Vista Uninstall, Change or Repair Programs and Updates Button Disappear and Not Showing

When users go to Control Panel in Windows Vista and try to uninstall or remove a program or an installed updates, the “Uninstall”, “Change”, “Repair” or “Uninstall/Change” button is not appearing and not showing at the toolbar. All the installed programs or updates is listed properly and users can select the any item to uninstall, however, users cannot and unable to see or find the required uninstall button to remove the programs or updates from the system.

When facing this no uninstall/change/repair button problem, users should still be able to trigger uninstallation process for the program and updates by double click on the item, or highlight the item and press Enter, or right click and select appropriate action command.

The cause for missing uninstall, change and repair button is not because of some spyware or adware trying to prevent uninstalls, but instead due to invalid or wrong folder type template been assigned or associated to the Programs and Features folder. Thus, when the Uninstall Programs or Uninstall Updates applet is opened, Vista assumes the folder as non-system type, e.g. pictures, musics, or videos media folder type, and not showing the system tasks or showing inappropriate tasks in the toolbar when a selection is done.

There is no known way to change the folder template for the folder type of “Uninstall or Change a Program”, thus the only way to solve the error is to reset the folder types customization in Vista, which basically delete two BagMRU and Bags registry keys. However, the resolution will clear and wipe off all folder types and folder views customization that users have configured in Vista desktop explorer. After resetting, all folders will revert back to original default templates, including Uninstall Programs and Uninstall Updates.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Windows Vista. 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.