Uninstalling an SSMS Add-in

One thing I forgot to mention in my recent posts on SSMS add-ins was how to uninstall them. Normally this can be done using the standard Windows uninstall methods (Add/Remove Programs, uninstall the MSI, etc) but sometimes during development you may find you're stuck with an unwanted add-in.

The simplest thing to do in this case is what SSMS does itself when an add-in fails to initialise properly: simply remove the registry setting that causes the add-in to be loaded. Delete the key for the add-in, which will be something like this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\AddIns\Namespace.Class

This will guarantee that the add-in is never loaded again, though obviously it doesn't remove the other registry settings or the add-in files themselves.

The other problem it can leave you with is unwanted menu and toolbar items in SSMS. These can be located and removed using a similar technique to that described in section 4 of my post on building an add-in. Deleting a command should remove any menu items connected to the command.