Uninstalling ActivClient

Prerequisites: Ensure all smart cards are removed from your smart card readers before starting the uninstallation process.
Note: Starting from ActivClient 9.x, a manual reboot is recommended. No reboot prompt will be displayed to the user.
Note: Uninstalling ActivClient does not remove its log files from the hard drive. If necessary, delete them manually from the C:\Program Files\Common Files\HID Global\Logs directory.

Uninstallation Methods

To uninstall HID ActivClient using the installation wizard:

  1. Run the HID ActivClient installer.

  2. When the ActivClient Setup Wizard opens, click Next.

    The ActivClient Setup Wizard

  3. Click the Remove button, then click Next.

    The ActivClient Setup Wizard with the Remove button

  4. In the Remove ActivClient dialog, click Remove to confirm.

    The ActivClient Setup Wizard with the Remove button to confirm uninstallation

  5. When prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes.

  6. Click Finish to close the dialog box.

To uninstall HID ActivClient on Windows 11:

  1. Use any of these ways to open Installed apps:

    • Right-click the Start button and select Installed apps.

    • Click the Start button and begin typing "ActivClient". When ActivClient Console or ActivClient Agent appears under Best match, right-click it and select Uninstall, or click Uninstall in the right-hand pane.

      Windows Start menu with the two Uninstall options for ActivClient

  2. In the list of installed applications, locate ActivClient.

  3. Click the More options (Three horizontal dots icon) button next to ActivClient and select Uninstall.

  4. Click Uninstall again to confirm.

To uninstall HID ActivClient on Windows 10:

  1. Right-click the Start button and select Apps and Features.

  2. Find and select HID ActivClient in the list.

  3. Click Uninstall.

To uninstall HID ActivClient:

  1. Click the Start button.

  2. Type "Control Panel" and open it.

  3. Select Programs and Features. (If you don’t see the Programs and Features settings, change View by to “Small icons”).

  4. Select HID ActivClient from the list.

  5. Click Uninstall.

Note: This method is noted as likely to become obsolete in future Windows versions.

To uninstall HID ActivClient, use this command:

Copy 
msiexec /x "<path>\<ActivClient_setup>"
Note:
  • <path> refers to the ActivClient setup MSI file path.

  • <ActivClient_setup> refers to the ActivClient setup MSI file name.

    ExampleClosedFor version 9.8.0, the setup file name is ActivClient-9.8.0.msi.

  • Quotation marks in the command are required if the path or file name contains spaces. They are optional otherwise but recommended for consistency.

You can uninstall HID ActivClient either locally or remotely from a group of computers with the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) using the following command:

Copy 
msiexec /x "<ProductCode>"

To find the Product Code, run the following PowerShell command:

Copy 
# Find the Product Code
Get-Package *activclient* | select -ExpandProperty fastpackagereference
Note: For more information about SCCM, see the Microsoft documentation.

You can automate the uninstallation of HID ActivClient using a PowerShell script. This script will locate the Product Code and uninstall the corresponding version of HID ActivClient:

Copy 
# Find the Product Code
$ProductCode = Get-Package *activclient* | select -ExpandProperty fastpackagereference

# Uninstall Application
msiexec /x $ProductCode

Uninstalling Selected Components

If you only need to remove specific HID ActivClient components, you can modify an existing installation.

Restoring Microsoft Settings

During ActivClient installation, ActivClient configures some Microsoft Windows policies to provide a full smart card experience (see Microsoft Policies Relevant to ActivClient).

During ActivClient uninstallation, these Microsoft policies are not updated. You can leave them as is as they have no impact if you do not use smart cards anymore, or they can also be relevant to other smart card deployments. Alternatively, you might want to disable these policies.

  1. Launch the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

  2. Reset the following settings to desired values:

  3. To propagate and apply the policy changes, run the gpupdate /force command on each domain client machine.