Hack to Remove/Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus (SAV) Client without Password

Norton AntiVirus Clients or Symantec AntiVirus Clients especially Corporate Edition Clients can be installed as managed network setup type by a Symantec AntiVirus Server. When a Symantec AntiVirus Client is managed, it will prompt for password when uninstalling client via local computer Control Panel Add or Remove Program applet. If you don’t know or forget the password, then the client is not able to uninstall or remove. And the SAV client uninstall password won’t work with server group password too, as if you enter that password, you will receive an invalid password message.

The client uninstallation password is different from the server group password, and it can be set by the administrator through the Symantec System Center for the client that is managed. If the client uninstallation password has not been set or changed specifically, it will still be the default password. Thus, first thing to try in order to successfully uninstall a Symantec Client Security program is by using the default password for the uninstalling clients, which is symantec.

In the cases where Symantec AntiVirus server has been taken down and no longer exist, or the client computer has no access to company network, or the default client uninstall password does not work, the following hack will enable you to remove Symantec Antivirus without using a password:

  1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).
  2. Navigate to the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\Administrator Only\Security\

  3. Change the value for useVPuninstallpassword key from 1 to 0.
  4. Exit Registry Editor and now you can uninstall Symantec AntiVirus Client.

The trick should work on most version of Symantec AntiVirus client or Norton AntiVirus Client, including version 7, 8, 9 or 10.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

37 Responses to “Hack to Remove/Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus (SAV) Client without Password”

  1. andy
    May 8th, 2007 07:56
    1

    lol - nice one - could have done with knowing that a while back!

  2. jaos
    May 11th, 2007 18:42
    2

    man i want to distable norton internet security but i need a pw any help…. and i have not set any pass words so i think

  3. Terry
    June 4th, 2007 09:48
    3

    That was extremely helpful, can’ tell you how much time that saved me.

  4. scott
    June 20th, 2007 01:22
    4

    Very useful post, thanks Internet!

  5. Mike
    June 22nd, 2007 20:04
    5

    Sweet, worked perfect!

  6. Navdeep
    June 28th, 2007 17:45
    6

    Extremely helpful man!

    I was about to format the machine that can take 4 to 5 hours with software insatllation. This trick save my lot of time.

    Thanks

  7. Sergio Sousa
    September 30th, 2007 21:25
    7

    This was a very nice tip. Unfortunately I cannot try it right now because I need Symantec Client Security to be able to use the company’s VPN. I suspect Symantec is keeping my iTunes from opening. When I get back to the office, I’ll probably give it a go.

    Regards,
    Sergio Sousa

  8. Theresa
    February 21st, 2008 23:37
    8

    Wow, thanks for the info! Very helpful.

  9. vallinayagam
    February 29th, 2008 18:31
    9

    the password for uninstalling the client is symantec

  10. Nda
    March 8th, 2008 02:01
    10

    Worked perfectly. Thanks for saving me so much time.

  11. VB
    March 13th, 2008 15:20
    11

    Totally awesome - just got a new customer who bought an entire office - along with their workstations with Novell and Norton AntiVirus Corporate…with, of course, an uninstall password and NO IT support. This post saved me a LOT of time - you rock!

  12. Shantanu
    March 13th, 2008 19:02
    12

    I have Symantec Enpoint Protection 11, there is no VirusProtect6 key there, also there is no key as “useVPuninstallpassword” in the whole registry.
    Any idea what i should do?

  13. Loathing Dell, Hating Symantec | Walt-O-Matic
    May 1st, 2008 23:03
    13

    [...] http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/05/hack-to-removeuninstall-symantec-norton-antivirus-sav-clien... [...]

  14. Mattamatical
    May 13th, 2008 22:37
    14

    I uninstalled the client fine but im having trouble uninstalling ghost and pcanywhere can you help me please thanks

  15. Dmcman
    June 8th, 2008 03:29
    15

    Thanks, this was a BIG help and saved me a lot of time. :)

  16. Tris
    June 26th, 2008 18:16
    16

    I too have endpoint 11 and this key doesn’t exist in your registry. It would seem that symantec have closed this loophole.

    Anybody know of another way round it???

  17. Darrell
    July 2nd, 2008 21:46
    17

    Very slick, worked great. Thanks!!

  18. Zerd
    July 3rd, 2008 20:48
    18

    Wow.. Thanks man :)
    When it popped up I was like “wtf, I didn’t set no password!”, and tried every password I could remember. Ofcourse it was “symantec” :P

  19. sliver
    July 11th, 2008 02:44
    19

    Great! Thanks a lot!!!

  20. Raymond
    July 24th, 2008 01:58
    20

    Thanks a lot. Bought a computer off of someone with this one it and have been trying to figure out how to remove it. This really helped.

  21. zn4d
    August 10th, 2008 05:11
    21

    WOW!! thanks a lot!!it helped!! WTF!! many thanks!!

  22. Gil K
    August 12th, 2008 18:25
    22

    You also can use one of the following unofficial tools
    http://www.kreslavsky.com/2008/07/symantec-norton-uninstall-and-removal-tools.html

    specially scscleanwipe

  23. Gil K
    August 12th, 2008 18:34
    23

    I’t is a good solution , but I prefer scscleanwipe tool , can be downloaded from here http://www.kreslavsky.com/2008/07/symantec-norton-uninstall-and-removal-tools.html

  24. Ford
    August 19th, 2008 07:17
    24

    hi. I am a hacker. I can get you an aol,yahoo,myspace,facebook,gmail…etc password. I do charge a fee to get a password though. Once i do get password i’ll show you proof i have it. Are you interested? E-mail me at Fordf202006@yahoo.com

  25. Symantec corp
    August 26th, 2008 20:37
    25

    [...] can try this: Hack to Remove/Uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus (SAV) Client without Password

  26. Kiffe
    September 20th, 2008 23:38
    26

    Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

  27. highflyer
    September 22nd, 2008 08:31
    27

    Thank you!

  28. anonymous
    September 24th, 2008 13:15
    28

    thank you!
    easy fix!

  29. matt
    September 28th, 2008 14:11
    29

    *woot* yay rid of that resource hogging piece of useless junk!

  30. Steve
    September 30th, 2008 01:03
    30

    Thanks, worked like a charm! I know the password is symantec but for some reason, possibly virus, it didn’t work. Thanks again!

  31. Avi
    October 5th, 2008 12:05
    31

    Thanks a Million Metric Tonne… !!!

  32. JRZ
    October 16th, 2008 05:53
    32

    I tried this but what if the value in the useVPuninstallpassword key already set to 0 instead of 1. Because the instruction is change the key value from 1 to 0.

  33. Richard Sportsman
    October 16th, 2008 07:28
    33

    I discovered this myself today. resetting the password in the registry to the value recommended in several fora (to make it = ’symantec’) didn’t work, but this trick did!

  34. Ahmet-Ankara
    October 22nd, 2008 02:39
    34

    Sorry there is no such a registry antry for 11.0.3001 on Vista. Does anyone has any idea where it is hidden?

  35. Ahmet-Ankara
    October 22nd, 2008 02:56
    35

    Here is the solution :)
    There’s an easy way, when password prompt opens, run task manager and END
    task called MSIEXEC that runs under your user account (not system). The password
    go away and uninstall continues

  36. Roberto
    November 12th, 2008 21:27
    36

    You are the best. Thanks so much

  37. thjakob
    November 19th, 2008 17:11
    37

    THANKS SOO MUCH! :)) UR THE BEST :)))

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