Summary
After you uninstall Express Software Manager, you may need to manually remove certain parts of the application that are not removed by the uninstall process. This technical note discusses how to remove any remaining files and settings.

If you used the Express Administrative Console to install Express Clients and have uninstalled that component without removing all previously installed clients, you will need to remove them manually. See Technical Note 2021 for information on manually uninstalling the Express Client. The uninstall process removes Express Software Manager components which communicate with the Express Database, but does not actually delete the Express Database from the SQL Server on which it was installed. (This is done intentionally so that components can be moved without risking loss of Express data.)

Important Note: It is recommended you back up your Express Database prior to completely removing it. If you are using SQL Management Studio, you can do this within studio by right-clicking the database and selecting Tasks/Back Up... For information about backing up using the OSQL command line tool, see Technical Note 1596.

To completely remove the Express Database and the Express user login:

1. Make sure no processes are currently using the Express Database, that is, all Express Software Manager server components are removed and no other SQL applications (such as SQL Management Studio) are connected to your Express Database.
2. To remove the Express Database, issue the following command:
   DROP DATABASE ExpressDB
   (Note: do not use quotes for this command.)
3. To remove the Express user login, issue the following command:
   EXEC sp_droplogin 'Express'
   where 'Express' (single quotes required) is the name of the Express account created when Express Software Manager was installed.

There may be Express Software Manager entries left in the Windows registry after uninstalling the product. While these are completely benign, you can remove them by deleting the following registry key: Note that if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, the key is: Certain files are created during Express Software Manager execution which may not be able to be removed when the product is uninstalled. By default, Express Software Manager installs into two folders which can each be deleted.

• For 32-bit versions of Windows:
  C:\Program Files\Express Metrix
  C:\inetpub\wwwroot\esmweb
• For 64-bit versions of Windows:
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Express Metrix
  C:\inetpub\wwwroot\esmweb

Note: If you changed any locations during the original installation process, you will need to remove those folders instead. If you installed Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition as a part of your Express Software Manager installation, you can remove it through the normal Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features on Windows Vista and above) Windows Control Panel mechanism. SQL Server installs several components separately which will all need to be removed to uninstall SQL Server completely.