MySQL Bugs: #26499: uninstall leaves registry keys

Bug #26499	uninstall leaves registry keys
Submitted:	20 Feb 2007 15:44	Modified:	20 Nov 2013 10:54
Reporter:	Yahoo Serious (Silver Quality Contributor)	Email Updates:
Status:	Unsupported	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Installing	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	5.0.34, 5.1.15	OS:	Windows (Windows 2000 SP4)
Assigned to:	Sunanda Menon	CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	qc

Description:
When uninstalling the MySQL Server it leaves the registry keys in:
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MySQL AB\MySQL Server 5.1\ 

This also seems to be valid for MySQL Tools, where I found multiple registry entries left.

How to repeat:
>> check (and clear?) relevant registry part
- install MySQL Server
- remove MySQL Server
>> check registry

Suggested fix:
- clean registry on uninstall

Thank you for a bug report. Verified just as describved, also - for MySQL 5.0.34.

Those are not the only registry keys left, and those are not the only versions that leave registry keys. Version 5.1.24 (release condidate) and Version 6 (alpha) also leave registry keys when you uninstall them. In addition, it is hard to uninstall the connector if you use the MSI file to install it. As a result, testing the new proposed releases gets more difficult each time you download an experimental release. I wonder if a MySQL-registry cleaner could be programmed to uninstall all versions of mysql and its tools? Or, easier, could a list of all the registry keys used by mysql be listed, so we can uninstall them by hand? Interestingly, the keys only interfere with versions 5.1 and above, and, thankfully, do not interfere with going back and installing 5.0.

I agree that technically this is an S3, non-critical severity. However, this bug makes it more difficult to use MySQL for tiny demos on laptops which might attract future customers. In that marketing domain, other instant-uninstall full-SQL database management systems are gaining popularity.

I have a similar issue: My installation of Mysql is corrupted and using mysql-essential-5.0.51b-win32.msi I can neither uninstall or install.  The registry contains the references to Mysql and these are faulty and cannot be deleted unless there is a tool or a different approach to use.

I have a similar issue: My installation of Mysql is corrupted and using mysql-essential-5.0.51b-win32.msi I can neither uninstall or install.  The registry contains the references to Mysql and these are faulty and cannot be deleted unless there is a tool or a different approach to use.

Keeping registries clean is a pain in 's' for me, too.  For MySQL, after uninstalling, I would run regedit and search for any registry entry named with "mysql."  I suppose the publisher would not trick us by using weird registry names and service name.

The download file mysql-essential-5.1.39-win32 clears registry upon "uninstall", however other issues are in play (at least for me)

After uninstalling I had to delete the MySql Server 5.x folder under the c:\ProgramData (system hiden folder) default install would work correctly.