Microsoft 365 - Uninstall via Windows Installer


This article explains how to use the MS Windows Installer to manually uninstall MS Office.

Determine Installation Type

Follow these steps to determine your installation type.

  1. Create a file or open an existing file.

  2. Select File > Account (or it might say Office Account).

  3. Under Product information, find the About button and look for the following:

    Type of InstallationListed information
    Click-to-Run installations

    Version, Build Number, and Click-to-Run

    MSI installation

    About Office

    Microsoft Store installations

    Version, Build number, and Microsoft Store

View Hidden Files and Folders

Follow these steps to find any hidden files or folders.

  1. The first step for viewing hidden files and folders depends on your version of Windows.

    • Windows 10: Right-click Start, then select Control Panel.
      (The keyboard shortcut, Windows logo key + X also works to open the access menu.)
    • Windows 8 or 8.1: Press the Windows key + X, then select Control Panel.
    • Windows 7: Select Start > Control Panel.

  2. Press Alt to display the menu bar.

  3. Click Tools > Folder Options, and then click on the View tab.

  4. In the Advanced settings pane, click Show hidden files and folders under Hidden files and folders.

  5. Clear the Hide extensions for known file types box.

  6. Click OK, and then close Windows Explorer.
Remove Remaining Windows Installer Packages for Office

Follow these steps to remove any remaining Installer Packages.

  1. Press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type installer, and then click OK to open the %windir%\Installer folder.

  3. Press the Alt key to display the menu bar if you don't already see it. Then do the following depending on your operating system:

    • Window 10: Select View, then select Details in the Layout group.
    • Windows 8 or 8.1: Select View, then select Details in the Layout group.
    • Windows 7: On the View menu, select Choose details.

  4. Change the column width depending on your operating system.

    • Windows 10:
      • Select View > Add columns in the Layout group > Choose columns, then select Subject, then type 340 in the Width of selected column (in pixels) box.
    • Windows 8 or 8.1:
      • Select View, then click Details in the Layout group, then type 340 in the Width of selected column (in pixels) box.
    • Windows 7:
      • On the View menu, select Choose details, then type 340 in the Width of selected column (in pixels) box.

      Note      : It may take several minutes for the subjects to appear.

  5. Click OK.

  6. Click View > Sort By > Subject.

  7. If a User Account Control dialog box appears, click Allow to continue.

  8. Complete the Uninstall.

    1. Locate each .msi file that has "Microsoft Office <product name> 2016" as the subject
    2. Right-click the .msi file
    3. Select Uninstall.  In this step, <product name> represents the actual name of the Office 2016 product.
Stop the Office Source Engine Service

The Office Source Engine Service may be running. If so, follow these steps to stop the process:

  1. Press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type services.msc, then select OK.

  3. In the Services window, determine whether the Office Source Engine service is running.

    1. If the service is running, Started appears in the Status column.
    2. Right-click Office Source Engine, then select Stop.

  4. Close the Services window.
Delete Remaining Office Installation Folders

You must delete any remaining Office installation folders.

  1. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared, then select OK.

    • On a computer that's running a 64-bit version of Windows, type %CommonProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Shared, then select OK.

  3. Delete the Office16 and Source Engine folders if they are present.

  4. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  5. Type %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office, then select OK.

    • On a computer that's running a 64-bit version of Windows, type %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office, then select OK.

  6. Delete the Office16 folder.

  7. In the root folder of each hard disk drive, open the MSOCache folder.

  8. Open the All Users folder in the MSOCache folder, then delete every folder that has "0FF1CE}- in the folder name.

    Note: This text contains "0" (zero) and "1" characters for the letters "O" and "I." For example, delete the folder named {90160000-001B-0409-0000-0000000FF1CE}-C  
Delete Remaining Office Installation Files

You must delete any remaining Office installation files.

  1. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type %appdata%\microsoft\templates and select OK.

  3. Delete the Normal.dotm and Welcome to Word.dotx files.

  4. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  5. Type %appdata%\microsoft\document building blocks and select OK.

  6. Open the subfolder under the Document Building Blocks folder and delete the Building blocks.dotx file. The subfolder title is a four-digit number that represents the language of the Microsoft Office suite.

  7. Close all programs before you move on to the next content panel.
Delete Office 2016 Registry Subkeys

Before you start, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.

It is important to note that serious problems may occur if you change the registry incorrectly. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be resolved. Change the registry at your own risk.

  1. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type regedit and select OK.

  3. Select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0 registry subkey.

  4. Select File > Export, type DeletedKey01 and select Save.

  5. Select Edit > Delete and select Yes to confirm.

  6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for each registry subkey in the list below. Increment the name of the exported key by one for each subkey.

    For example: Type DeletedKey02 for the second key, type DeletedKey03 for the third key, and so on.

    Note: In the following registry keys, the asterisk character (*) represents one or more characters in the subkey name.

32-bit versions of Windows

64-bit versions of Windows

Delete Additional Registry Subkeys

You must delete any additional Registry Subkeys.

  1. Locate one of the following subkeys, depending on the version of Windows that you're running:

    • 32-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
    • 64-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

  2. Select File > Export, type UninstallKey01 and select Save.

  3. Under the Uninstall subkey that you located in step 1, select each subkey and determine whether the subkey has the following value assigned to it:

    • Name: UninstallString
    • Data: file_name path\Office Setup Controller\Setup.exe path

      In this example, file_name represents the actual name of an installation program, and path represents the actual file path.

  4. If the subkey has the name and the data described in step 3, select Edit > Delete. Otherwise, go to step 5.

  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you locate and delete every subkey that matches the name and data described in step 3.

  6. Close Registry Editor.