Cloud SWG (WSS): How to manually uninstall the WSS Agent

Products

• Cloud Secure Web Gateway - Cloud SWG

Issue/Introduction

WSS Agent uninstall application on Windows executed but subsequent re-install on host fails complaining about agent already installed.

How can an admin manually uninstall WSS Agent on Windows host?

Environment

Windows OS.

WSS Agent.

Resolution

Here is a list Registry entries and of Files/Directories that need to be deleted to remove the agent manually on Windows OS:

// Registry entries

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders\C:\ProgramData\Symantec WSS Agent\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders\C:\ProgramData\Symantec WSS Agent\CrashDumps\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders\C:\Program Files\Symantec WSS Agent\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders\C:\Program Files\Symantec WSS Agent\wssak\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WSS Agent 8x
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\WSS Agent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DIFx\DriverStore\wssak_*

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wssad
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wssak

// File system entries - delete specified folders and subfolders

C:\ProgramData\Symantec WSS Agent\
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Symantec WSS Agent\
C:\Program Files\Symantec\WSS Agent\
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\wssak.sys
C:\Users\testuser\AppData\Local\Symantec WSS Agent\

Additional Information

When uninstalled, the service and kernel driver should not be visible when running either of the following commands:

C:\windows\system32>sc query wssak
 
SERVICE_NAME: wssak
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

PS C:\Users\testuser> Get-Service "wssa*"

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  wssad              Symantec WSS Agent