Deleting Devices
To delete a device from PDQ Connect, navigate to that device's Device Info page, click the vertical ellipses button in the top right, and select Delete device.
Devices that are online at the time they are deleted from PDQ Connect will be sent a self-destruct command to uninstall the PDQ Connect Agent and remove the associated data from the deleted computer. If a device is offline at the time it is removed from Connect, the agent and associated data will be deleted the next time that machine comes online.
If the PDQ Connect Agent is not removed automatically after deleting a device from PDQ Connect, the PDQ Connect Agent and the associated data will need to be manually removed from the device.
Manually Uninstalling
Occasionally, the PDQ Connect Agent may need to be manually uninstalled. Most often because the device was offline at the time it was deleted from PDQ Connect and was unable to receive the self destruct command that automatically triggers an uninstall.
Uninstalling From the Control Panel
On the computer you wish to remove the PDQ Connect Agent from, open the Control Panel > Programs & Features > select the PDQ Connect Agent > Uninstall.
Uninstalling Using PowerShell
Copy the script below into PowerShell ISE, save it as a .ps1 file, and run the script as an administrator on the machine you wish to uninstall the PDQ Connect Agent from.
$PDQConnectAgent = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "PDQConnectAgent"}
$PDQConnectAgent.Uninstall()This script can also be pasted into a PDQ Deploy Package, using a PowerShell Step
Uninstalling Using PDQ Deploy
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Removing Lingering Data
When the PDQ Connect Agent is uninstalled using any of the above methods, the uninstaller will delete the directories that may contain any lingering data. In some rare cases, this data may remain on the device, and can be manually removed.
The directories that will be removed while uninstalling the PDQ Connect Agent are:
C:\ProgramData\PDQ\PDQConnectAgent
C:\Program Files\PDQ\PDQConnectAgent
If these directories are present after uninstalling the PDQ Connect Agent, they can be safely deleted.
Manually uninstalling the PDQ Connect Agent, without first deleting the device from PDQ Connect, will not delete the device from PDQ Connect and it will simply appear Offline. The device will still need to be deleted in the PDQ Connect Admin Web Console.
PDQ Connect Agent Uninstaller
The PDQ Connect Agent Uninstaller is a troubleshooting tool designed to completely remove the PDQ Connect agent and its component applications. It can be downloaded from the link below:
Overview
The agent uninstaller will attempt to remove the following programs if they are installed on the machine:
- PDQ Connect Agent
- PDQ Connect Updater
- PDQ Remote Desktop Agent
- PDQ Remote Desktop Viewer
After the PDQ applications listed above have been uninstalled, the uninstaller will remove any leftover components that may still exist on the machine, including files, directories, and registry keys that were previously used by the agent. If remnants from a previous installation are preventing the agent from being reinstalled, the cleanup operation should allow the next attempt to succeed.
Similar to a manual uninstall, using the uninstall utility to remove the agent will not delete the device from app.pdq.com. To prevent leaving a stale device, you should manually delete it from the application.
Running the tool
The Agent Uninstaller can be run directly in Windows or via command line. If you are logged into the machine that you wish to run the tool on, simply double-click on PDQConnectAgentUninstaller.exe to launch the console application. Pressing any key other than Esc will begin the process of uninstalling the agent applications. Pressing Esc will abort the program.
Any applications, files and registry entry's that were removed by the uninstaller will be recorded in the console output. This information will also be saved to a log file located at C:\Windows\TEMP\PDQConnectAgentUninstall.log if you wish to review it later.
Deploying the Tool Silently
In addition to running the tool manually, the uninstaller may be run in unattended mode by appending the /s parameter when running in command line. For example:
When running in silent mode, the utility will skip the prompt to continue and automatically close after the process has completed. It will not prompt the user to open the log file when finished, but it will still create one in the C:\Windows\TEMP\ directory.
The primary benefit to using unattended mode is that it provides a way to remotely uninstall the agent using a deployment tool like PDQ Deploy. To do this, copy the uninstaller to your PDQ Deploy Repository, then create an Install step with PDQConnectAgentUninstaller.exe as the Install File. Make sure to include /s in the parameters field.
When the package is run, the agent removal will happen in the background to avoid disrupting the user.
