Squeaky clean uninstall of Daz? Is it possible?
shawnlau_8905c7c970
Posts: 51
How do I completely delete Daz Studio? I want to delete Daz studio so completely that I have to re-enter the serial numbers fir the program and my plugins. I've uninstalled the program. I've uninstalled the content manager. I've deleted the Daz folder in the hidden Program data folder. I've deleted the Daz folder in the Users/Me/Appdata/Roaming/ folder. I rebooted the computer. And STILL, when I go to re install Daz Studio, the filled in content folder is the name of custom folder from my last install. Where in the world is it holding that information?
Short of re-installing my operating system, how do I remove every trace of Daz from my computer? You'd think uninstall would do that. But it doesn't. I want an install so clean it asks for the registration number. And the reason I want such a squeaky clean install is I've found Daz Studio has a nasty habit of referencing assets that are in directories removed from your content directory listing. So while you think you have everything contained in one library, when you move a scene to a new computer with that library, the scene breaks and is missing assets.
The only way I've found to check is to set up a virtual machine with a brand new installation of Daz and move the library there to see if its really self contained.
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Comments
I'm thinking maybe renaming the folders of any old Daz Libraries might work e.g., MyProps to OLDMyprops.
I do a lot of custom work that alters others people's work, strictly for my use. But I don't want to have to keep redoing it. Say I have a room prop where the back wall is connected to the floor. Well its important for the back wall to cast shadows (say it has window sills or fixtures of some type) but its not important for the floor to cast shadows. They are connected so I cant turn off shadow if I need to artificially create bounce light from the floor. I separate the floor from the back wall and save it as a prop in Myprop library. Well months go by, and Since I use only my version of the room, the original prop is deleted, and to my horror when I try to load a scene using my custom prop I find it had dependencies to the original prop.
A fix to this often encountered problem would be a save forat that saves EVERYTHING- morphs, material, maps, and even morph icons. I don't care if the file is 7 gigabytes -3 terabytes can be had at BestBuy for about 120 US $.
Here is the key..
in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\DAZ \Dzinstall.ini is where the installation defaults are stored. You can just delete it and it will be set clean on reinstall. Also of you still have the cms loaded, kill it in the process in "services".
Let me know.
That didn't work either. Earlier, I went for a clean install but forgot to clear out the hidden "program data" directory. I installed the program content to "NewDazLibrary" When I started up the program I saw all of my old directories. I realized I forgot to clear out the cms databases in the "program data" folder. I uninstalled again and deleted every Daz folder and program file I can think of and rebooted. Yet whenever I go to re-install, the setup program shows these default values:
Destination directory: C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4
Content Directory: C:\Users\Shawn\Documents\NewDazLibrary
Where in the world is it keeping that default content directory? On a CLEAN install of Daz it defaults to C:\Users\Shawn\Documents\Daz 3d\ Studio\My Library ( or something very close to that) Where is it holding the name of that old content folder?
I dont think you need to clean the registry. but you can try CCleaner. I did all "daz" keys but, it I
I think its that common DAZ directory that was the fix. Just delete it, and reboot. Then reinstall with the DIM using the pure defaults - public documents/my library directory. Been there before.
Oh and if you have any content that have been installed (install shield not zip to r/t) to the old runtimes especially the Startup Content with Genesis. - UNINSTALL IT. Near all should be installed via DIM now. ALSO You are looking ath teh CONFIG SETTINGS right to clear the old directory ... again try to get it to default IMO. I have my public/my documents on a E: just to it can be HUGE and scale as needed. It took a win hack (sort of) to do it but I wont have to DIM content reinstall when my O/S drive gets upgraded.
Doing a search of Studio4 in reg edit shows me all kinds of info stored on Daz Studio. ALL of my old directories and the location of the old content directory "ContDir0 Reg_SZ C;/Users/Shawn/Documents/NewDazLibrary"
So that's where it getting it from. So can I just delete the whole Daz tree under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Daz" ?
I mean really, why do this? Does Daz really have to fill up the registry with this?
First backup your registry (file, save) just in case... Now You can delete those registry keys. Do a find, and do it selectivity by looking at the key name (as opposed to value) because some will be recreated once you delete them, The reason is because of the answer to your very last question, DAZ's software doest write to the registry - windows does. The Windows registry is a database used to manage the state of all properties of all data aspects of your system. So for instance the last program accessed is a list, it will be registry and the deletion of ... "Daz" keys. Even the last time you accessed the DAZ directory would be recorded in the registry. You do not need to remove all instances, probably just ones that reference the install dir.
Go ahead and delete and reinstall with DIM :)
Appdata Roaming, clear it of all DAZ folders and UNINSTALL the CMS and Delete the Folder. That gets you to Clean on a Win system. The Reg will be re-written to those keys at install.
DAZ is Defaulting to a OLD folder path that is NOT the Default path? It has one built in. C:USER NAME/My Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library this path auto generates at DAZ install.
For my way of working I make an extensive use of new content directories. Since I use a content directory for every project and I swap them when I change the project. So I only install in the content directory what is needed for the project and this way I keep things easy and clean.
So I noticed myself that DS keeps referencing old and deleted content directories, even if you specify new content directories in the user preferences. This is very annoying but it never caused me serious issues.
Anyway I agree that a tool to completely remove all DS related files and registry keys, that is, to get a clean install, would be very useful to anyone who wants to restart from scratch.
p.s. I tried myself to delete everything suggested in this thread to see if a clean install is possible. I didn't delete the registry keys though. And it's not working. I guess DS always gets information from old registry keys, even when everything else is deleted.
