Hi Guys, Basically I am writing a vb.net program that finds all installed programs on a PC, exactly like Add/Remove Programs does.So I thought allI would need to do is loop through the keys in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and that would be it... unfortunately not, that only gets about half of the programs installed on my PC.From using Process Monitor to watch which registry keys Add/Remove Programs accesses, I have found that I need to look at several other keys as well.... and after playing around with this for a whileI have got it to work pretty much exactly like Add/Remove Programs but it still has the odd problem where it will get say 1 more program than Add/Remove Programs does. On my Windows 7 PC my code always picks up Microsoft Choice Guard as a program, where as Add/Remove Programs does not show it. On my Windows XP test machine it picks up just one random Windows Update, which obviously Add/Remove Programs does not show unless you have the Show Updates thing ticked. I have got my code to check the ReleaseType value in each key to see if it is "Hotfix", "Update Rollup", "Service Pack" etc but the window update my program is showing does not have the ReleaseType value at all anyway :( So basically, I'm just wondering if there is anyone out there with a good understanding of how add/remove programs does its thing that might be able to help me out a bit? If you want to see my VB.NET code then let me know but here is the basic logic of my program: 1. Loop through all subkeys in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall 2. For each subkey, do the following: --Check to see if the SystemComponent value exists and is set to1 - if it is then move on to the next subkey --Check to see if the WindowsInstaller value exists and is set to 1 - if it is then move on to next subkey --Check to see if the UninstallString value exists - if it does not then move on to next subkey --Check the ReleaseType value, if it is hotix or service pack etc then move on to next subkey --Check the ParentKeyName value, if it exists then move on to next subkey --Check to see if the DisplayName value exists - if it does then add this name to our list of installed programs 3. Repeat this same process for all subkeys in HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall if it exists. 4. Loop through all users in HKEY_USERS and for each one, loop through the subkeys in HKU\USER-SID-HERE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and do the exact same thing described in step 2 5. Whilst looping through all users in HKEY_USERS, also check HKU\USER-SID-HERE\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products and for each subkey in there do the following: --Check to see if a subkey with the same GUID nameexists in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\USER-SID-HERE\Products - if it does then check to see if the SystemComponent value in the InstallPropertiessubkeyis set to 1 - if it is then move on to the next subkey --Read the ProductName value and add it to our list of installed programs 6. Loop through all subkeys in HKLM\Software\Classes\Installer\Products and for each one do the following: --Check to see if a subkey with the same GUID name exists in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products - if it doesnt then move on to the next subkey --Check the SystemComponent value is not set to 1 - if it is set to 1 then move on to next subkey --Check the WindowsInstaller value exists and is set to 1 - if it is not then move to next subkey --Read the ProductName value and add it to our list of installed programs Anyone see anything I am missing or doing wrong? Like I said, this works fairly well but just seems to show one or two programs that Add/Remove Programs does not for some reason... One thing I am alsoparticularly struggling with ishow Windows determines whether an installed program is an update or not. If it has the ReleaseType value or ParentKeyName set then its easy to tell but if not then I dont understand how it knows its not just another normal program.. Thanks! Chris

Try opening regedit.exe and searching for some of the missing programs using part or all of the product name. This might help you find where the missing programs are registered.

Thanks but I've been doing that and have also been creatingkeys and values to see when they appear in Add/Remove Programs but am not getting anywhere really. The problem is not that some are not appearing in my program - it is that some DO appear in my program that do not appear in Windows. The primary example at the moment on my PC is this Microsoft Choice Guard program (apparently part of Windows Live), I've searched for it's name and GUID in the registry and the keys that it shows me look identical to other valid programs that do show up in Add/Remove Programs (and in my program). Its odd because when I use Process Monitor to watch what Windows does when it populates its list of programs, I can see it enumerate the key for Choice Guard but then it goes no further than that, it doesnt attempt to read any of the subkeys within there like it does for other programs...Oh and also for anyone who is interested, I found an answer to this part of my question:One thing I am alsoparticularly struggling with ishow Windows determines whether an installed program is an update or not. If it has the ReleaseType value or ParentKeyName set then its easy to tell but if not then I dont understand how it knows its not just another normal program..Through a bit of trial and error I found thatif a key doesnt have the ReleaseType or ParentKeyName value then Windows just checks to see if the key name begins with KB and is followed by 6 numbers - if it does then it does not include it in Add/Remove Programs as it assumes it is a Windows Update. So if I create a subkey under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and name it MyProgram then it will show up in Add/Remove Programs, but if I rename the key to say KB222111 then it will no longer show up! So at least that is one problem fixed :)