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Accepted
SamErde
Asked: 2010-09-02 14:11:56 +0800 CST

How to uninstall DLL from assembly folder? Permission denied when uninstalling DLL from GAC

  • 772

I am trying to uninstall a DLL from the C:\Windows\Assembly "folder" on Windows Server 2008, but am getting a "permission denied" error. How do I go about removing a DLL without uninstalling the entire application?

An application vendor has sent me new DLL's, with no instructions on how to remove the old version or add these new ones. Google hasn't been as helpful as usual, either...

windows windows-server-2008 asp.net dll

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    This didn't work before, but thankfully did on my last attempt. Go figure...

    I found gacutil.exe on the server and ran gacutil -u dllName.DLL Installing the new DLL was simply gacutil -i "PathAndFilenameOfNewDLL"

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zykhfde0%28VS.80%29.aspx

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  2. I know I'm late to the party, but here is another solution using Powershell if you do not have gacutil.exe present. Gacutil is a development tool and normally isn't present on production systems.

    Fire up PowerShell using an elevated prompt by right-clicking on it and selecting "Run As Administrator." Then type or copy/paste the following:

    $pathToFile = 'PathAndFilename.dll'
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::Load("System.EnterpriseServices, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a")
$publish = New-Object System.EnterpriseServices.Internal.Publish
$publish.GacRemove($pathToFile)

    If you want to install a copy to the GAC, change the last line to this:

    $publish.GacInstall($pathToFile)
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  3. Put gacutil /u in a cmd file and run by right clicking and selecting Run As Administrator. This worked where everything else suggested failed.

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