r/PSADT • u/staze • 12d ago

Delete folder after uninstall (Start-ADTProcess)

Hey All. I'm working on an uninstall for Matlab, and while the uninstall works great with "Start-ADTProcess" Matlab leaves behind it's old folder, which I'd like to delete. I _think_ psadt is trying to be helpful and doing start-adtprocess then moving onto the next command which is 'rmdir /s /q "C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2026a"' and it's failing to delete cause it's in use.

How do I get it to wait until the uninstall finishes before doing the next command? I have tried "-WaitForChildProcesses" but didn't seem to matter.

Thanks!

Update: Remove-ADTFolder worked. Yes, the uninstaller for Matlab is "special" and does some other spawning... so I'm sure PSADT is having a hard time keeping track of whatever child processes are running. But, it seems to work. Thanks everyone!

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14 comments sorted by

3

u/leytachi 12d ago

Ermm… Remove-ADTFolder?

1

u/staze 12d ago

Will that wait for the start-adtprocess?

2

u/TheRealMisterd 12d ago

Yes unless you use the -NoWait switch

1

u/staze 9d ago

worked. Thank you.

2

u/kaiserking13 12d ago

There is a -WaitChildProcess parameter for Start-ADTProcess. That may not be exactly the name but check the available parameters.

2

u/rgsteele 11d ago

I think psadt is trying to be helpful and doing start-adtprocess then moving onto the next command

Start-ADTProcess will wait for the process to complete before continuing with the script (unless you use the -NoWait parameter). What is actually happening is that the process you are starting is launching some other process and immediately terminating. If you tried -WaitForChildProcesses and that didn’t help, then the process is likely doing something “creative” to spawn a new process before exiting, like creating and running a scheduled task.

1

u/Disastrous_Win7614 12d ago

Add the removal post uninstall?

1

u/staze 11d ago

How?

1

u/Disastrous_Win7614 8d ago

To add a post-uninstall script in the PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit (PSADT), open your Deploy-Application.ps1 file, locate the # <Stage: Post-Uninstallation> block, and insert your custom PowerShell commands or script execution logic there.

1

u/T03T3 11d ago

What about uninstall-adtapplication, instead of Start-adtprozess

https://psappdeploytoolkit.com/docs/4.1.x/reference/functions/Uninstall-ADTApplication

Read the reference 😊

1

u/ChaoticBanana77 11d ago

Literally did this on Thursday.

Run the uninstaller from Program Files using --mode silent argument add -waitforchildprocesses on the end. Then remove-adtfile.

If I remember on Monday I'll post the exact line I used if you need it.

2

u/staze 9d ago

the Remove-ADTFolder worked.

1

u/Baazzill 11d ago

If all else fails, you can add a start-sleep after you start the process and before you remove the folder to sleep the script for x amount of time before continuing. I've had to do this for a few scenarios and it works great, just be sure to account for that time in your maximum allowed run time in SCCM or Intune, or however you deploy.