Office 2021 xml to uninstall previous Office 2019

[petben]

I have used the usual Office Customization Tool to create a simple test Office 2021 install.

https://config.office.com/deploymentsettings

 

I have the setting enabled "Uninstall any MSI versions of Office, including Visio and Project" and it puts a entry in the install XML.

 

When I try and run the install on a computer (which has Office 2019 installed on it - as all machines will do and which was installed via the same method) I get the error below, any ideas?

 

[David44]

I assume Office 2019 wasn't installed via an MSI file as they seem to be out of fashion at Microsoft in recent years so won't be affected by that part of the XML. Pretty sure our 2019 is a .exe that points via command line arguments to the XML file. Couldn't you uninstall 2019 using whatever mechanism you use for deployments?

[RLR]

I've seen this posted before. I believe the RemoveMSI part of the xml will only remove Office if it was installed via MSI. It's more than likeley you installed Office 2019 via the Click to run installer.

[petben]

yes, it was installed via setup.exe so is there a simple /uninstall siwtch or something, some sites talk of creating an uninstall.xml..?

[RLR]

Not tested it by try running the exe on a machine with 2019 installed with this as the reference xml file:

 

 

Example: setup.exe /configure RemoveOffice2019.xml

Edited November 1, 2021 by RLR

[petben]

Thanks RLR that XML works fine...

[petben]

One thing I have noticed is that even though the Office 2019 pro plus entry disappears from control panel/installed programs once I run the office 2021 installer the office 2019 shortcuts and programs still work, is it so closely related so that is expected?

[RLR]

I imagine it's installed in the same location with the same file names and they are keeping the same version (16) so GPOs and reg keys will stay the same. For example: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE is the location of the exe file so if your shortcuts are referencing this location then the 2019 shortcuts will work.