Uninstalling Visual Studio without harming the system

Question

Today, on Windows 7, for testing purposes, i first installed Internet Explorer 11, then Visual Studio 2013 Express Desktop, then Visual F# Out of Band Release 3.1.1.

After starting Visual Studio, i ran into misc Issues (scrolling with middle mouse button is broken, clicked links do not open windows, there are no F# templates as this tutorial suggests).

Therefore i want to uninstall this Software again. Here is a list of things which were installed on my System (5+ GB)

• Entity Framework Tools for Visual Studio 2013
• Erforderliche Komponenten für SSDT
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 Multi-Targeting Pack
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 SDK
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 SDK - DEU Lang Pack
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 (Deutsch)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 Multi-Targeting Pack
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 SDK
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 SDK (Deutsch)
• Microsoft Help Viewer 2.1
• Microsoft Help Viewer 2.1 Sprachpaket - DEU
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Command Line Utilities
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier App Framework
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier App Framework (x64)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Management Objects
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Management Objects (x64)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Transact-SQL ScriptDom
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL-Sprachdienst
• Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 SP1 x64 DEU
• Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - DEU (12.0.30919.1)
• Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools Build Utilities - DEU (12.0.30919.1)
• Microsoft Visual F# 3.1.1
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 für Windows Desktop - DEU
• Microsoft-System-CLR-Typen für SQL Server 2012
• Microsoft-System-CLR-Typen für SQL Server 2012 (x64)
• Paket zur Festlegung von Zielversionen für Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 (Deutsch)

And now the Question: I have never before installed such a huge software, but i want my 5GB back - is it safe to uninstall all items of this list or did the Visual Studio installer replace some older files on my system so that some other software may not work anymore if i do?

Answer 1

In general an installation/ uninstallation proccess, provided you follow the procedure defined by the vendor and as long as it is concerning a verified program is never harmful to a system.

Specifically for your Question, if you unistall Visual Studio 2013:

1. No harm will be done
2. The other programs you are listing will not get unistalled (e.g .NET 4.5, SQL Express 2012 etc.)
3. You wont have back your 5GB of space because Visual Studio 2013 is taking about 2 GB
4. Most of other programs will be still functional (e.g SQL Server,SQl Management Studio)

If you want to have your 5 GB back you have to unistall all the remaining programs. Consider which of them will be of later use (e.g .NET 4.5) as well which take the most space (e.g SQL Express Server 2012)

Answer 2

Uninstalling Visual Studio should work ok, but some of the runtimes and system files will remain after uninstall even if you uninstall everything. This is just how Windows works. Certain files and settings will never be removed if they are installed on the system. They are permanent additions to the system.