PowerShell commandline Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features.ps1

Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features.ps1

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Uninstall one or more Windows Program or Feature, by name or regular expression.

.DESCRIPTION

Lists Programs And Features installed on the current machine which match 
the -matchingName parameter and then, after force or confirmation, uninstalls them.

Examples
Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features SpyWare
Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features "Net Core SDK - 2.1.(1|2|3)"

.PARAMETER matchingName 

A regular expression, for instance spyware or "Redistributable \(x64\) - 1(0|1|2)\."
Use quotation marks if it's complicated.

.PARAMETER force

If -force is $true, then uninstallation will proceed without further prompting. 
Otherwise, a Y/N prompt will be required, after first showing the list of expected uninstallations

.PARAMETER msiexecParameters

If specified, these parameters are passed to msiexec. 
The default is "/q" for no user interaction if the current process has Adminstrator rights, 
or "/qb" if not.

.EXAMPLE
Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features SpyWare

.EXAMPLE 
Uninstall-Programs-Or-Features "Net Core SDK - 2.1.(1|2|3)"

.NOTES
Uninstallation is done one-by-one in series, calling msiexec for each item.
#>

Param(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateLength(3,9999)][string] $MatchingName,
  [string] $msiexecParameters="/q",
  [switch] $force
  )

#------------------------------------------------------
  function confirmYN( 
      [string]$YesCharacters="Y", 
      [string]$NoCharacters="N", 
      [string]$prompt= "Yes or No?", 
      [string]$promptOnFail="Please choose one of Yes or No" )
  {
    $yesPattern= [string]::Join("|",  $YesCharacters.ToCharArray())
    $noPattern = [string]::Join("|",  $NoCharacters.ToCharArray())
    $validCharsPattern= [string]::Join("|", $yesPattern,$noPattern )
    while( -not ( ($choice= (Read-Host $prompt )) -match $validCharsPattern ) ){ write-warning $promptOnFail }
    return $choice -match $yesPattern -and -not ($choice -match $NoPattern)
  }

  function amIAdmin
  {
    return ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).
              IsInRole( [Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")
  }
#------------------------------------------------------

  if($msiexecParameters -eq "/q" -and -not (amIAdmin)){
    write-warning "msiexec /q only works in an elevated console with Adminstrator rights. Using msiexec /qb instead."
    $msiexecParameters="/qb"
  }

  $Path32="HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
  $Path64="HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\"
  $Path32PsPath=
    "Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\"
  $Path64PsPath=
    "Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\"
  $uninstalls32 = gci $Path32 | % { get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath } | where { $_ -match $MatchingName } 
  $uninstalls64 = gci $Path64 | % { get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath } | where { $_ -match $MatchingName } 

  $lines= $( $uninstalls64 + $uninstalls32 | %{ 
                $(if($_.UninstallString -match "^msiexec(\.| )" ){
                  $_.UninstallString.Replace("/I","/X").Replace("/X{",'/X "{').Replace("}",'}"')  + " $msiexecParameters"
                }else{
                  $_.UninstallString
                })
            })

  if( $lines -is [String]){ $lines = @($lines)}

  # --- display a lot before continuing-----------

  $uninstalls64 | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Readme, InstallDate, 
                                  @{Label="Guid"; Expression= { $($_.PSPath.Replace($Path64PsPath,"")) } }
  if($uninstalls32.Length -gt 0){
    "Wow6432Node Versions"
    $uninstalls32 | Format-Table -Property DisplayName, Readme, 
                      @{Label="Guid"; Expression= { $($_.PSPath.Replace($Path32PsPath,"")) } }
  }





  # --- Do it if confirmed or forced -----------

  if($uninstalls64.Length -eq 0 -and $uninstalls32.Length -eq 0){

    "Nothing to do."

  }elseif( $force -or ($youchose= confirmYN -prompt "Continue with uninstall? (Yes or No)" ) ){

    "You chose: $youchose"
     $lines | %{ 
      "$_  ... "
      & cmd.exe /C "$_"
    }

  }else{

    "Nothing uninstalled."

  }

This works flawlessly!

Why thankyou sir!

I'm getting this error "InvalidOperation: Method invocation failed because [System.Management.Automation.PSObject] does not contain a method named 'op_Addition'." and nothing gets uninstalled, I put the script inside a function block called Uninstall-Program if that matters. Using Powershell-Core but getting the same error on 5.x

It may be then that you'll have to google for help on the specific thing you're trying to uninstall

This works perfectly.
Is it possible to have the application look at a list of applications/programs as a .txt instead of inputting them?

Hi
How can I use it on a remote computer?

After deploying it there as a script with SCCM?