How to remove apps from user context and deploy this script via Intune.

Question

Hi everyone,

I was trying to remove some apps such as Chrome/Firefox/Zoom and others from many computers in my organization.

These apps were installed manually by the user without admin rights(User Context), I was trying to create a script to remove these apps but it does not work. My intention is to remove all apps installed with no permission, this script will need to be deployed via Intune.

Has anyone got any idea how can I achieve it?

Thanks

T

function Uninstall-Win32App {
    param([string]$appName)
    $uninstallString = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "*$appName*" } |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty UninstallString

    if ($uninstallString) {
        Write-Output "Uninstalling $appName..."
        Start-Process -FilePath "msiexec.exe" -ArgumentList "/x $uninstallString /quiet" -Wait
    } else {
        Write-Output "$appName not found."
    }
}

# Uninstall Zoom (Win32 application)
Uninstall-Win32App -appName "Zoom"

# Uninstall Chrome (Win32 application)
Uninstall-Win32App -appName "Google Chrome"

# Uninstall Firefox (Win32 application)
Uninstall-Win32App -appName "Mozilla Firefox"

Answer 1

@TZ, Thanks for the update and sharing. I am glad that the apps can removed successfully. To help others find the method, please let me write a summary:

Issue:

How to remove apps from user context via Intune.

Resolution:

Thanks for your time and have a nice day!

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Answer 2

I spent a couple of hours trying to run it, but couldn't make it work. Not sure if it is the best way to remove apps on user context. What would you do?

Answer 3

@TZ , Thanks for posting in Q&A. For the PowerShell script, could you let us know how did we configure the setting "Run this script using the logged on credential"? Based as I know, when it sets as Yes, it uses logged on user credential to run the script. But if the user does not have local administrator permission. I think it will fail to remove the registry key. If it sets to no, the PowerShell script will run under system account which means the registry key related with is system account instead of the user.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/apps/intune-management-extension

Hope the above information can help.

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Answer 4

Actually you can run stuff like this "Start-Process -FilePath "msiexec.exe" -ArgumentList "/x {msiproductcode} /quiet" -Wait" without minding, is the app there or not but it will remove all Chromes or Firefoxes, whenever they are installed in User Context or System Context. If you still need Firefox to be placed on users computer in system context, you can just create a Win32 app with Firefox and specify more detailed detection method maybe even with file version numbering, then you will get the right app you want. This approach will result, that end users will be left out of Firefox for a moment.