Uninstalling (retracting) a SharePoint solution

Sometimes you might need to uninstall or retract a SharePoint solution.  To do that you need to uninstall the solution first, because otherwise you will not be able to install a solution with the same name again; SharePoint will complain the feature is already installed.

Step 1:  Run the ‘remove solutions’ batch file created by Iron Speed Designer’s Deployment Wizard, e.g.:

..\<APP NAME>_ _removeSolution.bat

This batch file first uninstalls the feature, then retracts the solution and finally deletes the solution.

Note:  You may need to edit the STSADMIN variable to point to correct location of the STSADM utility before running the batch file.

Step 2:  Delete the Features folder located in:

SharePoint 2010:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\FEATURES

SharePoint 2007:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES

Step 3:  Delete the application folder located in:

SharePoint 2010:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

SharePoint 2007:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

Shared DLLs

You must be careful if you have more than one application deployed.  All Iron Speed Designer-applications use these DLLs, and when a solution is retracted and deleted, these DLLs will be deleted too.

If you have multiple applications installed, manually copy these DLLs from the \bin folder of any of your deployed applications into the \bin folder of the hosting application, e.g., from:

SharePoint 2010:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\<APP NAME>\bin

SharePoint 2007:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\<APP NAME>\bin

to

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\3948\bin

See Also

Locating application files on the SharePoint server

Changing Code Access Security (CAS)

Adding navigation to your application

Uninstalling (retracting) a SharePoint solution

Using Microsoft Access databases in SharePoint applications

SharePoint master page options