Unable to uninstall SPE due to corrupt installation on Windows

Products

• Protection Engine for Cloud Services
• Protection Engine for NAS
• Protection for SharePoint Servers

Issue/Introduction

You cannot uninstall Symantec Protection Engine (SPE) due to a corrupt installation. A repair installation fails.

Environment

Windows

Resolution

We can force a complete reinstall that should add the missing files and registry settings that are preventing the uninstall

1. Run the installer as administrator
2. Select the option to Modify the installation
3. Make sure "Symantec_Scan_Engine" is set to "This feature will be installed on the local hard drive."
4. Click next through the prompts
5. After installation is finished, uninstall Protection Engine as you normally would.
6. If the "Symantec Protection Engine Update Manager" service still shows in services.msc, remove it manually:
   • Open CMD as administrator and run the following command:
     • sc.exe delete "Symantec Protection Engine Update Manager"
7. Reboot the server.