I came across a couple nice article on the BlackBerry Technical Knowledge Center today. I know the question has been asked a few times before, so I figured I would post the details.

How To - Perform a clean uninstall of BlackBerry Desktop Software
How To - Register the atl.dll file

Note: I have combined the two articles into one set of instructions.

How to Perform a Clean Uninstall/Reinstall of BlackBerry Desktop Software

Details

The clean uninstall procedure removes all traces of the BlackBerry Desktop Software. It consists of six tasks.

1. Uninstall the BlackBerry Desktop Software.
2. Delete the Research In Motion® folders from the registry.
3. Delete the Pumatech Shared folders from the registry (if present).
4. Delete the Research In Motion folders from your hard drive.
5. Delete the Pumatech Shared folder from your hard drive (if present).
6. Restart your computer.
7. Register alt.dll (reinstall only).


Task 1 - Uninstall the BlackBerry Desktop Software

To uninstall

1. Close BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
2. Open the Control Panel and double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
3. Select BlackBerry Desktop Software and click Change/Remove.
4. On the InstallShield Wizard window, click the Remove option, followed by Next.
5. On the Confirm Uninstall window, click OK.
6. On the InstallShield Wizard window, click Finish.


Task 2 - Delete the Research In Motion Folders from the Registry

To delete the Research In Motion folders

1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type Regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, delete the Research In Motion folder located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
4. Delete the Research In Motion folder located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\

Note: This key will not be present if you are removing Desktop Manager version 4.0.

5. Leave the Registry Editor open to complete the next task.


Task 3 - Delete the Pumatech Shared Folders from the Registry (If Present)

Pumatech Shared folders only exist in the registry prior to Desktop Manager version 4.0 service pack 1.

To delete the Pumatech Shared folders

1. In Registry Editor, delete the Puma Technology folder located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
2. Delete the Puma Technology folder located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\
3. Close the Registry editor.


Task 4 - Delete the Research In Motion Folders from Your Hard Drive

If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Delete the Research In Motion folder in C:\Program Files\

Note: This key may not be present if you are removing Desktop Manager version 4.0.

3. Delete the Research In Motion folder in C:\Program Files\Common Files (if present).
4. Delete the Research In Motion folder in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\

Note: If you are unable to see the Application Data folder, it might be a hidden system folder. See the Additional Information section for instructions on how to display hidden files and folders.

5. If you were using Desktop Manager version 4.0 service pack 1, delete the BlackBerry Desktop folder in C:\Documents and Settings\<user names>\Application Data\.

If you are using Windows 98 or Windows ME

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Delete the Research In Motion folder in C:\Program Files\
3. Delete the Research In Motion folder in C:\Windows\Application Data\


Task 5 - Delete the Pumatech Shared Folder from Your Hard Drive (If Present)

The Pumatech Shared folder exists prior to Desktop Manager version 4.0 service pack 1.

To delete the Pumatech Shared folder from your hard drive, open Windows Explorer and delete the Pumatech Shared folder in C:\Program Files\Common Files\

If you were using Desktop Manager 4.0.1, remove Pumatech software from your hard drive by opening Windows Explorer and navigating to C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\Pumatech Desktop Setup

Note: Any synchronization software for other personal digital assistants (PDAs) that use the Pumatech Shared folder must be reinstalled after the BlackBerry Desktop Software is uninstalled.

If you are unable to delete the Pumatech Shared folder, rename it by completing the following steps:

1. Right-click the Pumatech Shared folder and select Rename.
2. Rename the folder (for example, Pumatech Shared_old).
3. Press Enter.


Task 6 - Restart the Computer

The desktop software should now be fully uninstalled. Restart the computer to make sure that all background processes are cleared from system memory.


Task 7 - Register alt.dll (reinstall only)

Before you re-install the desktop software, register the atl.dll file.

To register the atl.dll file, complete the procedure that corresponds with the Microsoft® Windows® operating system you have installed on your personal computer.


