Hi everyone,

I have been playing Football Manager 2009 via Steam this year. However, recently my game died and I've been uninstalling everything so that I can buy a new one

Problem is, every time I try to uninstall Steam (Control Panel > Programs and Features), all that happens is that a dialogue box pops up entitled 'Windows Installer' and the text says 'Preparing to uninstall' It just stays like this indefinitely and nothing else happens. When I click on Cancel, again nothing happens and I can't even close the dialogie box

Any help would be appreciated guys, it's driving me up the wall!

Hi and welcome to PCHF

There is a manual uninstall routine for Steam but this does involve using the registry editor. Please be aware that editing the registry can be dangerous and it's always a good idea to back up the registry before you start.

1. Exit Steam
2. Navigate to your Steam installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\Steam or C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam)
   • If you wish to keep your saved games and downloaded multiplayer content for a future installation of Steam, move your \steamapps\ folder to your desktop
3. Delete the contents of the Steam installation directory
4. Go to Start, select Run, and enter regedit
5. In the left-hand column of your registry editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Valve\
6. Right-click on the Steam subdirectory and select Delete
7. In the left-hand column of your registry editor, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam
8. Right-click on the Steam subdirectory and select Delete

Hegnis,

Thanks very much, that was really helpful. One thing - when I remove Steam from the regedit, it's still on my list of add/remove programs. When I wnet to remove it, the same problem appeared again (ie Windows Installer dialogue box came up)

Can I assume that Steam is now successfully removed anyway, or have I done something wrong?

Hi again,

A bit more registry editing will get rid of that entry for you:

How to manually remove programs from the Add or Remove Programs tool

Thanks again Hengis - one more question though

I've bought a new copy of football manager, but when I put it into the CD drive, nothing happens.

I went to Start > Computer and it's there under 'Disks with Removable Storage' but when I click on that, again I get no response

Arrrrgh!

Anyone?

This is really stumping me, there's a nice donation to the website if anyone can put me out of my misery

Hello Clydebuilt,

Sometimes when there are issues with uninstalling, it means that the uninstall has become corrupt. The fix for this is to reinstall the program and then uninstall.

That should work like a champ for you.