How to uninstall the old runtime?

[GF-Huang]

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addition:

And why the 5.0.401 SDK size is so small just 180 KB?

[sfoslund]

@GF-Huang it looks like you can't see the runtimes you want to uninstall in windows' add/remove programs UI, is that right? If so, that means that you likely installed those runtimes via zip files, Visual Studio, or in sdk bundles. If that's the case, then this is not the right tool to uninstall these runtimes.

[GF-Huang]

That's upgraded by VS2019, but the VS Installer doesn't uninstall the older version while upgrading. So is it safe to delete older .NET folders manually?

[sfoslund]

Hmm, VS2019 should manage its own installations. Are you able to uninstall them through the Visual Studio Installer?

[GF-Huang]

I can't, it only show me the .NET 5 runtime, but no the detailed versions.

[sfoslund]

@GF-Huang hmm okay, is there a possibility that those runtimes came bundled with a SDK? What SDKs do you have installed?

[GF-Huang]

[sfoslund]

@joeloff do you know which runtimes ship with which version of the SDK? We're trying to figure out why the 5.0 runtimes listed above weren't present in the registry, and I'm wondering if they were bundled with SDK installations.

[joeloff]

5.0.401 - 5.0.10 runtime
5.0.303 - 5.0.9 runtime
3.1.413 - 3.1.19 runtime
2.2.207 - 2.2.8 runtime

Those runtimes that show in ARP likely came through MU. The Desktop runtime will bring down both the desktop and runtime installers.

Deleting the folder will still leave them installed, e.g. if a repair was triggered the files will just be returned.

@sfoslund Does the uninstall tool check both the 32-bit and 64-bit registry entries? And does it scan for the windows-desktop runtime?

[sfoslund]

Does the uninstall tool check both the 32-bit and 64-bit registry entries? And does it scan for the windows-desktop runtime?

No, https://github.com/dotnet/cli-lab/blob/main/src/dotnet-core-uninstall/Windows/RegistryQuery.cs#L26. It doesn't look for the windows desktop runtime and

[joeloff]

So in VS, if you selected the 3.1 Runtime, you'll get the targeting packs, runtime (.NET Core) and Desktop runtime. When Microsoft Update scan the machine, it could offer the Desktop Runtime, though I suspect it will offer an SDK instead because that includes the runtime targeting packs. It tries to offer the least number of bundles that target the most number of individual installs on the machine.

[gitauto]

I saw that the windows registry keeps track of the runtime versions under these keys:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x64\sdk
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x64\sharedfx\Microsoft.NETCore.App
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x64\sharedfx\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App

So I think if we don't find any entry in the Windows Add/Remove applications on the Control Panel, we should delete the folder and also the corresponding key in the windows registry.

[joeloff]

@sfoslund for desktop, you'd want to include (displayName.IndexOf("Windows Desktop Runtime", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) >= 0) Originally it shipped using "Shared Framework for Windows Desktop", but was changed later to be "Windows Desktop Runtime"

@gitauto deleting the files won't stop offerings from triggering. It would still be present and repair will just return everything to disk.

[GF-Huang]

So what's the conclusion? Is it safe for me to delete them manually?

[sfoslund]

So what's the conclusion? Is it safe for me to delete them manually?

It would probably be safe but they would likely just be reinstalled by Microsoft update. It might be helpful if you could provide logs so we can figure out how these versions got left behind. Here's a log collection tool: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12493