Add or Remove programs using C# in Control Panel

In this article, I am going to give steps and code examples to show an entry in Control Panel for installed application and code to remove installed application from Control Panel using C#.

Consider the two C# projects

    1. Setup (Console Application).
    2. MorganApp (Windows Form Application).

You can download source files and binaries from following links  Download exe | Download source

1. Setup (Console Application)- Add or Remove Control Panel programs using C#

   Create new C# Project as Console Application with the name Setup and replace the following code to Register application in Add /Remove programs.

using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace Setup
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string appName = "MorganApp";
            string installLocation = @"C:\MorganTech";
            string displayIcon = @"C:\MorganTechsetup-icon.ico";
            string uninstallString = @"C:\MorganTechMorganApp.exe";

            RegisterControlPanelProgram(appName,installLocation,displayIcon,uninstallString);

            Console.WriteLine("Application Installed Successfully....");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        public static void RegisterControlPanelProgram(string appName, string installLocation, string displayicon, string uninstallString)
        {
            try
            {
              string Install_Reg_Loc = @"SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall";

              RegistryKey hKey = (Registry.LocalMachine).OpenSubKey(Install_Reg_Loc, true);

              RegistryKey appKey = hKey.CreateSubKey(appName);

              appKey.SetValue("DisplayName", (object)appName, RegistryValueKind.String);

              appKey.SetValue("Publisher",(object)"Morgan Tech Space",RegistryValueKind.String);

              appKey.SetValue("InstallLocation",
                       (object)installLocation, RegistryValueKind.ExpandString);

              appKey.SetValue("DisplayIcon", (object)displayicon, RegistryValueKind.String);

              appKey.SetValue("UninstallString",
                     (object)uninstallString, RegistryValueKind.ExpandString);

              appKey.SetValue("DisplayVersion", (object)"v1.0", RegistryValueKind.String);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                throw e;
            }
        }
    }
}

2. MorganApp (Windows Form Application)- Add or Remove Control Panel program in C#

   Create new C# Project as Windows Form Application with the name MorganApp.  Add a Button control and generate the click event for the same.

Now replace the following code to Remove application from Add /Remove programs.

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace MorganApp
{
    public partial class MorganApp : Form
    {
        public MorganApp()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void btRemove_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            RemoveControlPanelProgram("MorganApp");
            MessageBox.Show("Application Removed Successfully", "Morgan App");
            this.Close();
        }

        public static void RemoveControlPanelProgram(string apllicationName)
        {
            string InstallerRegLoc = @"SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall";
            RegistryKey homeKey = (Registry.LocalMachine).OpenSubKey(InstallerRegLoc, true);
            RegistryKey appSubKey = homeKey.OpenSubKey(apllicationName);
            if (null != appSubKey)
            {
                homeKey.DeleteSubKey(apllicationName);
            }
        }
    }
}

 6. Click UnInsall/Change button to remove this program from control panel. You will see the below window. then click Remove button to complete process.

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Thanks,
Morgan
Software Developer