Uninstalling Adventure Bundle is DANGEROUS

[wccrawford]

I told it to install to my D:\Games directory, thinking it would create a subdirectory like every other game I've ever installed. When I noticed that it didn't, I uninstalled it.

It deleted ALL my games. Gone. No recourse.

[JFreeman]

Every uninstaller does that, all it does is delete everything in the folder it installed too.

You could have just deleted the files manually, lesson learned hopefully.

[DjNDB]

You can try if reverting to a system restore point shortly before the uninstallation recovers your games.

Edit: System restore doesn't work reliably in that case

[onan]

No! I registered for the forums just to contradict what's being said here.

1 - NO, not every installer does that. NO installer does that. Installers are supposed to delete ONLY what they create and nothing else. Telling it to delete everything in a directory is incredibly irresponsible and sloppy. In fact, Bungie got stung by this as way back when they were releasing Myth: The Fallen Lords. They ended up issuing a massive recall that cost them a ton of money because they used this method, and if someone installed the game to their root (C:\) and then subsequently uninstalled it, they'd wipe their hard drive.

2 - No, don't bother doing a system restore. They only restore previous version of the registry, drivers, and a few other things. Deleted files are not included in system restores. Realistically, you'll roll back to an earlier period where the last few applications you installed weren't installed, and they'll be unregistered (but not removed), breaking those installations as well.

You're out of luck here, wc. Take this as a lesson not to trust software blindly, and always create a subdirectory for something to be installed to. Fortunately you can always reinstall your other games. Look on the bright side, at least you changed it from C:\program files\ ...now THAT would have been a disaster.

[JFreeman]

Every wasn't the right word (as is "no installer does that") but I've encountered several that do.

I have no idea what the technical stuff behind it is but I've used many a installer that completely wipes the install directory, usually programs that create extra files after installation so you aren't left with 100 bug dump files or whatever.

[mateo360]

Originally Posted by onan

2 - No, don't bother doing a system restore. They only restore previous version of the registry, drivers, and a few other things. Deleted files are not included in system restores. Realistically, you'll roll back to an earlier period where the last few applications you installed weren't installed, and they'll be unregistered (but not removed), breaking those installations as well.

You obviously don't understand how system restore works. I would put back deleted files as the restore points cover the entire hard drive. I actually had to re uninstall a few things the last time I did it because it restores them.

I also have a hard time listen to someone who says they just register to yell and rant about installers and who's name is an anagram for "anon"

[DjNDB]

I made a quick test with system restore. It does recover uninstalled software, but not entirely. A lot of files of the installed game (W&G 101) were still missing after restore, so it's obviously not reliable enough for that purpose. I edited my post above to reflect that.

If there are any important files lost from that folder, which can not be recovered by reinstalling, downloading, backups or otherwise, it is worth a shot trying file recovery software though.

[Sir Primalform Magnifico]

Originally Posted by mateo360

You obviously don't understand how system restore works. I would put back deleted files as the restore points cover the entire hard drive. I actually had to re uninstall a few things the last time I did it because it restores them.

I also have a hard time listen to someone who says they just register to yell and rant about installers and who's name is an anagram for "anon"

Actually you're wrong. System restore does not usually indiscriminately restore files and certainly won't restore the entire contents of a games folder. You obviously don't understand how system restore works.

[mateo360]

Originally Posted by Sir Primalform Magnifico

Actually you're wrong. System restore does not usually indiscriminately restore files and certainly won't restore the entire contents of a games folder. You obviously don't understand how system restore works.

I have restores made every week and anytime I have had to go back to one I have had to redelete things that I had already deleted before having to restore. I have also had to reinstall things which is annoying. I have a good grasp of how it works.

[Avocado02]

File recovery software such as "Recuva" should be able to restore everything.

[Darkmire]

I restored an entire hard drive that was formated, so it should be possible to restore your games. I think I used Easeus Partition Recovery. If you can easily re-install the games I wouldn't bother restoring it. But files that are deleted aren't actually wiped from the drive until they're over-written (unless you format the drive, which isn't foolproof either). They are just taken out of the index that your hard drive uses to keep track of files, thus allowing new files to write over them.

