I’ve been running Beta 029 on my XP machine and now want to install the new beta 035. The post from Lee says I must completely uninstall the previous version first, but I’m not sure I’ve done that properly.
I ran the uninstall.exe program in the scrivener folder. That removed most of the program but left four subfolders in the Scrivener folder: backups, docformats, resources, Tutorial.scriv. Also the backups subfolder seems to have another complete copy of the Scrivner program.
Also I had a message that the registry key for Scrivener could not be removed.
The Add/Remove Programs function in Control Panel doesn’t list Scrivener at all.
My project folder, and multiple backups of it, are all safe.
Should I just delete the Scrivener folder and all its contents? And must I find and delete that registry key before installing the new version?
If you want to delete the registry keys, it is safe to do so of course. You’ll just lose some settings. Likewise, you can clear out the Scrivener directory in the hidden AppData folder. I believe those, along with the Program Files directory are the three things you need to clear to do a completely clean uninstall. Whether or not that is necessary—I don’t think it is being recommended this time around. I think just running the uninstaller is good enough, even if it leaves some stuff behind.
I did a full wipe myself this time, but that is because I’ve been running straight upgrades—no uninstalls—for several releases now, making sure that a nasty set of bugs related to that had been squashed.
Out of curiosity, did you run the uninstaller as a standard user or as an administrator? A non-admin uninstall won’t clear as much as an admin has rights to do if you installed as admin (regardless of the installation location). In any case, delete the Scrivener directory that got left–I’m assuming you’re talking about the one directly in Program Files or wherever you installed to. Stuff in your user’s AppData directory you can leave–that doesn’t get removed with an uninstall since it’s mostly files you create (saved templates, saved compile presets, etc.) rather than something the program automatically does.
Yes I uninstalled as a limited user and I THINK I installed originally with admin privileges. So that explains it. And yes, I was talking about the Scrivener directory in Program Files. So I will delete that with its remnants, and proceed–and try to keep better records of how I install things.