How to uninstall LO3 and install 4

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#1

Computer illiterate here!

Installed LO3 a couple years ago, had problems with it and haven’t used it since and now would like to try LO4. Can I install 4 as an update on top of 3 or must I first uninstall 3 and if so, how? For some reason unknown to me LO3 does not appear in my “uninstall program” list but a system search found what I believe are all the components which I could delete individually if necessary. Don’t know much about computers and would appreciate somebody walking me thru this.

Running Vista HP w/SP2 fully updated, Firefox 19, HD 448G free space.

Installation Trouble PLEASE HELP!
#2

Hi,

generally, on MS-windows systems, you remove software via the ‘Add/Remove software’ dialogue. To get to this use:
Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Software

wait for the list of software to populate itself, then browse down to find Libreoffice - there should be Remove and maybe Modify options.

To install LO v4, download the installer from LO download site and save it to somewhere handy - then open the file from the location you saved it in and follow the on-screen instructions.

I’m not running Windows just now, so haven’t checked the detail, but that’s the general procedure - perhaps someone using a MS o/s can refine this answer

hope that helps - JS

BTW - I’ve had some issues with LO v4 on Linux (Calc crashes on loading macro-enabled file) so have reverted to LO v3.6.5, which works fine for me - you’ll see that is also available via the download link.

#3

@ JackSprat, I would have done that but as I mentioned, LibreOffice doesn’t appear anywhere in the programs listed in the “add or remove programs” window which leaves me nowhere to go - thanks for trying!

#4

The entry in the Add and Remove might have been deleted but you have a few other options:

  1. Try to find the original LO3 installation file with an extension .MSI. Double click on it and it gives you the option to remove, repair…

  2. In c:/program files(x86) (64-bit win) or c:/program files (32bit Win) you will find a subdirectory Libreoffice 3.#. Older versions might have an uninstall program there. Names are: uninstall.exe, uninst.exe or similar. Double click on it.

  3. Just start LO4 installation program Libreoffice…MSI. It might uninstall your old version.

  4. Last brute version if 3) does not work: Delete the subdirectory mentioned in 2). And run afterwards CCleaner to remove LO stuff in the registry.

Good hunting :slight_smile:

#5

Could you explain or add a link to CCleaner?

#6

Here is the link.

#7

I also still have LibreOffice 3 installed on this machine. I didn’t see any uninstall, uinstall or similarly-named program in the LibreOffice directory, but all is not lost.

If you still have the installation file(s), e.g., LibO_3.6.5_Win_x86_install_multi.msi (main program) and LibO_3.6.5_Win_x86_helppack_en-US.msi (help pack), you can run them, starting with the help pack, and on detecting that it is already installed, will give you the option to repair or remove the product.

On installation, you would generally:

  1. run the install of the main program, then
  2. run the install of the help pack.

So on removal, you normally should do it in the reverse order:

  1. run the uninstall of the help pack, then
  2. run the uninstall of the main program.

If you don’t have them, you should be able to download them by going to the download page at http://www.libreoffice.org/download/, click on “Change System, Version or Language” and navigate to your platform, language, and then pick the appropriate LibreOffice 3.6 version. (It doesn’t matter that much that what you had installed was probably an earlier 3 version, the latest 3 version installer should work for purposes of uninstalling.

If that doesn’t work, a trick I find that sometimes work with various applications is to install the version I want to remove, and that will put in all of the pieces to get the regular uninstall routines to work correctly. So if you aren’t given an option to uninstall, this would take more time, but I think I would suggest going through the installation process (main program, then the help pack), and then using either the Windows “Control panel” → “Programs” → 'uninstall a program" or using the installation files to go through the uninstall process (help pack, then the main program).

#8

I guess you might have installed a Portable Version of LibreOffice from PortableApps.com.

Otherwise, you may try to find the Installation Directory and the executable inside.

#9

This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

EDIT: I had the same problem, found an option you can use that will help:
http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/

With this package I have been able to remove the MSI uninstaller for both the Help Package and the LibreOffice main installation, when every other method out there failed abysmally. I tried removing registry entries and searched far and wide for the exact package I used to install this version. Even CCcleaner could not do anything with the MSI entry that seemed to be permanently stuck in Add/Remove programs.

Hope this helps.

I have LibreOffice 3.6.4 installed and I have lost the installer. LibreOffice 3.6.4 is old enough to belong to the “old/” repository:

http://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/

However if you follow the link, the closest available to download is 3.6.4.1. Old versions are not kept once point releases are out. Of course this package will not help you uninstalling 3.6.4 at all. Why you need to have the exact package that was used to install in order to uninstall is beyond me; I kept it, but it was archived around the end of the year, and my archived copy is offsite. I’m just going to delete it all manually now. Thanks, MSI installers.

Dumber: My antique LibO didn’t even suggest an upgrade to 4.0, it said I should upgrade to 3.6.5, directed me to the download link for 3.6.5, and if I did not know 4.0 was already available for download, I would have just downloaded the old version (and hit the exact same problem anyway. Believe me, I tried.)

There is nowhere to download the 3.6.4 .msi file from, and your only option if you do not have it is to follow the “delete manually and CCcleaner” path, already suggested by horst here.

#10

I just realized my problem is slightly different than yours. I DO have the entry in Add/Remove programs – or I did, until I tried Microsoft FixIt. Unfortunately that hasn’t fixed anything – it removed the entry, but LibreOffice is still looking for the .MSI installer to complete the uninstallation before reinstalling. I do not have a solution at this point, having tried everything I can think of.

#11

I tried everything, and then I found MSIzap:

http://rafaelwolf.com/?p=263

It’s a discontinued MS tool which may solve your problem. Unfortunately I went to manually cleaning the registry and EDIT: this may be your only option too. It worked for me.

MsiZapInfo: Performing operations for user S-1-5-21-2798995803-409160954-3230165913-1294
Removing orphaned cached files.
   Error opening 62B640D98797DC74196ECAC3D1BF3C0D\InstallProperties subkey of Products key for S-1-5-18 user. Error: 2.
   Error opening A2F7EC7AE372B8D46A62BA230B0BB91B\InstallProperties subkey of Products key for S-1-5-18 user. Error: 2.
   Error opening F338A3917D83DC349B60685FB4451CCE\InstallProperties subkey of Products key for S-1-5-18 user. Error: 2.
FAILED to clear all data.

After searching through my registry for these keys (62B64… A2F7E… etc) found by MSIzap to be dangling references, and any remaining references to LibreOffice (did you know that regedit only searches below the cursor?) and deleting them with prejudice, LibreOffice 4.0.1.2 finally agrees to be installed without complaining. It was all problems in the registry. Keep looking.

This time I will remember to keep my .MSI around until the next version is installed.

#12

This solution has perhaps already been posted somewhere else but I didn’t see it here so wanted to offer my solution in case it helps anybody.

I am using Windows 8.1 64-bit.

I had LO 4.3.5.2 installed and wanted to upgrade to 4.4.3.2. As mentioned above, the new version could not complete the installation and the use of LibreOffice_4.3.5.2_Win_x86.msi could not be used to uninstall because both methods were looking for LibreOffice_4.3.5_Win_x86.msi. I could not find this file on http://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old or anywhere else.

So I gave it what it was looking for. I renamed LibreOffice_4.3.5.2_Win_x86.msi to LibreOffice_4.3.5_Win_x86.msi. I then ran LibreOffice_4.3.5_Win_x86.msi which properly uninstalled 4.3.5.2. The uninstallation actually properly referred to 4.3.5.2 which was the version I had. I was then able to install the new version 4.4.3.2 with no issues whatsoever.

#13

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