Disable, Remove and Uninstall U3 Launchpad
U3 platform is a technology created for Microsoft Windows operating systems that allows applications to be executed directly from a specially formatted USB flash drive according to U3 specifications, which also U3 smart drives, so that data and programs can be shared on multiple PCs. Some examples of U3 smart drives are Kingston U3 DataTraveler, SanDisk Cruzer Micro, SanDisk Cruzer Titanium, Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go U3 Smart Drive, Ativa U3 USB 2.0 Flash Drive, Geek Squad USB 2.0 Flash Drive, Intuix Smart Drive M300 U3, Intuix Smart Drive S300 U3, busbi USB Flash Drive, disgo classic, disgo diva, disgo dude, disgo lite, Disk2go SMART II, Extrememory U3 smart USB Drive, Hama U3 FlashPen Mini USB 2.0, Memorex Mini TravelDrive U, PQI Cool Drive U320 Smart Drive, TwinMos U3 Mobile Disk, Elecom MF-UU2 and i-o data EasyDisk U3 smart drive.
U3 smart drives come preinstalled with the U3 Launchpad which emulates the Windows OS start menu, and controls program installation and hence facilitate the portability of software. However, if you would like to use the USB flash drive or memory key as a pure normal USB mass storage device, or you don’t use operating system that U3 supports (i.e Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems), or you simply feel that U3 Launchpad and applications have bugs such as unable to eject due to locked files in use, consent on privacy and automatic installation of U3 software and pop-up etc, you can uninstall and remove the U3 Launchpad from the USB storage device.
To remove and delete the U3 Launchpad, you need to download U3 Launchpad uninstallers or U3 Launchpad Removal Tool that remove the U3 Launchpad and re-configure the USB drive to be a single mass storage USB drive. Currently, U3 Launchpad uninstallers are only available for and must be run on Windows XP or Windows 2000 machine. When uninstalling, the U3 smart drives USB device has to be plugged in with U3 Launchpad running.
U3 Launchpad Removal Tool for SanDisk USB U3 devices can be downloaded here, while all other U3 smart drives can used universal U3 Launchpad Removel Uninstaller downloadable from U3.
WARNING: U3 Launchpad removal is irreversible. You won’t be able to install U3 again. Beside, backup your data before begin uninstallation process as ALL data will be erased.
UPDATE: It’s impossible to reinstall U3 LaunchPad.
Share and contribute or get technical support and help at My Digital Life Forums.
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Entries (RSS)
October 30th, 2006 01:19
[...] I purchased a U3 San Cruzar 1 Gig flash drive (with rebates, it’s really cheap: I hope we get the rebates): Technology Expert’s review of the 2 Gig drive raves about the launchpad included with the SanDisk Cruzar. I hate hardware which installs software behind my back! and that’s what these little flash drives do! So I uninstalled the U3 launchpad with the Cruzar’s own uninstall FIRST, before I installed Roboform2Go. You may wish to keep the U3 software; I didn’t keep it because it launched every time I plugged the USB drive into my computer. ugh. [...]
December 7th, 2006 15:06
Anyone got a copy of the removal tool for the Verbatim Key?? The U3 site appears to be down…Hasn’t worked for a while now dagnabbit.
January 21st, 2007 02:43
Hola tengo una kingston datatraveler u3 2GB .
Quisiera saber como quitar todo el sistema u3 ya que en algunas pc que tengo con xp hace que se cuelguen … hay alguna actualizacion del sistema u3 ???
January 22nd, 2007 04:47
http://rapidshare.com/files/12750823/u3_uninstall_for_kingston_data_traveller.zip
here you go
aqui tienen
March 12th, 2007 01:22
Why bother going through all of this? What I did was to simply control click on the program in question without opening it, and choose “Get Info” from the menu choices. I then clicked on the “Locked” box in order to remove the enclosed check mark there and unlock it. Once this was done, I could simply trash the thing. What’s the big deal? Doesn’t this work for everyone else out there?
May 16th, 2007 05:43
“…WARNING: U3 Launchpad removal is irreversible. You won’t be able to install U3 again. Beside, backup your data before begin uninstallation process as ALL data will be erased….”
Actually we can restore the U3 Launchpad, but not the data once we erase it. At least it works for the SanDisk one.
From SanDisk FAQ http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1450
Can I remove U3 technology from my USB drive?
