2011: How to uninstall AutoCAD Mechanical cleanly

Issue

There are occasions when you may experience problems installing AutoCAD® Mechanical after failed installs or uninstalls of other Autodesk products. In these cases, it is recommended that you completely remove them from the system and then attempt the new installation on the cleaned system.

Solution

To uninstall AutoCAD Mechanical and remove any remnants of this product from your system, use the following procedure. The end result is a clean system on which you can install.

1. Log on as a Local System Administrator and disable any Antivirus scanning programs.
2. In Windows Control Panel, open Add or Remove Programs and remove AutoCAD Mechanical 2011.
3. Using Windows Explorer, locate and delete the following file folders as appropriate:
    
   For Microsoft Vista 32-bit installations:
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ACADM 2011
   • C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Autodesk\ ACADM 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   For Microsoft Vista 64-bit installations: 
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ACADM 2011
   • C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Autodesk\ ACADM 201
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   For Microsoft XP 32-bit installations:
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ ACADM 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\ Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   For Microsoft XP 64-bit installations:
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
4. Open the system registry and locate then delete the following registry keys listed below as appropriate (Start menu (Windows) > Run > Regedit).
   
   For 32-bit versions of Vista and XP
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical\R18.1\ACAD-9005:409
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\ AutoCAD Mechanical\R18.1\ACAD-9005:409
   For 64-bit versions of Vista and XP
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical\R18.1\ACAD-9005:409
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical\R18.1\ACAD-9005:409

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com.

Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.