@Joe_S:
I did indeed have a system restore point from before the WD SmartWare installation, however when attempting to restore I got a blue screen error. When trying to do the same from the Windows 7 Startup CD Recovery Menu, there was no blue screen but I did get a non specific error about there being a problem with the system restore process and then it would stop. Testing with other restore points AFTER the WD SmartWare installation yields no problems. Strange.
As of now I no longer have a restore point from before the WD SmartWare uninstallation. It was deleted automatically when new restore points were created by the system.
I also tried your suggestion and uninstalled my ESET NOD32 anti-virus, and also disabled my Comodo Firewall (my only two security programs), then tried to setup the program again from the msi file, but it wouldn’t do anything. The setup window would pop-up and say “Gathering required information” and then would close after a couple of seconds. The only thing I could try was clicking on “Repair” from the “Programs and Features” menu, which did indeed complete properly, but still it didn’t help. Couldn’t uninstall.
@WDJeremy:
I realize that you do not have a separate uninstaller for the program, but can you speculate/elaborate on what may have caused this issue? Is there any way I can do a manual uninstall by using MSIzap and then manually delete all the programs registry entries? Can you provide me with all the program’s registry location entries?
I looked up the error code text, and apparently this is error number “1722”. There are many references to it online, but not any clear solution, some solutions are offered but are program specific so they do not apply here.
Here’s another interesting phenomenon:
The SmartWare version I have is 1.4.1.1
I downloaded the updater to version 1.4.3.4 in hopes that it would fix whatever was wrong with the installation and then I could uninstall the program. I ran it, setup was succesful and I was prompted to restart. I restart, then upon windows logon you get a black screen and a window with command prompt open with nothing in it. After a couple of minutes the empty command prompt window closes automatically and windows continues to load normally.
Upon checking the version, it is still 1.4.1.1!!
It seems that the installation cannot be affected by anything. You cannot remove it and you cannot even update it.
Any ideas?
Thanks!!