Autodesk Desktop Connector v15.8 is not removed properly after uninstall due to "Error 1402. Could not open key"

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023


Products and versions covered


Issue:

You are trying to uninstall Autodesk Desktop Connector v15.8 in order to upgrade to v16.0. However, after uninstalling from Control Panel or via SCCM, the application folder is still present in C:\Program Files\Autodesk.

Causes:

Uninstall task did not complete properly due to missing permissions. Below are further details:

After inspecting the install logs, the following lines are found:
Calling custom action CustomActions!CustomActions.CustomActions.CustomAction_CleanNamespaceDLLS
Killing explorer: 3528
Exception caught: Access is denied
   at System.Diagnostics.ProcessManager.OpenProcess(Int32 processId, Int32 access, Boolean throwIfExited)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessHandle(Int32 access, Boolean throwIfExited)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Kill()
   at CustomActions.CustomActions.CustomAction_CleanNamespaceDLLS(Session session)
CustomAction CleanNamespaceDLLSCustomAction returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
The article related to CleanNamespaceDLLS has not helped (Unable to upgrade Autodesk Desktop Connector via Microsoft SCCM due to CustomAction CleanNamespaceDLLS failing).

Trying to remove Desktop Connector via CMD with msiexec /x command does not help either and the below error is shown:

12_08_22_17_50_14.png

The corresponding MSI log shows:
MSI (s) (18:28) [12:13:31:160]: Product: Autodesk Desktop Connector -- Error 1402. Could not open key: UNKNOWN\Components\BFFD987B17B491459BD9C0079EC3BF00\F854BF416E4DE7C4CA5B429C2DFF8DF5.  System error 5.  Verify that you have sufficient access to that key, or contact your support personnel.

This is a symptom of missing permissions on the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\BFFD987B17B491459BD9C0079EC3BF00\F854BF416E4DE7C4CA5B429C2DFF8DF5.

Solution:

Follow these steps:

Note: You may need to consult with your system administrator to perform the below steps.

Warning!
Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Use the Microsoft Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft article How to back up and restore the registry in Windows and in the related solution How to back up the system registry. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
 
  1. Back up your Windows registry, see Microsoft’s article.
  2. From the START menu, press WIN+R > type regedit > press ENTER.
  3. Navigate to the following registry folder:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\BFFD987B17B491459BD9C0079EC3BF00\F854BF416E4DE7C4CA5B429C2DFF8DF5
    The ‘S-1-5-18’ key may be different on your computer.
  4. Right-click on the BFFD987B17B491459BD9C0079EC3BF00 registry key, and then choose Permissions…
  5. The Permissions for Components dialog box will be displayed.
  6. Click the Add… button and add in the “Administrator”, “Administrators” and “SYSTEM” accounts. You might also want to add a local account having administrator privileges. 
    Permissions for components
  7. On the first Permissions for Components dialog box, click on each account (in the top-list) and make sure each has the “Full Control = Allow” and “Read = Allow” permissions.
  8. Click the Advanced button to display the Advanced Security Settings dialog box appears.
  9. On the Permissions tab, turn on the Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object checkbox, and then press click the Apply button.
    How to fix errors
  10. Repeat the above steps once more. There shouldn’t be any errors regarding not being able to update the permissions on the child keys.
  11. Exit the dialog boxes by clicking the OK button, and the main registry editor will become the active window.
  12. Re-run the Desktop Connector uninstaller.

Products:

Desktop Connector;


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