Upgrading Splunk on Windows 2008 R2, how can I uninstall the universal forwarder if a control panel option is not available?

[mahiwonder]

Hi,

I am trying to upgrade Splunk version on Windows 2008 R2.
Can you suggest me any way to uninstall Splunk universal forwarder as it is not showing universal forwarder in control panel?
I have tried using msiexex /x option, but I seem to not have the correct msi file.

I have found some other solution like using registry entry : UniversalString value, but is it safe to use?
I have a need to re-install newer version after uninstall.

Thanks

[Richfez · Accepted solution]

You should be able to just install/upgrade right over it.

If you haven't fixed this yet, Microsoft has a Fix it for inability to uninstall programs. You can search and find it independently, or you can download the Fix It Portable from - please double-check and take due care and don't take my word for it - this location at Microsoft.com http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9775982

That's the entire thing but it's just a stub that runs an installer that downloads the rest. I'd recommend using that to install Fix It Portable to a USB drive (or similar) so you can use it wherever you need it. You only need to click through the fairly slow "I can't uninstall an application" and let it find them and then click to remove them. I can't give you perfect menu options because MS changes them occasionally.