Why / Where is the installation folder remembered ?

[Denwen]

I am curious:
I installed TC in a custom folder on Windows 11. Then I changed my mind and decided to leave it in the default folder.
Uninstalled it, deleted all keys of totalcmd from registry, restarted.
Still, when I try to install again, it remembers the custom folder.
Where is this info stored, and how do I remove it?

[petermad]

2Denwen

There are 3 keys in the Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ghisler
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ghisler
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Ghisler

Maybe you missed one opf them...?

[Denwen]

no - they are all gone.

[beb]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ghisler
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ghisler
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Ghisler
Maybe you missed one of them...?

no - they are all gone.

Interesting.
Those registry entries (each of them) can contain the residual installation data (e.g. a kind of "InstallDir"="a:\\former\\install\\path" key).
Also, a former configuration file can be left there in AppData (AppData\Ghisler\wincmd.ini) that may contain similar residual info (e.g. a kind of InstallDir=a:\former\install\path parameter under its [Configuration] section).
On Windows 10 there's no way TC would ever detect the former installation(s) if there are no registry entries with the InstallDir key(s), and there's no previous configuration .ini file with the InstallDir parameter (no such data either at all on the item/file level, or just on the key/parameter level, i.e. if those entries/keys/file/parameter were properly deleted).
Can't believe Windows 11 behaves differently.

You can try the below script to detect the previous installation residual data:

tcmd_install_reporter.ps1

Code: Select all

$ghislerAppData  = @("$env:AppData\Ghisler","$env:LocalAppData\Ghisler")
$ghislerRegistry = @("HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Ghisler","HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Ghisler","HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Ghisler")
$max             =  -($ghislerAppData+$ghislerRegistry|Measure -Maximum -Property Length).Maximum
# research AppData
Write-Host -f Cyan    '$AppData       : ' -no
Write-Host -f Yellow  'checking for resident data...'
$ghislerAppData|foreach {
if              (-not ($PSitem|Test-Path)) {
"{0,$max}" -f          $PSitem|Tee -var noData|Out-null
Write-Host -f DarkGray $noData -no;' : does not exist; no action required'
}
else {
# report AppData
"{0,$max}" -f          $PSitem|Tee -var Data|Out-null
Write-Host -f DarkRed  $Data -no
Write-Host -f Yellow  ' : contains data!'
$entry = Get-ChildItem $PSitem -recurse
foreach               ($item in $entry) {
"{0,$max}" -f          $item.FullName|Tee -var dataItem|Out-null
Write-Host -f DarkMag  $dataItem}
}}
# research Registry
Write-Host -f Cyan    '$Registry      : ' -no
Write-Host -f Yellow  'checking for resident data...'
foreach               ($key in $ghislerRegistry) {
"{0,$max}" -f          $key|Tee -var keyOut|Out-null
if              (-not ($key|Test-Path)) {
Write-Host             $keyOut -f DarkGray -no;' : does not exist; no action required'}
else {
Write-Host             $keyOut -f Red -no
Write-Host  -f Yellow ' : contains data!'
Get-ChildItem          $key -recurse |foreach {
$regItem             = $PSitem.toString()
$regItem             = $regItem -replace 'HKEY.*USER\\','HKCU:' -replace 'HKEY.*MACHINE\\','HKLM:'
$regValues           = @()
(Get-ItemProperty      $regItem).PSobject.Properties|Where Name -notin PSPath,PSProvider,PSDrive,PSParentPath|Select Name,Value|
foreach {
$keyName             = $_.name
$keyValue            = $_.value
if   (                 $keyName -eq 'PSChildName') {
$subKey = $key + '\' + $keyValue}
else {
$regValues         += "{0,-11} = {1}" -f $keyName, $keyValue}
}
Write-Host -f Red      $subKey
$regValues|Sort-Object|foreach {
Write-Host -f Magenta  $_
}}}}

if (-not $MyInvocation.PSCommandPath) {pause}

The script works on Windows 10 and I hope it may remain helpful for Win 11 as well.

You can also try tools like RegistryFinder (https://registry-finder.com) to locate if there are any installation data leftovers (e.g. searching for the 'Ghisler' key phrase, etc.)

Edit: detailed considering white's message.

[Denwen]

thanks! That was it. The Ghisler folders were in Appdata.

[white]

If there are no Total Commander settings in the Windows registry, the installer also checks %APPDATA%\GHISLER\wincmd.ini for the InstallDir setting. This setting is normally present in wincmd.ini and also contains the installation folder.