How to force an uninstall of Citrix XenApp or Presentation Server via command line

If you ever wanted to force an uninstall of XenApp or Presentation Server, you can do it with just one command. There are many scenarios where you might have to do this. Forcing an uninstall should always be a last resort though. You just navigate to your setup files to where mps.msi is located and run the following. In this example, I have copied the XenApp 6.5 install files to my D: drive:

D:\InstallFiles\XenApp6.5\XenApp Server\w2k8x64

and type the following command:

msiexec /x MPS.msi CTX_MF_FORCE_SUBSYSTEM_UNINSTALL=YES

This will bring up the following prompt:

and then you just run through the uninstaller and reboot when it prompts you.

Now if you don’t have mps.msi on your server and don’t have time to find the media and copy the install files over, here is a nice trick. Open regedit to edit your registry and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Now find the key with the Display Name of Citrix Presentation Server or XenApp, here is a screenshot from a Presentation Server 4.5 box for example:

Right on the key and copy the key name:

Paste it into Notepad. It will be the full path of the key but just copy the key part only:

Then open up a command prompt and type the following but with the key you saw on your server. Here is mine for example::

msiexec /x {44412985-02EE-4824-9EA5-B2AF6D98924E} CTX_MF_FORCE_SUBSYSTEM_UNINSTALL=YES

Once you hit enter, it will pop up with the uninstall dialog and you can run through it to complete your uninstall:

Just keep in mind that the force uninstall switch only uninstalls XenApp/Presentation Server. It will not uninstall all of the little plugins and other modules that were install when you original setup your Citrix server:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Jason Samuel

Jason Samuel is a visionary product leader and trusted advisor with a proven track record of shaping strategy and driving technology innovation. With extensive expertise in enterprise end-user computing, security, cloud, automation, and virtualization technologies, Jason has become a globally recognized authority in the IT industry. His career spans consulting for hundreds of Fortune 500 enterprises across diverse business sectors worldwide, delivering cutting-edge digital solutions from Citrix, Microsoft, VMware, Amazon, Google, and NVIDIA that seamlessly balance security with exceptional user experiences.

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