I ran Fix-it. It said it fixed the uninstallation issues with these steps:
" Looks for problems that can stop you installing and uninstalling a
program
Registry Backup
This XML document contains the registry backup for the product
removed.
File Name:registryBackupTemplate.xml
Recovery File
This document contains the File and Registry recovery script: File Name:RestoreYourFilesAndRegistry.ps1
"
After running Fix-it, I had to delete the C:\Autodesk and C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk folders, since that is what Autodesk's instructions say to do. Fix-it deleted the Autodesk entry, but not the Alias and Alias/Wavefront entries (which were not under Autodesk's entry as one might assume), so I deleted those entries too. I deleted all of the files in %TEMP% that were not in use by other applications. Restarted the computer.
I ran 2012 x64 SP2, without anything else installed, and let it install to the default location: C:\Autodesk\Maya_2012_EJ_Win_64-bit. I choose > Install on this computer. I used the serial key from the student edition that won't expire until April 2014. The next menu allowed me to pick the different software products and peripherals to install, instead of the previous issue of saying they were already installed. I picked Maya, DMM, PhysX, and Composite only.
Maya will still not launch to the UI, and encounters the following errors displayed in the command window instead of loading to the UI.
// Error: Invalid flag '-nbg' //
// Error: No supported Cg profiles were found. CgFx plugin will not be loaded. //
// Error: initializePlugin function failed (cgfxShader) //
These might be errors that could be addressed in another forum if the program is just loading as a command line interface. The command window displays that it is attempting to autosave every three minutes, which is a setting I'd had prior to uninstalling it the first time, so I'm also wondering how it saved the path to the old maya documents folder to access the prefs folder since everything else Maya-related was deleted. I then deleted the old maya prefs folder, and restarted the program. It then had a different set of errors, but continued to load as a command window only:
// Error: Invalid flag '-nbg' //
// mental ray for Maya 2012
// mental ray for Maya: setup
// mental ray for Maya: initialize
// mental ray for Maya: using 1 license
// mental ray for Maya: register extensions
// mental ray Node Factory: loaded
// mental ray for Maya: successfully registered
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/AdskShaderSDKWrappers.mi
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/architectural.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/architectural.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/base.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/base.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/contour.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/contour.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/paint.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/paint.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/physics.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/physics.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/production.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/production.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/subsurface.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/subsurface.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/surfaceSampler.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/surfaceSampler.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/include/userdata.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2012/mentalray/lib/userdata.dll
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_bool" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_int" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_scalar" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_vector" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_color" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_string" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_texture" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_shader" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_bool_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_int_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_scalar_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_vector_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_color_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_string_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_texture_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_shader_array" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_bool" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_int" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_scalar" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_vector" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_color" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_string" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_texture" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader_bool" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader_int" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader_scalar" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader_vector" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Nodes) : Node "mib_data_get_shader_color" has no ID, assigning a temporary ID. Scene should be saved as .ma (ASCII). //
// generating Maya nodes...
// Error: manipMoveContext: Object 'Move' not found. //
// Error: Plug-in, "compositingInterop.mll", was not found on MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH. //
// Error: Object 'AEtabLayout' not found. //
updateRendererUI;
// Error: menu: Object 'mainRenderMenu' not found. //
updateRendererUI;
