Uninstall a WebSphere® Application Server
product from a Windows® system by running the
uninstaller program and performing some manual steps to remove log
files and registry entries. Such registry entries can prevent you
from reinstalling the product into the original directory. If you
are not planning to reinstall, you do not have to uninstall manually.
Before you begin
The uninstaller program
removes all profiles by default, including all of the configuration
data and applications in each profile. Before you start the uninstall
procedure, back up the config folder, the installableApps folder,
and the installedApps folder of each profile,
if necessary, or use the -OPT removeProfilesOnUninstall="false" parameter
on the uninstall command.See Using command line tools for
a description of managing configuration files. Back up all applications
that are not stored in another location.
Determine the
installation root directory for the product so that you remove the
correct product and produce a clean system.
Avoid trouble: If an administrator user uninstalls an application
server which is owned by another user, then all registry entries for
all application server instances owned by the administrator will also
be removed. You should uninstall any non-administrator application
server with the owning non-administrator user if possible.
gotcha
About this task
Reinstalling
the product into a new directory when files remain from a previous
installation can create a coexistence scenario. However, you can delete
all files and registry entries to completely remove a WebSphere Application Server product. A
clean system lets you reinstall the product into the original directory
without coexistence.
Table 1. Default directories. Default
directories are shown in the following planning table:
Identifier |
Default location |
Actual location |
app_server_root |
C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer |
|
profile_root |
C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles |
|
plugins_root |
C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\Plugins |
|
If you move either installation
root directory, move them to a shorter path name. Some Windows systems have a length restriction
of 258 characters for a command. A problem can occur that prevents
the successful creation of a profile when either path is too long.
The maximum length for the installation root directory is 60 characters.
The maximum length for the profiles installation root directory is
80 characters.
The Installation wizard and the Profile Management Tool let you specify
your own locations for installation root directories.
Use
the installRegistryUtils command
that is located on the product disk to examine the installation locations
for all installed WebSphere Application
Server products.
Perform the following procedure
to produce a clean system.
Procedure
- Log on with the same user ID that you used to install the
product.
- Run the uninstaller program for the Web server
plug-ins for WebSphere Application
Server.
If a Web server is configured to run with the
application server, uninstall the plug-ins to remove the configuration
from the Web server.
- Stop any browsers and any Java™ processes
related to WebSphere Application Server products,
as described in Uninstalling the WebSphere Application Server product.
- Issue the uninstall.exe command.
If you have already run the uninstaller program
or if you cannot run the uninstaller program, skip this step.
See the description of the uninstall command for more information.
The
Uninstaller wizard begins and displays the Welcome panel.
- Verify that you have an Emergency Recovery Disk. Instructions
for creating this disk are in the Windows help
documentation.
This step is a safeguard. This procedure
does not require the recovery disk.
- Use the regback.exe program from the Windows Resource Kit to back up the registry.
This step is a safeguard. This procedure does not require
the backup copy of the registry.
- Remove the application server service from the operating
system.
Stop the IBM WebSphere Application
Server V7.0 - nodename service using the
Windows Services panel, or run the WASService -stop command
located in the app_server_root/bin directory.
Then run the WASService -remove command to remove
the WebSphere service from the operating system.
- Delete product registry entries for the WebSphere Application
Server product that you are uninstalling.
Edit the Windows system registry by invoking the regedit.exe command
from a command prompt.
Handle the Registry with care
Note: You can easily make a mistake while using the registry
editor to view and edit registry contents. The editor does not warn
you of editing errors, which can be extremely dangerous. A corrupt
registry can disrupt your system to the point where your only option
is to reinstall the Windows operating system.
- Press Ctrl-F to search for all
instances of WebSphere to determine whether
you should delete each entry. You might not be able to remove all
of the entries related to WebSphere Application Server,
which is not a problem.
- Expand and select keys related to WebSphere Application
Server products.
Read the "Operating system registry
keys" topic for a list of Windows registry
keys to search for and delete.
- Click Edit > Delete from the
menu bar for each related key.
- Click Yes when asked to confirm
deletion of the key.
- Click Registry > Exit from
the menu bar when you are finished.
- Delete the installation root directory for the product
that you are uninstalling.
- Locate all of the profile directories and delete the directories
if they were located outside of the app_server_root directory
and were not deleted in the previous step.
- Open a Windows Explorer window and
browse to the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start
Menu\Programs\IBM WebSphere directory.
Avoid trouble: If you are running Windows 2008,
then browse to the
C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\WebSphere directory.
gotcha
If you have
one installation of a WebSphere Application Server
product, delete the following folder:
Application Server, Express v7.x
- Use the installRegistryUtils command
that is located on the product disk to examine the installation locations
for all installed WebSphere Application
Server products and remove the desired products from the install registry.
- Restart your machine if a prompt displays that directs
you to restart.
Results
This procedure results in having
a clean system. You can reinstall into the same directories now. A
clean system has no trace of a previously deleted installation.