And if the Great Adventure Bundle really deletes all files, even those unrelated to the games, when you uninstall.... that's quite an issue. Has anyone else tested or experienced this?

[onan]

Originally Posted by mateo360

I have restores made every week and anytime I have had to go back to one I have had to redelete things that I had already deleted before having to restore. I have also had to reinstall things which is annoying. I have a good grasp of how it works.

Do you mean "backups"?

Because Windows' "system restore" isn't a backup, far from it. It's almost useless at best, and can be problematic at first. It's more likely to restore a virus or worm before anything that's actually of value.

These file recovery methods people are mentioning work, however they're mostly used to recover important documents because if any of the sectors have been overwritten within that time, the data is likely permanently lost short of forensic recovery. The longer you wait, the less likely you're ever going to get a 100% restoral, too. It's just not worth using for applications and games because if a few bytes are damaged, those apps are just going to crash and burn at some point. Better to just reinstall and not worry.

Mateo, let's not rag on me because I felt motivated to register to potentially save someone further damage to their computer. I'm not yelling or ranting, just stating. Heaven forbid you have people register here for altruistic purposes.

[mateo360]

Originally Posted by onan

Do you mean "backups"?

No I do not mean backups. My computer automatically makes a new restore point every week. I have only had to use it when something goes wrong but files between those points will disappear or reappear.

Here is what System Restore says in Windows:
"Undo recent system changes, but leaves files such as documents, pictures, and music unchanged. This might remove recently-installed programs and drivers."

It will leave your docs, pics and music alone but certain game files are not of that category. You would probably still have to reinstall but installing and remove games count a system changes.

[JayneCobb]

I'm with you, wccrawford, I encountered the same problem!Thanks to the flawed uninstall routine, I've lost a programme. Even worse, I've spent SIX hours trying to figure out a way to interrupt the Windows Installer which was constantly trying to reinstall said program and couldn't be cancelled (well, the "cancel" button worked, but it just started over and over again). Furthermore, my computer was either incredibly slowed down by this or frozen right from the start.

To anyone who has the same problem: By googling, I finally found the helpful advice to download the Windows Install Clean Up. The tricky part is that this program has, obviously, to be INSTALLED first, which it refused for a long time because another installation routine (the one I wanted to get rid of) was running. :/ Which is why I needed this program in first place ...

I don't know how I made it, but after many tries I happened to be lucky with the timing and the installation of the Clean Up program worked. By this, I could interrupt the closed loop.

I'm afraid of the registry, it must be a mess now.

I've never encountered that many problems with software I paid money for before. Hell, I don't think I've had this much trouble with freeware! The idea behind it is great, but it's such an incredible mess with the Adventure Bundle.

[Arkadia]

Hi, unfortunately only after purchasing the bundle and installing have I read the support forums here. I'm a bit terrified to install anything and would like to uninstall the bundle until it gets patched or made more reliable.

Is everyone having this uninstall issue? The Adventure Bundle installer was installed on my hard drive to
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Telltale Games\Adventure Bundle\AdventureBundle.exe"
- if I try to uninstall the game will it wipe my Program Files folder? Is there a safe alternative to uninstalling the program the conventional way? I've never heard of anything like this happening before.

I'm sorry to hear everyone is having such trouble!

[Macfly77]

Originally Posted by Arkadia

Is everyone having this uninstall issue? The Adventure Bundle installer was installed on my hard drive to
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Telltale Games\Adventure Bundle\AdventureBundle.exe"
- if I try to uninstall the game will it wipe my Program Files folder? Is there a safe alternative to uninstalling the program the conventional way? I've never heard of anything like this happening before.

I'm sorry to hear everyone is having such trouble!

It will not wipe your Program Files directory. Only the Adventure Bundle subdirectory.
The OP had the game installed in D:\Games instead of C:\Program Files (x86)\Telltale Games\Adventure Bundle\

[xbskid]

Installers that blindly delete entire contents of folders are poorly programmed. They should keep track of files that they created and only delete those during the uninstall process. Any configuration files and save data belong in the user profile.