Uninstalling IBM MQ using msiexec

You can uninstall IBM® MQ by running the msiexec command from the command line to remove all currently installed features.

About this task

You can use the msiexec command to uninstall IBM MQ either by running the msiexec command with a parameter that calls a response file, or by entering the required msiexec parameters on the command line.

Important: When specifying which features to remove with the REMOVE parameter:

• If you want to silently uninstall the Server feature, and the Web Administration (Web) feature is installed, you must also silently uninstall the Web feature at the same time by specifying REMOVE="Web,Server".
• If you want to silently uninstall the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) feature, and the Web Administration (Web) feature is installed, you must also silently uninstall the Web feature at the same time by specifying REMOVE="Web,JRE".

If you are running IBM MQ on Windows with User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you must invoke the silent uninstallation from an elevated command prompt. Elevate a command prompt by using a right-click to start the command prompt and choose Run as administrator.

In all of the examples of commands shown, the variable names used are as follows:

• installation_name is the name of the installation you want to remove.
• product_code is the value shown for MSIProdCode in the output of the following command:

  
  dspmqinst -n installation_name
  

  An example of a product code is {0730749B-080D-4A2E-B63D-85CF09AE0EF0}.

• To silently uninstall IBM MQ by running the msiexec command with a parameter that calls a response file:
  1. Set which features to uninstall, and whether to keep existing queue managers in the response file.
     A response file is an ASCII text file that contains the parameter values that you want to set for the uninstallation. The response file has a format similar to a Windows .ini file, and contains the stanza [Response]. This stanza contains parameters that the msiexec command can use, in the form of property = value pairs. The msiexec command ignores any other stanzas in the file. This is an example of a simple uninstallation [Response] stanza:

     
     [Response] REMOVE="ALL"
     

     For more information about how to create a response file, including which parameters you can specify, see Creating a response file for server installation.
  2. To silently uninstall IBM MQ using the response file, enter the following command: msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" /q USEINI="response_file" INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"
• To uninstall IBM MQ by entering the required msiexec parameters on the command line, enter one of the following commands:
  • To invoke an interactive uninstallation giving you the option to remove queue manager data (providing there are no other IBM MQ installations remaining):

    
    msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" REMOVE="All" INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"
    

    If you are running IBM MQ on a Windows system with User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you might see Open File - Security Warning dialog boxes during uninstallation that list International Business Machines Limited as the publisher. Click Run to allow the uninstallation to continue.

  • To invoke a silent uninstallation that does not remove any queue manager data:

    
    msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" /q REMOVE="All" INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"
    

  • To invoke a silent uninstallation and remove any queue manager data (only valid when removing the final server installation):

    
    msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" /q REMOVE="All" KEEPQMDATA="delete"
    INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"
    

  • To monitor the progress of the uninstalling process and not remove any queue manager data:

    
    msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"
    

    If you are running IBM MQ on a Windows system with User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you might see Open File - Security Warning dialog boxes during uninstallation that list International Business Machines Limited as the publisher. Click Run to allow the uninstallation to continue.

  • To invoke a silent uninstallation and not remove any queue manager data:

    
    msiexec /x {product_code} /l*v "c:\removal.log" /q INSTALLATIONNAME="installation_name"