Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool Issue

[neviln65401910]

Hello,

I've been trying to use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to remove my Adobe programs but the tool doesn't seem to uninstall anything since I used a different Hard Drive for my installation directories.

Each time I review the logfile created by the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool, it shows that the program was trying to uninstall Adobe from the default installation location of C:\.....but all my Adobe programs are installed on E:\.....

Is there anyway to get the Cleaner tool to scan my other hard drive (E:\)?

I'm using Windows 8.

Thank you,

Nevil

[kglad · Accepted solution]

you should use the uninstallers to uninstall your cc programs and the cleaner to remove the left-over bits.

uninstall everything cc including preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html

then uninstall the cc desktop app, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html

clean your computer of cc files per http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

restart your computer (don't skip this)

reinstall the cc desktop app, https://creative.adobe.com/products/creative-cloud.

if you're unable to install the cc desktop app at this stage, use an administrator account (solution 4 here, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html)

use the desktop app to install your cc programs/trials

[neviln65401910]

I appreciate the quick response kglad.

The reason I'm trying to uninstall they is because the hard drive they are installed on is failing. So my plan was to uninstall the programs, and then reinstall them on another internal hard drive.

But when I used the uninstallers, somewhere throughout the process, the uninstaller failed because of the failing hard drive. When I rebooted the computer, I noticed that the installation directory still had lots of partial files and folders that never got removed because the uninstaller failed halfway through and now the uninstallers don't even show up under "Program and Features" in Control Panel.

So when I googled the issue, I found out Adobe has a Cleaner Tool. But when I used the tool, it seems to only search for the default drive directory of C:\Program Files\....

But my installation was on E:\Program Files\.....

[kglad]

why don't you remove the problematic drive from your computer, replace with a good one and then install your os and programs (including cc)?

there's no need to uninstall from one drive in order to install on another.

[neviln65401910]

That's what I plan to do except I don't need to reinstall my OS.

My OS is currently on a 250GB SSD drive (C:\) and I have a secondary internal 2TB hard drive (E:\) where I install most of my applications and store my media. But the 2TB internal drive (E:\) started failing last week so I'm trying to uninstall applications that were installed on E:\ to cleanly and fully remove them. Then I was going to install a replacement 4TB hard drive and reinstall all my applications on it.

The reason I was trying to use the uninstaller was to safely remove all the registry entries and scattered installation files... but now that the uninstallers failed, I'm stuck with tons of registry entries and left over installation files.

That's why I was hoping there was a way to have the Adobe Cleanup Tool scan my registry and my 2TB hard drive for any Adobe products installed on E:\ drive instead of C:\

Or if there's a list of registry entries that I can manually erase.

Thanks again for your time and help. I really do appreciate it,

Nevil

[kglad]

i don't think the cleaner with help with your registry.  you could use a registry cleaner tool but those don't clean everything or they clean too much and you risk hosing your system.

bottomline: you're going to have a mess unless your reformat your c drive, reinstall your os and then install your programs (on your new drive).

or, if you have a system restore point before your installed anything onto the failing drive, you could restore back to that point and save a lot time.

[neviln65401910]

Thank you again for all the help and sorry for the delayed response. I spent the past few days backing up most of my files.

Before I went to format my C:\ drive, I thought I'd try removing the registry entries manually to see if that would work...which would then save me a ton of time from reformatting and re-installing all my software. I chose to do it manually to reduce the risk of erasing a crucial registry key as opposed to running an automated Registry Cleaner program.

I did some digging and found that most of the registry keys are located in the following locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VirtualStore\Machine\Software\Adobe

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\adobe

Are there any other locations Adobe would put registry keys?

[kglad]

probably, but i don't know the locations.  use the find feature of regedit or some other registry editor.