Uninstallation failure: Orbital uninstall.exe missing

[mattmill30]

I'm attempting to uninstall Immunet 7.0.0 due to a failed attempt to upgrade - https://support.immunet.com/topic/10141-upgrade-failure-immunet-700-→-723/

Uninstallation aborted, due to missing Orbital uninstall.exe

...
Running Orbital Uninstaller: '"D:\Program Files\Orbital\uninstall.exe" /S'
Execute: "D:\Program Files\Orbital\uninstall.exe" /S
Orbital Uninstall returned: 

Files in Orbital folder

 Directory of D:\Program Files\Orbital

30/11/2019  12:32    <DIR>          .
30/11/2019  12:32    <DIR>          ..
08/10/2019  17:54             4,218 osquery.man
08/10/2019  21:11        15,725,608 osqueryd.exe
               2 File(s)     15,729,826 bytes

If someone is able to provide the Orbital uninstall.exe for Immunet 7.0.0, that may resolve this instance.

However, it may benefit others with this issue in the long-term, if someone could provide guide for extracting the Orbital uninstall.exe from protect-7.0.0-11362-89E173D7-0C67-49DB-97D5-5FAAFAFBF59D.exe

Additionally, if this cause for failure can be mitigated by developers in future releases that would be ideal. Does uninstallation for the whole of Immunet really need to fail, because the Orbital uninstall.exe can't be found? Or could it rather just be recorded in the log that files at D:\Program Files\Orbital need to be manually removed?

[zombunny2]

Goodness me, these last few versions of Immunet have been am embarrassing bug-ridden mess, haven't they!?

I'm sure Ritchie or the Immunet staff will have the best solution, but I find BCUninstaller (it stands for "Bulk cr*p uninstaller") to be very good at removing all traces of an installed program, even if it no longer has an entry in "add/remove programs", or uninstallation fails.

BCUninstaller is similar to the well-known "Revo Uninstaller", except I find it to have the two advantages of being more effective, and also being under a free (libre) licence rather than being proprietary and closed-source. Having said that, if you are already familiar with Revo, it should still do the job well.

Prior to using BCUninstaller or Revo to remote it, you may need to reboot your box into safe mode (or even safe mode with command prompt) to make sure that Immunet/Orbital isn't running and trying to protect itself from tampering.

If the worst comes to the worst, it might be possible to boot into a Linux live USB and manually delete the Immunet/Orbital program files, then use BCUninstaller/Revo (or a registry cleaner such as CCleaner) to remove the remaining traces.

[zombunny2]

Note: I wouldn't normally advocate registry-cleaners, especially CCleaner, but this is the one instance where I think they can have some merit.

I also forgot to add that another reason I tend to favour BCUninstaller is that it is often pretty clever at telling you if any processes need to be killed in order to remove an installed program, and gives you the option to kill those processes.

[ritchie58]

Well, isn't that strange! Sorry zom but I would recommend that matt use Revo Uninstaller instead since I've never heard of or used BCUninstaller.

I've personally used Revo Uninstaller with very good results in the past with uninstalling troublesome programs. Revo can in fact find orphaned registry keys, left over folders and files too if you use the Advanced scan setting.

The free version will work great with 32bit systems but I would recommend you choose the "fully functional free trial" of the Pro version if you have a 64bit system as it better supports those platforms. https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo-uninstaller-free-download/

If you've never used Revo Uninstaller before there are some great tutorial videos (even by the developers themselves) on YouTube you can view prior to using the software.

Just to be on the safe side it's not a bad idea to create a manual "System Restore Point" first in case you accidentally delete something you shouldn't have (like a OS system file or folder).

I would recommend you enter "Safe Mode without Networking" before uninstalling with Revo Uninstaller. Some earlier versions of Win 10, Microsoft (in it's infinite wisdom) made accessing Safe Mode a more dawn out affair so let me know if you run into any difficulty there.

Also, please read the thread I added to the other Issues/Defects topic you posted regarding what to do next with the reinstall.

Cheers, Ritchie...

[Robert G.]

As Ritchie pointed out revo can be an excellent tool at getting rid of a stubborn app that doesn't want to normally uninstall. It can also be a double edged sword if used incorrectly. That's where adding a system restore point beforehand is a wise decision.

[mattmill30]

I'm happy to resort to using registry cleaners and free trials of utilities as a last resort, but given the issue at this stage is a missing Orbital uninstall.exe, can someone not provide a download for the uninstall.exe or a guide to extract it from the protect-7.0.0 installer, or if necessary a guide for re-installing Orbital?

[zombunny2]

Ritchie, I'm surprised you haven't used BCUninstaller before. I do recommend you investigate it, because it's free and open-source (less incentive to spy on users, and less ability to hide such anti-features - also means programmers can contribute to or fork it).

Most importantly, from the perspective of the "average Joe" who probably doesn't know or care about freedom-issues or spyware, it's a bit more thorough than Revo, and detects things like optional Windows components and Chocolatey packages. For those who are interested there's actually a massive discussion-thread over at Wilders where somebody tested every single uninstaller they could get their hands on, although I don't have the patience to read it all, and it also indicates that there's no cut-and-dry "best" or "better" one for all possible use-cases.

By the way, I have no connection with BCUninstaller or its developer(s) and I still regard Revo pretty highly too.

Using either in one of the "safe mode" options of Windows should purge Orbital out of the system.

You can get into safe mode by starting your PC and then pressing the reset button as soon as it's started booting. If you do this 3 times, Windows detects the failed attempt at booting, and gives you the option to enter safe mode.

Another option is to shut down the PC holding the shift key, and then navigate through all the counterintuitive menus and submenus until you accidentally stumble-across the hidden option to enter safe mode. It's a far cry from just holding down F5 when your computer starts (or F8 to get the boot menu). I think Microsoft's design-team have spent too much time sniffing glue or something.

[ritchie58]

Hi zom, maybe I will give BCUninstaller a gander some time to see what it's all about. I'm not averse to trying new software on occasion. With Revo though I've used it successfully a number of times, know how to correctly use it & what to expect from the software. That's why I would continue to recommend it to others.

Matt, unfortunately there isn't a separate uninstaller for Orbital that I'm aware of.

I have put forth the idea in the past to have a separate comprehensive uninstaller app for Immunet that can wipe away all traces just in case the built-in uninstaller runs into a problem like this one. I still think that's a great idea!

I would still recommend you give Revo a try in Safe Mode without Networking & then do a reinstall Matt.

[mattmill30]

Ritchie, are you saying that the Immunet uninstaller is incorrectly calling "D:\Program Files\Orbital\uninstall.exe" /S?
Does the Orbital uninstaller not remove the files in "D:\Program Files\Orbital\"?

What should the uninstaller do rather than executing an Orbital uninstaller?

If the Orbital uninstaller shouldn't exist and the Immunet uninstaller is incorrect in attempting to launch it, could I not just place a file called uninstall.exe which returns true after being executed? so the Immunet uninstaller thinks the command executed correctly and proceeds?

[ritchie58]

Hi again Matt,

I have no way to answer your questions since I never got the Orbital code installed on my PC. Not everyone gets the Orbital code during Immunet's installation.

If Immunet detects some type of possible security vulnerability with your machine that's when you get Orbital installed as an extra layer of protection.

Not including Immunet I do already have multiple layers of security so I'm sure that's the reason I don't get it installed.

Your questions would need to be answered by a admin/support/developer person but there hasn't been any input from these individuals regarding on-going or new issues for some time now. Just little ol' me, the forum's moderator, doing the best I can for folks with issues.