microsoft / microsoft/winget-cli

Unable to uninstall winget itself.

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#2,648 22 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Issue-Bug
Dominant language
C++
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Brief description of your issue

I cannot uninstall winget because of this property: NonRemovable: True.
I think that in many people, including me, winget or Appinstaller is not a necessary program. We can use the more powerful PowerShell as an alternative, or simply not use Appx-based programs.

Steps to reproduce

Execute command in PowerShell: Remove-AppPackage Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.18.2691.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Expected behavior

Successfully uninstalled the program.

Actual behavior

Throw an error: 0x80073CFA

Environment
Name              : Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller
Publisher         : CN=Microsoft Corporation, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US
Architecture      : X64
ResourceId        :
Version           : 1.18.2691.0
PackageFullName   : Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.18.2691.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
InstallLocation   : C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.18.2691.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
IsFramework       : False
PackageFamilyName : Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe
PublisherId       : 8wekyb3d8bbwe
IsResourcePackage : False
IsBundle          : False
IsDevelopmentMode : False
NonRemovable      : True
Dependencies      : {Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.7_7.2208.15002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe, Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00.UWPDesktop_14.0.3
                    0704.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe, Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.18.2691.0_neutral_split.language-zh-hans
                    _8wekyb3d8bbwe, Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_1.18.2691.0_neutral_split.scale-125_8wekyb3d8bbwe}
IsPartiallyStaged : False
SignatureKind     : Store
Status            : Ok

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the PowerShell Remove-AppPackage command against Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller and investigate how the NonRemovable property and 0x80073CFA error relate to winget's packaging or platform behavior. Done would require a documented, supported way to uninstall winget or a clear determination that the request cannot be implemented by this project.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, powershell
Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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