Oblivion GOTY says it requires a CD to uninstall the game, how can I uninstall without it

the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion

I have The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Edition installed on my machine (Windows 10). I am wanting to remove it since I no longer play it, but when I try to run the uninstaller, I get the following error:

Uninstaller message

This happens whether I use the uninstaller in the Oblivion folder, or if I go to the "Apps & Features" section of Windows 10 settings to uninstall a program.

Unfortunately, I have lost the CD, and it seems kind of ridiculous to have to find it just so I can remove the game from my computer. Is there an alternative way to uninstall Oblivion without the disc?

Best Answer

If you want to uninstall it I think you'll have to do it manually. Hurray for DRM!

In order to do this you'll have to do delete files from three locations; the install path, the game data path and the registry.

Before you begin I suggest taking a backup of at least the registry since messing around with that can cause problems especially if you don't know what you are doing.

The Install path

This is where you installed the game to in the first place. Generally it will be C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\. Delete the Oblivion folder. If you chose a custom location you'll have to find it. You can easily find it by right clicking the shortcut on the desktop or from wherever you launch the game, and select open file location.

The Game Data

This is where the game automatically saves your save files and other things such as user preferences. If you wish to delete these go to C:\Users\[insert PC name here]\My Documents\My Games\ and delete the Oblivion folder. If you think you may play the game later on you may want to leave this folder alone and it will be available the next time you install the game.

The Registry

The registry entries won't take up much space so you may wish to just leave it but if you wish you could try either doing it manually or using some tool. To do it manually: open up the registry by pushing winkey + r and typing regedit, hit enter and the Registry Editor should open up.

Just search through the registry using the Edit > Find option for keywords such as Oblivion and then delete all entries.

A tool such as CCleaner searches through the registry and deletes unused registry keys. The Oblivion entries should be unused at this stage and thus be deleted when you run CCleaner.

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