Notice: This website is an unofficial Microsoft Knowledge Base (hereinafter KB) archive and is intended to provide a reliable access to deleted content from Microsoft KB. All KB articles are owned by Microsoft Corporation. Read full disclaimer for more details.

Error message when you uninstall a program in Windows: "An error occurred while trying to uninstall [program]. It may have already been uninstalled"


View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario. On a computer that is running Windows, you try to uninstall a program by using the Uninstall a program option of the Programs and Features Control Panel item. You click Yes when you are prompted to restart the computer to complete the uninstall operation. Then, you receive the following error message:

"An error occurred while trying to uninstall program. It may have already been uninstalled.

Would you like to remove program from the Programs and Features list?"

Note The program placeholder represents the program that you tried to uninstall.

After a short time, the computer restarts.

↑ Back to the top


Cause

You receive this error message because of timing related issues. However, the program is uninstalled successfully. 

Note If you click No when you are prompted to restart the computer and then manually restart the computer later, you do not receive the error message.

↑ Back to the top


Resolution

No additional action is necessary. You can safely ignore this error message.

↑ Back to the top


More Information

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the Applies To section.

↑ Back to the top


Keywords: vkball, kb

↑ Back to the top

Article Info
Article ID : 2002473
Revision : 4
Created on : 8/1/2019
Published on : 8/1/2019
Exists online : False
Views : 308