Using REGSEEKER I have performed the following Registry enter REMOVALS:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Autodesk
acad
acad.exe
acadm
acadm.exe
autocad
autodesk
autocad inventor suite 2010
autocad mechanical 2010
drafting
inventor
mechanical
Also, I have removed all Registry entries pertaining to adsk and FLEX...licensing entries.
In total, I have removed some 1,600 registry entries directly relating to Autodesk/Autocad in general, and Autocad Mechanical 2010 specifically. And still the installation DVD for AutoCAD Inventor Suite 2010 thinks that AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 is already installed on this machine.
There are no directories, not in Program Files, not in Application Settings, not in Local Settings, not on the main C:\ drive - nowhere...there are no files or directories that contain any AutoCAD or other Autodesk files...at least none that are clearly marked as such. There are no .dll files anywhere that have even a remote relevance or relation to any autocad, acad, acadm, etc... to all visible and recognizable extents, Everything "Autodesk" has been wiped from my machine. Yet...the install wizard insists that "There is a newer version or AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 already installed".
Here is what gets my goat... according to Autodesk OWN WEB SITE....deleting these two registry entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Autodesk
supposedly remove all traces of anything Autodesk from your machine. I can assure you - 100% accurately - that is a falsehood. I do not want to come right out and say "lie" but it is DEFINITELY not a true statement.
Last year, on a different machine, I experienced an identical problem with AutoCAD Electrical 2013. After a power outage, wherein my machine shut down (my employer does not believe in UPS backup apparently), when I rebooted and attempted to continue working on my drawing, AutoCAD Electrical 2013 would not open - it gave me a 2 minute long process of "cannot find .dll file..." and it refused to open. All efforts to uninstall via Control Panel resulted in a variety of .dll error messages as well, so I could not uninstall. So I opened a Tech Support ticket. Over a period of 4 days, the Tech agent instructed me to perform a variety of "jumping through the flaming hoops" procedures...ultimately ending with being told to
outright DELETE all folders..from program files, from Local Settings, from Application Data...on & on...I was instructed to outright delete all those folders - ALL reference to Autodesk (sounding familiar yet?). He then instructed me to remove (those identical) registry keys referenced above. Nothing solved the problem! Finally, while I was awaiting the next Tech Support email with further instructions, I used a [different] third party registry editing application and performed exactly the routine I just performed today..with the same result, which is to say, with zero result. A couple of hours later, the "latest" tech support email arrived and I was instructed to...are you ready for this?...I was instructed to install a third party Registry Editor and... You see where this is going?
Finally - and THIS is the moral to the story...the point I "accused" as being a falsehood.... Finally, after a total of 6 work days (wherein I got NO real work done) the fellow from Tech Support contacted me via telephone. Once the agent called, it was decided that he would take remote possession of my machine. As I watched him cleaning entries from the Registry - the entries he was deleting were nothing in anyway that the 'lay person' would ever have looked at and associated with Autodesk, or any sort of AutoCAD application...they could just have easily been entries related to cereal or pet supplies as to anything as technical as Autodesk.
So along with the almost 2,000 registry entries I have removed, I can absolutely guarantee you that there are at least several hundred other entries that Autodesk never tells you about - and have no kind of nomenclature that the layperson would even have a chance of 'taking a wild guess' about. Autodesk applications take possession of your machine at even deeper levels than Microsoft, and THIS problem is the end result.
By the way - Tech Support is scheduled to call at 10:30 this morning - about 15 minutes from now. And I'm reasonable certain that he will take remote possession of my machine to resolve this matter.
Regards
KBS