Windows 10: Revert to Win7 iTunes .msi issue

On that Apple help page they do mention the problem of programs not being uninstallable and they also tell you that you should just go ahead with their list; mainly you should remove the listed files and folders. That looks like a poor man's uninstall.

I don't know,if that helps, but it's worth a try.

 

A this point I think it's either that or a reinstall of his OS.

On a related topic I've noticed that downgrading from Win10 back to Win7, and maybe Win8.1 as well, tends to lead to these problems. MS does warn users that they may need to reinstall some programs if they downgrade. Kind of an understatement! Both times I down graded two of my PCs I had this problem with iTunes as well as with trying to patch at least one game. I suspect it inherent with the downgrade process. I've decided to take my gaming PC and restore win7 with a back up I made before upgrading to Win10 (and the downgrading) so I have no future problems with games or the SQL Sever and ASP.Net programming environment. I'd jump off a building if I had to reinstall those!

 

Sure, the Windows 10 upgrade is not mainly made to be downgraded again afterwards. If you really have to go back, restoring the old version from a system image is a good and clean way.

After all, iTunes is actually working for Fergus. It only cannot be updated currently. Reinstalling the complete OS, just because of such a minor inconvenience, is like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer.

And he still has not answered, if fixing the NTFS permissions helped.

 

i think he did say that his iTunes permissions were the same as mine

 

I had the same problem (i.e. unable to update iTunes after reverting back from Windows 10 upgrade to Windows 7). What fixed it for me was:

Step 1: I used a utility called Uninstall Tool (Ver 3.4.3, available from CrystalIDEA - Uninstall Tool, Uninstall Software, Remove Programs, AnyToISO & Macs Fan Control) to uninstall all Apple software from my Windows 7 machine, selecting the option to trash all connected files, including iTunes itself.

Step 2: I downloaded the windows installer cleanup utility (MicrosoftFixit.ProgramInstallUninstall.RNP.Run.exe) from the link SoFine409 helpfully provided (http://support.microsoft.com/mats/pr...and_uninstall.[/). When I ran it, it found iTunes still present and enabled me to uninstall it completely.

Step 3: I created a recovery point then:
a) deleted all residual Apple folders I found on my machine
b) deleted all references in my system's registry to the Temp folder that Windows / iTunes thought was the right place for the ITunes installer (i.e. C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp\[uniqueID].TMP\iTunes6464.msi"), and ensured the installer was in a more accessible location (i.e. my Downloads folder).

Step 4: Reran the iTunes installer and it completed successfully. The fresh install works OK.

This suggests that the root cause was a stray entry in the registry which Microsoft created when upgrading my machine from Windows 7 to 10, and failed to correct when reverting back to Windows 7 (I reverted because Windows 10 incorrectly failed to recognise the D drive on my machine).

 

kappm, Great that you solved your problem and that you documented the process so thoroughly. I think you hit the nail on the head about the registry key not being deleted during the downgrade. I think I might have deleted that registry key as well when I was thrashing around trying to fix my issue. FYI the MS Tool is still available to users with Win7.

As I said at the start of this thread, I recommend that anyone who plans to upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (or downgrade back to Win7) should simply uninstall iTunes and all of its supporting software before the upgrade/dowmgrade and then reinstall it after. It takes so little time to do and can save a lot of headaches afterward.