For Windows 98, ME, or Windows NT® 4.0

1. Open a command prompt. For example, click Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.
2. Depending on your operating system, type one the following at the command prompt and press ENTER:
* For Windows NT 4.0, type cd c:\winnt\system32
* For Windows 98 and ME, type cd c:\windows\system
3. Type regsvr32 atl.dll and press ENTER. A message indicates that the registration was successful.
4. Type exit and press ENTER.
5. Restart the computer.


For Windows 2000 or XP

1. Click Start > Run.
2. In the Run window, type regsvr32 atl.dll and click OK. A message indicates that the registration was successful.
3. Restart the computer.

Informative post. In case no one else says it, thanks.

Thanks Doug!

I am waiting to get home and try it to see if it resolves the tethering issues that propped once I Installed 4.1 OS. I will post the results. And Doug, thanks.

EDIT-

Did the clean unistall and reinstall following every step outlined here. Unfortunately it did not resolve either of the two issues I have had since installing OS 4.1. I am not upset though in due time that will work, maybe when Verizon itself releases 4.1. he two issues are not important or critical to me, one is the tethering to me that is only a last results option, and the wireless synching is no big deal I constantly synch now with the usb cable.

One word of caution when i did this the loading history disappeared so the first time I ran the application loader it told me it was going to remove a whole bunch of applications it obviously did not find on the list. Without panicking i wrote all of them down, went back added each to the list by choosing add and directing the browser to the appropriate holding place for each app did next and now it reported there was nothing to change, so I finished and am back to where I started from. Worth the experience if nothing else since the very first ime i did this about 8 months ago i did not know how to get the apps back and I do now.

dbclean also removes the pumatech files. Great how to though!

Help! I did the above and am still having the problem.

I have the 8703e. I downloaded the software and it worked fine. I went to string that told how to download bbweather, bbtoay, berry411. It didn't go to the bb folder to go to the application loader. I tried to drag and drop it there. It didn't work. I gave up.

The next time I tried to sync by BB with the Computer, I got the following message: research in motion\blackberry\desktopmgr.exe abnormal program termination. It goes through most of the processes fine, but this happens when it's almost done "reading from ms outlook calendar".

I performed the above tasks, as well as deleting the bbweather, bbtoay, berry411 files from my computer, and I am still coming up with the errors. Can somebody please help?? TIA

Thanks for all this useful info. just about to try it now.

Very informative.... but is there a way to "format" a blackberry (The device itself, not the desktop software)? i.e. restore it to the way it was right out of the box?

I upgraded 4.2 to 4.2.1 (4.2 SP1) and it kept crashing each time I opened it. I used the advice above to do a clean remove/reinstall.

It still crashes when I open it but not every time. I wonder how stable this SP1 is.

Bob

Great thread fisher.

Wanted to start off fresh before installing the new OS. This helped a lot!

Thanks.

have had some issues withe the software and sync. So hope to remove and reinstall will resolve.

I've posted elswhere, but I cannot load the DM software on my vista pc - it gets right to the very, very end, than comes up with an error 1935, followed by a load of numbers. I run as administrator, all virus software switched off, using 4.2.sp2 drivers.

I wondered what the regsvr32 atl.dll is all about? is that something I need to do first?

Please help anybody - I'm desperate - I'm starting a new business and this software is critical to me...

rhaley,

DM 4.3 is out and official supports Vista.
But have not tested yet.
Good luck !!

Karsten

I am receiving the same error as Rhaley using either version 4.3 or 4.2*. Any other solutions? I would like to have the desktop software working...

I'm getting requests from Windows Installer to load the CD with "Roxio Media Manager.msi" everytime I startup my machine. I tried to delete the BB Desktop Mgr in Ctl Panel-->Add/Remove Programs since I think this is where I got Roxio from. The Uninstall seems to progress normally but when it finishes and I reboot the system, the BB Desktop Mgr is still there and still shows up in Add/Remove programs. All the directories are still there and I can still run the program. However, when I try to run Media Manager I get two error notices.

Next I tried to remove just the Media Manager using the Uninstall program. This, again, seems to have run normally but now, when I run BB Desktop Manager, nothing comes up. I get the BLUE window with "Options" and "Help" on the left side but the right side pane is empty except for the background.

How can I get rid of this install so that I can re-install?

thanks

thx did it and installed the new desktop 4.5, workin good so far