your app without an option of uninstalling it? That doesn't make sense at all.. so I really hope I just couldn't find it and there is an easy way to uninstall "ClickOnce" application.

EDIT: I'm using Visual Studio 2015

Answer 1

Found this answer on msdn forums. Hope it would be helpful.

MSDN Forum Question

Hi,

You can create a cmd file and type the uninstall string. Then add a shortcut to this cmd file and put it to user’s program folder.

Check this thread: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/4b681725-faaa-48c3-bbb0-02ebf3926e25

To find the “uninstall string”, you could search it in the registry:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/9a60c9ab-5d75-4d11-98e2-fd3b83f800ed/

You could also create a console application for this. And put the execute file with the deploy project then create a shortcut or copy this file to the user’s program folder.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winformssetup/thread/717cfce0-3061-400f-9ea3-069f73f3a473 (The first FAQ)

By the way, there is an article tells create uninstall shortcut for clickonce:

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/38ac5c61-4e9d-49eb-90d3-7911815e2244/create-uninstall-option-f.aspx

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Ling Wang

Answer 2

I know this question is old but Louisa Bickley asked for a simple solution. On Windows you go to Add/Remove programs, search for your application and remove it.

Note: This will only remove your installed application, not the entire project files. After uninstalling you can install your one-click application again in another folder.