UPDATE
This time I also deleted the DAZ registry keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER and I did get a fresh clean install, where DS creates all its folders and ask to the user her/his own options. So it is possible to get a clean install. Though I believe that handling with the registry is not for the average user.
So basically to get a clean install do as follows:
1) uninstall DAZ Studio with the regular unistall tool
2) delete all DAZ related files and folders in C: (just search for "daz" to get them all)
3) delete the DAZ registry keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER (at your own risk, not recommended for the average user)
So I have been using Daz Studio since 2010, and recently got back into it. I have version 3 and really don't want to upgrade. So the other day, I was renaming one of my folders that had my prefered lights in it (because they were always nested somewhere weird and I"m getting old). It messed up my entire directory.Now I have all these folders that have no content in them. Furthermore, it won't load any of my old models and textures. Ontop of that, I can't find any of my bases or skins or clothes.
I was thinking of uninstalling the whole damn thing and starting fresh based on what Padone above suggested.
Is there a better way? I wish I remember how I set it up but that was a million years ago and my son had just been born and life was out of control so I stopped rendering. Any suggestions, good vibes or "man that sucks' advice is welcome.
Thanks!
misslula.deviantart.com
My instructions above are for DS 4.x, I did it a couple of times so far and it works fine. I don't know anything about DS 3.x sorry. If you plan to update your hardware with a good nvidia card then 4.x is full of new exciting features and assets. That doesn't mean you need them if you find yourself fine with 3.x.
I personally use Blender for production and DS to export DAZ assets to Blender.
Uninstalling this software is way more painful than it should be. Actually this is one of the worst programs i have ever seen. Daz3d makes useless folders to every place imaginable and then fails to remove them. Also because this program fails to uninstall itself, you cant really solve anything by uninstalling. I think i messed up the content folder location and everytime i have now reinstalled its the same old messed up path and nothing works. Daz is showing me missing files and that information is coming from somewhere in the registry.
Had to come online to check this post for help. After thinking i got rid of everything, i was really excited to find useless folders storing keyfiles or something in places like program files(x86)/common files/
Managing content is mind baffling. I must have used hours and hours on this thing and its kinda sad.
Uninstalling will not, by design, remove settings -that would eb very annoying. Plug-ins and content will also not be removed by uninstalling the application, for the same reason. A well-written application isntaller/uninstaller will remove only those files it placed initially.
@Richard. DAZ is simply not listening to their users here. And it is not true that a good uninstaller doesn't remove data. In most softwares the uninstaller has an option to also remove user preferences, files and folders. DAZ Studio does not. This is a problem. For when a user gets stuck for any reason she/he can't restart from scratch. With almost any other software around you can do it.
Now deleting files and folders and registry keys (preferences) by hand is possible as I showed above. And this way you get to restart from scratch. But it is definitely not at reach for the common user.
As a side note I did read in the log that the next version of DAZ Studio will not allow to be installed from an administrator profile. I fear this way the users who did it will get stuck with the new installer. And in this case also a cleanup utility, or full uninstall, would be useful.
If someone had same problem as i with uninstall and reinstall coming back with same settings i have a somewhat of a solution here at version 4.10 :
- Follow advice stated earlier when removing files
- If after reinstalling you still have the same settings for content folders and files showing up missing and everything : Open up Daz. Right click the vertical tab "Content Library" and click "Content db mainentance" . From there click "Reset database. After this you should have cleaned up your database. Simple stuff and you will propably work this out after working with daz for awhile but for a beginner it took time.
Additional:
- If you have trouble adding content or daz not recognizing stuff and adding it to smart content browser:
Or:
I had a messed up database and reinstalling brought back the same settings and missing files. I ended up finding a way and it is there if you know where to look. Maybe uninstaller could ask if you want to keep the settings and files or not. That would have helped a newbie and saved afternoon :)
Theer used to be a script to reset factory settings (or words to that effect) included with DS, but it doesn't seem to be there now. I'm not sure if it became technically unworkable or was dropped for some other reason.
Thanks, that worked for me, finally. Some new morphs that I bought just would not show up in my characters. After I did this and reinstalled, they finally get injected again
Still relevant in 2020. Thanks OP!
Yes, I am fighting with a similar issue for 3 days now. Nothing works here. After I start DAZ the interface builds up and a few seconds later it crahes. Removed all folders, and did a fresh install of DAZ, no chance. Terrible software
DIM is not reading all of my purchased files. DAZ is not seeing all my files. I tried to re-install. However I am getting the same problem. Now over 80% of my files are broken, and not reading. I thought if I started fresh from the get go I could have a clean install, but I just ran into the same problem that every else is having on this thread. DAZ WILL NOT COMPLETELY UN-INSTALL!! So you can't get a fresh install. ( This is a wrench in my work right now ) ... is there a video on how to un-install DAZ tottally clean?
Clean Install.
Step One: Backup up your current version of DAZ
Step Two. Delete Daz Files. Pictures below are of my File locations. They are examples of Only Your System May Differ.
Step Three: Use a reg cleaner. The one I used was CCleaner. Tweaknow has a good reg cleaner. CCleaner has a free version Since that's what I used, I have bought the pro version. It will find all of the file extensions that DAZ uses. It will ask You to make a backup when you clean the reg so you can revert changes made. Run until you see the same error popup again.
Step Four: Reinstall Daz