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m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7

Hi,

 

Over the course of many years, our client has asked us to install all kinds of SAS versions and individual components on a multitude of computers. Now they want to standardize the installation (finally!) Ofcourse, without proper procedures and having the installations performed by a number of IT technicians, there is no standard and each installation differs from the next (great - not!).

 

The general idea is to start from scratch, removing every trace of all previous SAS installations and start again with the installation of SAS 9.4M3, like if SAS has never been installed on the computers. Several machines will no longer need to have SAS, so an uninstallation will suffice on those computers. Reconfiguring all the computers with a fresh Windows installation is not an option.

 

I've been reading through the Deployment User's Guide, various SAS KB articles and the Communities boards, and everyone suggests using the Deployment Manager to completely uninstall SAS. The problem is that I have various installations (SAS and DataFlux) of various versions in various directories (on some machines I have 3 versions of Enterprise Guide), and that the uninstallation needs to be automated. There are no SAS Services running on the computers.

 

What would be the risk if delete all the directories and registry entries containing SAS?

 

Like I said, every trace of SAS needs to be removed. And like I see it, all traces of SAS are in its proper installation directories, plus C:\ProgramData\SAS and AppData\Local and AppData\Roaming in C:\Users, and the Registry.

 

I also have at my disposal an inventory of all computers containing sas.exe (and other executables) and their proper directories. I can detect the existance of specific files (like sas.exe or eguide.exe), but with the inventory that may not be needed.

 

1. I would start by correctly removing the SAS Add-in for Office because it hooks into Word and Excel.

 

2. After that, I would remove

C:\Program Files\SAS

C:\Program Files\SASHome

C:\Program Files\SASHome2

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAS

C:\Program Files (x86)\SASHome

C:\SAS

etc any directories based on my inventory

+ C:\ProgramData\SAS

+ C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\SAS

+ C:\Users\*\AppData\Roaming\SAS

 

3. Finally, I would remove the specific Registry entries, among others

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAS Institute Inc.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAS Institute Inc.

 

Any thoughts? Comments are greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you,

Michel

11 REPLIES 11
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

First of all, you have Windows, which is the biggest disadvantage here. The only real option to get a clean Windows system is a fresh install from scratch. When we still ran Windows servers, that was done regularly once every year or every two years. Just to keep the darn things running.

On Windows, installed software leaves its traces in places even Micosoft doesn't know to exist.

So my advice is to rebuild the systems one-by one from scratch; build a new one off-line, and then switch with the existing one. Once testing of the new system is complete, use the retired one as the clone for the next system.

 

With a UNIX, it's much easier to get rid of software, as config information is usually kept in clearly discernible places (SASROOT, the SAS configuration tree, and the inittab). Remove those, and you're done for good.

m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7

Hi @Kurt_Bremser,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

Our client is performing an analysis of which users actually require an installation of SAS. As far as I know, starting with a fresh install (+ data transfer + installation of other programs) will require quite some time which I believe is not in the budget. Based upon the final number of installations however, and the risk involved, it can be proposed.

 

Michel

Kurt_Bremser
Super User

I would abstain from installing anything beyond the typical SAS clients (EG, DI Studio, Cube Studio, SMC, Information Map Studio) on desktop computers. We're in the process of killing off the last remnants of Windows SASFoundation, so the core SAS system will reside solely in the server environment.

If you follow that path, then removal of the SAS system from desktops is not so critical, as unwanted remnants can not interfere with future installations, as there are none.

anja
SAS Employee

Hi,

 

what are all the SAS versions you have installed, and, do you have a Metadata Server or non-Metadata

environment?

 

Hypothetically removing the files and registry files can work, however, I would probably not do it without

talking to Tech Sup.

 

Thanks

Anja

m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7

Hi @anja,

 

Thank you for your quick reply.

 

Basically (I'm not a SAS expert), all the computers have SAS 9.3 installed (SAS Foundation 9.3 and Enterprise Guide 5.1).

 

Some machines have an additional installation of Enterprise Guide 6.1 and one also has Enterprise Guide 7.1. On top of that, some machines have DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.4 installed; some consultants have installed on their own initiative DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.6.

 

The computers from Marketing have the same basic setup (installed in C:\Program Files\SAS), like the others, but also components from SAS 9.4 (SAS Digital Marketing Client 6.3, and Enterprise Guide 6.1) installed in C:\Program Files\SASHome.

 

I cannot answer your question about the Metadata Server but I will ask.

 

I will open a tracker with Tech Support.

 

Thank you,

Michel

Kurt_Bremser
Super User

One of the reasons I don't like SASFoundation on desktops is that simple tasks like license renewal can become tedious.

And sharing data is easier in the server than over the network.

m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7

This is the official answer from Tech Support:

 

As you mentioned starting with SAS 9.4 you can use the -uninstallall option to remove all SAS 9.4 products installed on a machine. Before SAS 9.4 the silent uninstall was done in several ways. e.g. in SAS 9.3 you need a response file.


Since you have multiple installations of SAS on the clients i agree with the statement that the only proper (and most likely fast way as well) is to reinstall Windows. As you have seen from "Installation Note 37352: The procedure for completely uninstalling SAS® software releases 8.2, 9.1.3, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4 from a Windows operating environment" (http://support.sas.com/kb/37/352.html) there are several steps to remove SAS components. The steps differ from SAS version to SAS version.

You could try to manual uninstall SAS by removing directories and registry entries, however this is not supported. The supported way is what is documented in above Installation Note 37352.

 

Basically we have an inventory of computers and users, our client will provide us a list of users who no longer require SAS. On those machines, we do nothing, we let the license expire. We're not going through the hassle of uninstalling SAS (unless the client decides otherwise).

 

Reinstalling Windows is not really an option, maybe in a few cases.

 

The computers where an upgrade will need to be performed, we're going to manually uninstall the SAS versions using the SDM and the GUI (most recent installations first, and ending with uninstalling the oldest version, if multiple versions exist on the same computer). Next, manual removal of remaining directories and registry keys (as documented by SAS) followed by a reboot. That way, the SDM does its work removing everything and the registry keys. 

JuanS_OCS
Amethyst | Level 16

Hello @m_oversteyns,

 

just found out that you have this topic and also https://communities.sas.com/t5/Administration-and-Deployment/Quietly-uninstalling-SAS-9-3-without-us...

 

Please correct me if I am wrong: are they basically the same question, but with more specific details in here? Please let me know, because if the answer is affirmative, I would just move my answer in the other thread to this one 🙂

 

In short, I think you are on the right track. My best advise: if you remove SAS 9.3 to install 9.4, specially if SAS foundation is involved in the deployment, I would take special care of the windows registry keys.

 

PS. Good question!

PS2. Mantra: "virtual clients" 😉

 

Juan

 

 

m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7
This question/post is specifically about manually removing SAS without the SDM and the risks involved. The other question/post is specifically about using the proposed way of uninstalling using response files but with a twist as I am unable to provide a valid response file.
m_oversteyns
Obsidian | Level 7

I'll be organising a meeting with my boss (who is pro virtualisation using Citrix, Published Applications, VDI, ...) and the Project Manager, because I'm turning round in circles without a clear way to go. It's ultimately up to the client to decide, they already use VDI so I'm hoping they will choose that for SAS. It would make my job a lot easier!

JuanS_OCS
Amethyst | Level 16

Good luck with it. I see a lot of advantages (for you and all your client's users) if you succeed with this initiative!

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