How to remove pcAnywhere Solution Plug-in and Host

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
What are the different methods to remove pcAnywhere Solution agent from clients?

Answer

There are several methods that can be used to remove the pcAnywhere Solution agent from clients depending on the state of the clients and installed components. The following list provides common methods for removing the pcA plug-in and are listed in order of most preferred to least preferred method.

1. The preferred method for removing the pcAnywhere plug-in from a client is to use an uninstall policy from within the Symantec Management Console.
    
2. An alternative to using a policy is to run a command line directly from the client. Run the following from an adminstrative command line:
   
   "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery\{B364DA8F-1735-4DD3-865A-8B33CA5523CD}\cache\pcAClientInstallManager.exe /uall"
   
   NOTE:  You will need to alter the path if the default install path has been changed. If the \cache directory has been purged, you can access the files needed on the server.  Copy all files from  \\<NSServer>\nscap\bin\win32\x86\pcaagent\ to a directory on the client and execute the command line above. 
    
3. If the pcAnywhere Solution plug-in is the only sub-agent installed to the Altiris client, the following command line, run on the client, can be used to remove pcAnywhere Solution plug-in component, does not remove the host portion(See step 4):
   
   c:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\AexAgentUtil.exe /UninstallAgents
   
   NOTE:  This command will uninstall ALL sub-agents(ie Monitor Solution, Inventory, etc) if they are installed. Only the Altiris Agent and the subcomponents it needs to function remain after the /UninstallAgents command is run.
    
4. Add/Remove Programs can be used to remove the pcAnywhere Host portion from the client.  Using this method leaves the pcAnywhere Solution Plug-in registered with the Altiris Agent and will have to be removed seperately.  To remove the pcAnywhere plug-in registration with the SymAgent use step 3 above or follow these steps:
   1. go to Start>Run
   2. type Regsvr32 pcaagent.dll /u
   3. Click OK, and OK again on the Regsvr32 dialog window.
       
5. Finally, if any of the above process doesn’t work, you may have to resort to a manual clean up of anything that may have been left behind.  Look for and, if exist, delete the following items:
   1. C:\Program Files\Symantec\pcAnywhere
   2. C:\ProgramData\Symantec\pcAnywhere (Prior to Windows Vista, c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\pcAnywhere)
   3. HKey_Classes_Root\CLSID\{452f2bcf-7261-4aa6-9228-287676f3a183}
   4. ​Attached is a script to assist with further registry clean up.    See attached pcASolutionRegCleanup.zip