How to Delete Applications Using Wyse Management Suite

Affected Platforms:

• Dell Thin Clients

Affected Products:

• Wyse Management Suite

Affected Operating Systems:

• Windows 10 IoT LTSC 2021

Windows 10 IoT LTSC 2021 thin clients have several applications pre-installed from the factory and included with the recovery image. Some admins may want to remove applications that are not used in the environment. The relevant uninstall commands must be determined to do this. This document outlines the process and provides example commands for several commonly installed applications.

Steps to determine the relevant uninstall command strings:

1. Log in as an Administrator on a device that has the targeted applications installed
2. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
3. Go to the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall key
4. Search through the registry subkeys for the name of the application to uninstall and note the DisplayName, Publisher, or other identifying data that can be used for the PowerShell query.
5. Go to the HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall key
6. Search through the registry subkeys for the name of the application to uninstall and note the DisplayName, Publisher, or other identifying data that can be used for the PowerShell query.
   Note:

   • There may be several associated registry keys and uninstall commands that must be run, so browse through all the registry keys to ensure that you note all required uninstall commands.
   • It may be easier to export the two Uninstall registry keys and use a text editor to search through the information.
7. Once the relevant registry keys are found, note the registry values that the applications to uninstall have in common (for example, VMware Horizon client registry entries for uninstallation all have VMware in the DisplayName field, while Citrix does not, and it is easier to use the Publisher field for Citrix uninstall).
8. Note the uninstall string commands used. Most programs use the MsiExec.exe command to uninstall, but some, like Citrix, may have additional or different commands that must be accounted for in the PowerShell script.

Citrix Workspace Removal:

To remove Citrix Workspace client from the thin client, search through the registry keys to determine the common search string among the keys. The below screenshot shows an example of one of the registry keys associated with the Citrix Workspace client.

Notice the Publisher entry which is used in the sample script below to search for relevant keys. Also, pay attention to the UninstallString, which in this case does not use the MsiExec.exe command to uninstall so special care has to be taken to handle this entry along with the standard MsiExec commands.

The below script example removes Citrix Workspace and associated applications from the Windows 10 Thin Client:

# this script will uninstall any program with Citrix Systems or Cloud Software Group in the Publisher field
# version 1 - August 6,2024
# search through the uninstall keys in the registry and find any entries with Citrix Systems or Cloud Software Group in the name of the software publisher
# and create a collection from the entries
$programs = Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall,HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall | Get-ItemProperty | Where-Object {$_.Publisher -match "Citrix Systems" -or $_.Publisher -match "Cloud Software Group"} | Select-Object -Property DisplayName,Publisher,UninstallString

# for each registry entry in the collection, run the uninstall command
foreach ($program in $programs) {
   # if the uninstall command uses the MSIEXEC.exe run it with following parameters
    if ($program.uninstallstring -match "msiexec.exe"){
        start-process cmd.exe -ArgumentList "/c""$($program.uninstallstring) /quiet /norestart""" -Wait
    }
   # special command for the TrolleyExpress command to uninstall the main Citrix component as it does     not rely on MSIEXEC.exe to uninstall
   else {
        start-process cmd.exe -ArgumentList "/c""$($program.uninstallstring) /silent""" -Wait
    }
}
# check to see if the Citrix Workspace shortcut is on the desktop and delete it
if (test-path "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Citrix Workspace.lnk") {
		remove-item "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Citrix Workspace.lnk"
}

Create a PowerShell (ps1) file and copy it to the WMS server to be used in the uninstall App policy.

VMware Horizon Client Removal:

To remove VMware Horizon client from the thin client, search through the registry keys to determine the common search string among the keys. The below screenshot shows an example of one of the registry keys associated with the VMware Horizon client.

Notice the DisplayName entry which is used in the sample script below to search for relevant keys. Also, pay attention to the UninstallString to ensure all uninstall commands use the MSiExec.exe command.

The below script example removes VMware Horizon and associated applications from the Windows 10 Thin Client:

# this script will uninstall any program with VMWare in the title
# version 1 - August 6,2024
#
# search through the uninstall keys in the registry and find any with VMWare in the Name of the application (DisplayName) and create a collection of the entries
$programs = Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall,HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall | Get-ItemProperty | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -match "VMWare"} | Select-Object -Property DisplayName,UninstallString

# for each registry entry in the collection, run the uninstall command
foreach ($program in $programs) {
    start-process cmd.exe -ArgumentList "/c""$($program.uninstallstring) /quiet /norestart""" -Wait
}

Create a PowerShell (ps1) file and copy it to the WMS server to be used in the uninstall App policy.