Yes. To remove the U3 technology from the drive, simply go to the U3 Launchpad and, under Settings, select U3 Launchpad settings and click Uninstall. This will completely remove the U3 Launchpad from the drive.
Can I restore U3 technology after removing it?
Yes. SanDisk’s U3 website features a U3 Launchpad Installer utility that you can use to re-install the U3 Launchpad on the Cruzer smart drive. (http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/DriverDownloads.aspx)
May 21st, 2007 18:07
[...] a user with a similar predicament, turns out there are a lot of unhappy users out there. Oh and this page tells me that the U3 LaunchPad is also a feature in other flash drives by Kingston, Intuix and [...]
May 24th, 2007 14:21
[...] remove and delete U3 LaunchPad that is preinstalled on your U3 smart drive? Or have decided to uninstall U3 Launchpad software from the USB flash drive but now want to restore and install the U3 Launchpad? It’s [...]
July 11th, 2007 19:54
hey..i was usin u3 and finally lostit may b a virus attack or something like and now my flashdisk does’t even open and i am missing many files.Is there any means to remove it before opening it.I realy need u’r help on this.
September 10th, 2007 11:21
removed and now computer doesn’t recognise stick.
Please, any ideas, or is it garbage now…
Thanks.
September 18th, 2007 13:33
Hi. I bought this thing, I just wanted something to save my files in, and I hate the technology it comes with. I have an apple. I accidently dragged that box with a lock on it on my desktop (Launchu3 whatever) and it is stuck on my desktop now. I cant get rid of it. How do I get rid of this thing that just sits there mocking me. I downloaded the unistall thingies, but my computer says applications wont run or something. I hate this thing.
October 23rd, 2007 06:24
I tried erasing and partitioning the U3 device to 1 partition with Disk Utility and I couldn’t get rid of the U3 volume. Any suggestions?
October 24th, 2007 18:57
Hi
I use sandisk U3 usb drive to surf the web. I use the firefox and many other programs like openoffice from usb. i use the USB for long hours when I do web surfing. I want to know if using U3 USB for longtime will shorten its life or will it harm my computer or U3 drive ? please share if you have any information. thanks
November 9th, 2007 19:39
I just really want to unlock my Busbi U3 stick. Given to me by my sister she cant remember or work out what her password was…. this is a total pain!!! and has rendered an expensive bit of kit useless!!! HELP
November 22nd, 2007 17:51
I had exactly the same problem after buying a Toshiba U3 USB disk. Fortunately the generic U3 uninstaller fixed the problem.
Amusingly, when I called the sales guys at Tandy they had no idea what U3 was or how to uninstall it … guess that’ll teach me not to give up in advance and JFGI
December 14th, 2007 23:54
hey the uninstaller for kingston u3 data traveler is doesn;t work, it can’t recognize kingston
January 8th, 2008 15:13
Uninstall Kingston U3 Data Traveveler with rapidshare files works.. thanks for uploading..
January 14th, 2008 22:49
Thanks for the tip for uninstalling from settings. Bought 3 PNY Attache’s for my users and could not use them on Vista laptops. All I could see was the U3 virtual CD. Plus the U3 virtual CD blocked my mapped G drive when it was plugged in. If I need functionality I use PortableApps. The uninstall worked great but asked if I really wanted to do this about 6 times. I still had to give the device a separate drive letter in Vista disk management before I could see it but now it works like it should have.
February 15th, 2008 09:51
I found you will need the PRJPROE windows installer package for MS Office Project Professional 2003 and run that first then the U3 uninstall worked flawlessly.
February 18th, 2008 09:53
The U3 uninstall tool from U3.com will disable all your card reader ports and some or all of your usb ports. They won’t show to be disabled if you look in the Device Manager, but they will be. You can get them to work again by disabling and then enabling them.
March 3rd, 2008 01:02
To still run Windows programs using U3, I did the one-click solution to disable U3 Launchpad security.
March 24th, 2008 23:56
i have a problem. the thing is i uninstalled the u3 software and the stupid thing said it will backup and restore the data for me but it didnt….so is there a way to find the data if it actually did copy it over to the pc i was using at the time?
June 29th, 2008 01:08
A workaround:
Get to Device Manager. Under CD-ROM drives, right click the Kingston U3 listing, Disable, Yes.
July 9th, 2008 05:02
THIS PAGE HELPED ME ALOT. THANX