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

@Crystal-MSFT Thanks for replying. I managed to create the script and remove the apps installed on user-context. The only thing that is not 100% within the script is the Zoom uninstallation process which is not silent, it pops up a window for about 10sec, not a big deal though. I discovered that deploying Zoom via Intune with the System-context setting removes the installation from User-context, and then you can uninstall it via Intune.

Here is the script:

# Function to uninstall Brave from a specific user profile
function UninstallBraveFromUserProfile($userProfilePath) {
    $BraveUninstallPath = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Brave" } |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty UninstallString -First 1

    if ($BraveUninstallPath) {
        Write-Output "Uninstalling Brave from $($userProfilePath)..."
        # Stop any running instances of Brave to avoid conflicts
        Stop-Process -Name Brave -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

        
        # Extract just the path to the Chrome uninstaller
        $BravePathOnly = $BraveUninstallPath.Split(' ')[0]

        # Uninstall Brave
        Start-Process -FilePath "$BravePathOnly" -ArgumentList " --uninstall --force-uninstall" -Wait -NoNewWindow




        # Check if the uninstallation was successful
        if (Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
            Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Brave" }) {
            Write-Output "Failed to uninstall Brave from $($userProfilePath). Please try again or manually remove it."
        } else {
            Write-Output "Brave successfully uninstalled from $($userProfilePath)."
        }
    } else {
        Write-Output "Brave is not installed in $($userProfilePath)."
    }
}

# Function to uninstall Google Chrome from a specific user profile
function UninstallChromeFromUserProfile($userProfilePath) {
    $chromeUninstallPath = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Google Chrome*" } |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty UninstallString -First 1

    if ($chromeUninstallPath) {
        Write-Output "Uninstalling Google Chrome from $($userProfilePath)..."
        # Stop any running instances of Chrome to avoid conflicts
        Stop-Process -Name chrome -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

        # Extract just the path to the Chrome uninstaller
        $chromePathOnly = $chromeUninstallPath.Split(' ')[0]

        # Uninstall Google Chrome
        Start-Process -FilePath "$chromePathOnly" -ArgumentList "--uninstall --force-uninstall" -Wait -NoNewWindow

        # Check if the uninstallation was successful
        $chromeUninstallPathAfter = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
            Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Google Chrome*" }

        if ($chromeUninstallPathAfter) {
            Write-Output "Failed to uninstall Google Chrome from $($userProfilePath). Please try again or manually remove it."
        } else {
            Write-Output "Google Chrome successfully uninstalled from $($userProfilePath)."
        }
    } else {
        Write-Output "Google Chrome is not installed in $($userProfilePath)."
    }
}

 

# Function to uninstall Mozilla Firefox from a specific user profile
function UninstallFirefoxFromUserProfile($userProfilePath) {
    $firefoxUninstallPath = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Mozilla Firefox*" } |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty UninstallString -First 1

    if ($firefoxUninstallPath) {
        Write-Output "Uninstalling Mozilla Firefox from $($userProfilePath)..."
        # Stop any running instances of Firefox to avoid conflicts
        Stop-Process -Name firefox -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

        # Uninstall Mozilla Firefox
        Start-Process -FilePath $firefoxUninstallPath -ArgumentList "/S" -Wait -NoNewWindow

        # Check if the uninstallation was successful
        if (Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
            Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Mozilla Firefox*" }) {
            Write-Output "Failed to uninstall Mozilla Firefox from $($userProfilePath). Please try again or manually remove it."
        } else {
            Write-Output "Mozilla Firefox successfully uninstalled from $($userProfilePath)."
        }
    } else {
        Write-Output "Mozilla Firefox is not installed in $($userProfilePath)."
    }
}

 

# Function to uninstall Zoom from a specific user profile
function UninstallZoomFromUserProfile($userProfilePath) {
    $zoomUninstallPath = Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Zoom" } |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty UninstallString -First 1

    if ($zoomUninstallPath) {
        Write-Output "Uninstalling Zoom from $($userProfilePath)..."
        # Stop any running instances of Zoom to avoid conflicts
        Stop-Process -Name Zoom -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

        
        # Extract just the path to the Chrome uninstaller
        $zoomPathOnly = $zoomUninstallPath.Split(' ')[0]

        # Uninstall Zoom
        Start-Process -FilePath "$zoomPathOnly" -ArgumentList "/uninstall /S" -Wait -NoNewWindow
                
        # Check if the uninstallation was successful
        if (Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" |
            Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Zoom" }) {
            Write-Output "Failed to uninstall Zoom from $($userProfilePath). Please try again or manually remove it."
        } else {
            Write-Output "Zoom successfully uninstalled from $($userProfilePath)."
        }
    } else {
        Write-Output "Zoom is not installed in $($userProfilePath)."
    }
}

 

# Get the list of user profiles on the machine
$userProfiles = Get-ChildItem "C:\Users" -Directory

 

# Loop through each user profile and uninstall Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Zoom
foreach ($profile in $userProfiles) {
    UninstallBraveFromUserProfile $profile.FullName
    UninstallChromeFromUserProfile $profile.FullName
    UninstallFirefoxFromUserProfile $profile.FullName
    UninstallZoomFromUserProfile $profile.FullName
}

This is how I deployed via Intune: