Assistance Required – RDM Upgrade Fails Due to Incomplete Uninstallation

Hello

This error isn't one that I've seen before with Windows Installer, and I'm not sure that it relates to the registry. Broadly this isn't something that should be happening - it should not be necessary to uninstall the prior version at all; although I understand that when you force an uninstall that works around the problem.

If you wouldn't mind - If you're able to reproduce the issue on one of the problematic devices - a log from Windows Installer would be incredibly helpful. You can generate that by invoking the installer from the command line, e.g.

"msiexec /i {path-to-msi-to-install} /l*v {path-to-log-file}"

So, if your terminal is in the directory holding the .msi:

"msiexe /i Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.msi /l*v rdm-install.log"

(Importantly, if your terminal is PowerShell, make sure it doesn't prefix the .msi with "./". Windows Installer doesn't understand that syntax)

Then, the installer will launch and you can run through it as normal; reproduce the error condition; and you'll find the rdm-install.log file in the specified location, which you can share with me.

Can I also ask how you're doing the mass deployment here? Are you using an SCCM tool or is it simply the case of manually running the install on every system, or something in-between?

I do have an uninstall script hat I could share that completely removes RDM from the client machine, in a similar way to the Microsoft tool but much faster. But again - this shouldn't be necessary - it would be great if we can troubleshoot this a little so we can correct whatever causes it, and prevent it from happening the next time you upgrade...

Please let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions

Kind regards,

Hello

This error isn't one that I've seen before with Windows Installer, and I'm not sure that it relates to the registry. Broadly this isn't something that should be happening - it should not be necessary to uninstall the prior version at all; although I understand that when you force an uninstall that works around the problem.

If you wouldn't mind - If you're able to reproduce the issue on one of the problematic devices - a log from Windows Installer would be incredibly helpful. You can generate that by invoking the installer from the command line, e.g.

"msiexec /i {path-to-msi-to-install} /l*v {path-to-log-file}"

So, if your terminal is in the directory holding the .msi:

"msiexe /i Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.msi /l*v rdm-install.log"

(Importantly, if your terminal is PowerShell, make sure it doesn't prefix the .msi with "./". Windows Installer doesn't understand that syntax)

Then, the installer will launch and you can run through it as normal; reproduce the error condition; and you'll find the rdm-install.log file in the specified location, which you can share with me.

Can I also ask how you're doing the mass deployment here? Are you using an SCCM tool or is it simply the case of manually running the install on every system, or something in-between?

I do have an uninstall script hat I could share that completely removes RDM from the client machine, in a similar way to the Microsoft tool but much faster. But again - this shouldn't be necessary - it would be great if we can troubleshoot this a little so we can correct whatever causes it, and prevent it from happening the next time you upgrade...

Please let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions

Kind regards,

@Richard Markiewicz

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, we are using SCCM to deploy the upgrade, but I encountered the same issue when attempting to install manually (only the Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.0.msi) on the problematic devices.
Currently, we no longer have devices with this issue in our environment, as it occurred during the POC. The problem affected 2 out of 6 devices, which led us to pause the POC in order to identify a more reliable deployment method.

For reference, the deployment .bat used via SCCM runs the following commands:
windowsdesktop-runtime-9.0.4-win-x64.exe /quiet /norestart
msiexec /i "Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.0.msi" /q

Should we encounter additional devices with the same failure (requiring an extension of the POC), I will provide the relevant logs for your review.

You mentioned that RDM does not need to be uninstalled to upgrade. However, in the cases we observed, the old version was removed but could not be used, likely failing during the upgrade process and leaving the system in an unusable state.

Additionally, you mentioned an uninstall script. If this script does not remove user settings, I would appreciate it if you could provide a copy for our testing.

Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Hello Steve

Thanks for the information. Can I ask what SCCM you were using for your proof-of-concept?

If you were to try again, I might recommend adjusting the deployment to always generate a verbose log. Something like:

msiexec /i "Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.0.msi" /q /l*v %TEMP%\rdm-install.log

If the machines being deployed to are online, it's possible for RDM to download and install the .NET Runtime itself. You can pass INSTALL_DOTNET_RUNTIME="1" as a parameter to msiexec (it's a property, so it should come at the end of the command). This is designed to make things easier with SCCM.

If you don't mind, please drop an email to service@devolutions.net and I'd be happy to coordinate through our support team to get you a copy of the uninstall script. It's something I prefer to give on a case-by-case basis rather than posting publicly.

Please, let me know if you have any questions

Kind regards,

Hello Steve

Thanks for the information. Can I ask what SCCM you were using for your proof-of-concept?

If you were to try again, I might recommend adjusting the deployment to always generate a verbose log. Something like:

msiexec /i "Setup.RemoteDesktopManager.2025.3.17.0.msi" /q /l*v %TEMP%\rdm-install.log

If the machines being deployed to are online, it's possible for RDM to download and install the .NET Runtime itself. You can pass INSTALL_DOTNET_RUNTIME="1" as a parameter to msiexec (it's a property, so it should come at the end of the command). This is designed to make things easier with SCCM.

If you don't mind, please drop an email to service@devolutions.net and I'd be happy to coordinate through our support team to get you a copy of the uninstall script. It's something I prefer to give on a case-by-case basis rather than posting publicly.

Please, let me know if you have any questions

Kind regards,

@Richard Markiewicz
We run SCCM 2503 - all device not have internet access - need to insure I inject the .NET.

Script requested.

Thanks for the tips for my deployment.

Hello Steve

I followed up on the ticket and sent you my script. Please let me know any questions.

If you decide to revisit this and have further issues please let us know. I don't have enough information to know if this was an RDM installer bug, a problem with how the deployment was done, or a combination of the two.

Thanks and kind regards,