Hi! I am running Windows 10. I have Visual Studio Professional 2012, 2015 and 2019 installed. I want to get rid of 2012 and 2015. So I go to Start Menu -> Apps & features. If I unfold VS 2019, I have a "Modify" and an "Uninstall" button. If I click "Modify", I see no option to modify or uninstall the older versions. If I unfold VS 2012 or VS 2015, "Uninstall" is grayed out. If I click "Modify" and allow vs_professional.exe to run, I get a popup saying: "Microsoft .NET Framework required for Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 setup". 2(a). If I click "Decline" it just aborts. 2(b). If I click "Accept & Install", it runs for a little while, then closes, apparently without doing anything. If I then click "Modify" again I get the same thing. Rebooting after this step did not help. If I try to uninstall from the old-fashioned Control Panel -> Programs and Features, I get the same prompt. If I run an installer EXE for VS 2015, I get the same prompt. So for some reason I cannot run the installers for old versions of Visual Studio. How can I debug this?

Cannot uninstall or modify old Visual Studio versions (2012 and 2015)

Claus Appel 1

Hi!

I am running Windows 10. I have Visual Studio Professional 2012, 2015 and 2019 installed. I want to get rid of 2012 and 2015. So I go to Start Menu -> Apps & features.

If I unfold VS 2019, I have a "Modify" and an "Uninstall" button. If I click "Modify", I see no option to modify or uninstall the older versions.
If I unfold VS 2012 or VS 2015, "Uninstall" is grayed out. If I click "Modify" and allow vs_professional.exe to run, I get a popup saying: "Microsoft .NET Framework required for Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 setup".
2(a). If I click "Decline" it just aborts.
2(b). If I click "Accept & Install", it runs for a little while, then closes, apparently without doing anything. If I then click "Modify" again I get the same thing. Rebooting after this step did not help.
If I try to uninstall from the old-fashioned Control Panel -> Programs and Features, I get the same prompt.
If I run an installer EXE for VS 2015, I get the same prompt.

So for some reason I cannot run the installers for old versions of Visual Studio. How can I debug this?

Sara Liu-MSFT 346 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-26T02:07:12.877+00:00
Hi ClausAppel, please follow this document to uninstall the VS 2012/2015:

Locate the VS .exe file

Run the .exe file by using the /uninstall /force command-line parameters. For example, run: vs_professional.exe /uninstall /force
Sara Liu-MSFT 346 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-03T08:13:54.96+00:00

@Claus Appel , have you tried the forcibly uninstall command that I shared? If the uninstall still failed, please share the detail error message that you met, that will help us analysis this issue.

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Cannot uninstall or modify old Visual Studio versions (2012 and 2015)

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