Windows 2008R2 - View all installed programs

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:10

Hi guys,

I'm RDP'd to our Test machine and when viewing the list of installed programs in "Programs and Features" I can only see the stuff installed with my user account. How do I view everything installed by anyone? Yes, I am admin.

We have an automated installation that I want to check is installing with correct version numbers.

marc2003 · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:23

try running mstsc with the /admin command line switch?

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:26

Same effect, can only see apps installed using my account.

SiriusB · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:30

Open PowerShell as Admin

Enter the two commands below.

Code:

$keys = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
$keys | % {Get-ItemProperty $_.PsPath} | select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher

EDIT: Slightly simpler version

Code:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher

One-liner ***!

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:40

unfortunately that shows even fewer apps! (just one to be precise)

SiriusB · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:51

Works perfectly on my server and workstations :/

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:03

http://i55.tinypic.com/nb2cmu.png screenshot

SiriusB · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:12

How peculiar.

Assuming you have a bunch of stuff installed it should all be listed under that reg key.

Out of curiosity

Code:

gci HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall | measure

What do you get for the Count value?

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:17

SiriusB · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:21

So there are 12 installed programs, the gui only shows 4 and my command only shows 1...

Code:

gci HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

That should list all the keys. Why the PS command ignores 11 of them I have no idea. Unless they don't have all the properties. May be worth looking at the reg key via regedit too.

SiriusB · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:25

Ahh!

Code:

gp HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select DisplayName, Displa
yVersion, Publisher

64-bit OS has two reg keys for this!

Dj_Jestar · 17 Mar 2011 at 19:13

Cool, that worked! Now to work out how to uninstall stuff :/

SiriusB · 18 Mar 2011 at 01:56

Code:

gp HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, UninstallString | Format-List

The UninstallString property tells you what command to run to uninstall that particular program. Bang it into a CMD console and away it will go.

I also wrote a script in PS that will do it all for you, if you are interested.

Dj_Jestar · 4 Apr 2011 at 19:15

Long time bump

I'd be much obliged if you could provide that