Knowledgebase

Symptoms

A computer has multiple versions of PDF XChange products installed, installing the latest version does not update old versions but leaves multiple versions installed when only the latest version is wanted.

Cause

In the past, major versions of PDF XChange products had been designed to be installed in parallel. Only minor version upgrades replace existing installations.

Resolution

Clean up the Target machine by uninstalling instances of PDF XChange older than a specific version.

The following wmic commands can be run using PowerShell as Administrator locally or pushed to multiple machines through a Group Policy script.  wmic commands only work with msi installed products.

The target machine in this example has had over time multiple versions of PDF XChange installed.

Query the currently installed software:

wmic product where "Name like '%PDF-XChange%'" list brief

returns:

Remove a specific product:

Running the following command then removes the Viewer only:             
wmic product where "Name like '%PDF-XChange Viewer%'" call uninstall

Querying for all PDF XChange Software now returns:

Remove all PDF XChange products where the major version number is a specific value:

Running the following command removes all PDF XChange products older than major version 10.0: 
wmic product where "Name like '%PDF-XChange%' and Version like '9.%'" call uninstall

Querying for all PDF XChange Software now returns:

Caveat.

Now comes the catch.  The Editor and Standard Drivers here were installed discretely, each with their own installer and ALSO with the Pro Bundle installer.  The Pro Bundle installer includes the Editor and Standard Driver, however, these were now installed twice, once each using their own installer and again as a part of the Pro Bundle.  The impact of this is that these two programs get listed as separate products in Windows Programs and Features even though there is only a single instance actually installed.
This is unfortunately an unavoidable consequence of installing Pro Bundle components discretely as well as with the Pro Bundle installer and is to be avoided in a managed environment.
In summary, one can uninstall all instances of PDF XChange Software prior to a specific version as long as the original installations are not overlapping (componants installed both as part of the Pro Bundle and their own installers).