Winget update does not uninstall 0.95.0 and can't be manually uninstalled

[MichaMican]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.96.0

Installation method

WinGet

Area(s) with issue?

General, Installer

Steps to reproduce

1. Install PowerToys 0.95.0 via winget
2. run winget update Microsoft.PowerToys
3. see problem:

✔️ Expected Behavior

winget update Microsoft.PowerToys should succeed in updating PowerToys

❌ Actual Behavior

winget update Microsoft.PowerToys completely nukes itself into oblivion. uninstallation of 0.95.0 is not possible due to "installer already existing"

Log

[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i001: Burn ARM64 v5.0.2+aa65968c419420d32e3e1b647aea0082f5ca5b78, Windows v10.0 ARM64 (Build 26200: Service Pack 0), path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{F242221B-EA03-46F9-A6B8-A82A8F63282A}\PowerToysSetup-0.96.0-ARM64.exe
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing formatted variable 'InstallFolder' to value '[ProgramFiles6432Folder]PowerToys'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing string variable 'BundleUpgradeCode' to value '6341382d-c0a9-4238-9188-be9607e3fab2'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing version variable 'MinimumVersion' to value '0.0.0.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing version variable 'TargetPowerToysVersion' to value '0.96.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing version variable 'DetectedPowerToysVersion' to value '0.0.0.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing version variable 'DetectedPowerToysUserVersion' to value '0.0.0.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Initializing version variable 'DetectedWindowsBuildNumber' to value '0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i009: Command Line: '/uninstall'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Setting string variable 'WixBundleLog' to value 'C:\Users\MICHAE~1\AppData\Local\Temp\powertoys-bootstrapper-msi-0.96.0_20251121133218.log'
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: WIXSTDBA: LoadBAFunctions() - BAFunctions DLL C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\{224C2283-C235-4DAA-A2EF-C6E8CC1A756F}\.ba\SilentFilesInUseBAFunction.dll
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: *** CREATEBAFUNCTIONS CALLED *** BA Function DLL is being loaded!
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: *** BA FUNCTION CONSTRUCTOR *** CSilentFilesInUseBAFunctions created
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: *** CREATEBAFUNCTIONS *** Created CSilentFilesInUseBAFunctions object
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: *** CREATEBAFUNCTIONS *** OnCreate completed successfully
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: *** CREATEBAFUNCTIONS SUCCESS *** BA Function system initialized
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:18]i000: Setting version variable 'WixBundleFileVersion' to value '5.0.2.0'
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting numeric variable 'WixStdBALanguageId' to value 1033
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i100: Detect begin, 3 packages
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: *** CUSTOM BA FUNCTION SYSTEM ACTIVE *** Running detect begin BA function. fCached=1, registrationType=2, cPackages=3, fCancel=0
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting version variable 'DetectedPowerToysUserVersion' to value '0.95.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting version variable 'DetectedPowerToysVersion' to value '0.96.0'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting string variable 'DetectedWindowsBuildNumber' to value '26200'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting numeric variable 'HasWebView2PerMachine' to value 1
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Registry key not found. Key = 'Software\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\Clients\{F3017226-FE2A-4295-8BDF-00C3A9A7E4C5}'
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i000: Setting numeric variable 'HasWebView2PerUser' to value 0
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i102: Detected related bundle: {333BB35A-DCFA-4FA0-8505-B690225BBA1B}, type: Upgrade, scope: PerUser, version: 0.95.0, cached: Yes
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i102: Detected related bundle: {333BB35A-DCFA-4FA0-8505-B690225BBA1B}, type: Upgrade, scope: PerUser, version: 0.95.0, cached: Yes
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'HasWebView2PerMachine OR HasWebView2PerUser' evaluates to true.
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i101: Detected package: TerminatePowerToys, state: Absent, cached: No, install registration state: (permanent), cache registration state: (permanent)
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i101: Detected package: WebView2, state: Present, cached: Yes, install registration state: (permanent), cache registration state: (permanent)
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i101: Detected package: PowerToysSetup_0.96.0_ARM64.msi, state: Present, cached: Yes, install registration state: Present, cache registration state: Present
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'MinimumVersion >= DetectedPowerToysUserVersion' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]e000: Error 0x81f40001: PowerToys is already installed on this system for current user. We recommend first uninstalling that version before installing this one.
[561C:1240][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i199: Detect complete, result: 0x0, registration state: Full, cached: Yes, eligible for cleanup: No
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 2' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 3' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 4' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 5' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 6' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 7' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixBundleAction = 8' evaluates to false.
[561C:2E68][2025-11-21T13:32:19]i052: Condition 'WixStdBARestartRequired' evaluates to false.

Additional Information

Windows 11 (ARM) .Net 10 English User(?) admin?: Yes

Other Software

N/A

[github-actions[bot]]

The following issues might be duplicates:

• #43696

AI-generated content by genai-issue-dedup may be incorrect.

[lei9444]

Hi @MichaMican did you use the same Windows user account when installing and upgrading PowerToys?

[MichaMican]

@lei9444 to my knowledge, yes i did

[MichaMican]

is there a way how i can force the uninstallation of winget 0.95? i would really like to update to get the new features. Any ideas @lei9444 ?

[MichaMican]

Even when trying to update through GUI i get an error

[MichaMican]

this is the view in installed apps

[lei9444]

Hi @MichaMican, could you create another account, switch to it, and uninstall the 0.96.1 version, which was installed per-machine? After that, switch back to your current user account, uninstall the 0.95 version, and then install the latest one again.

[lei9444]

We are still trying to figure out why this happens. I checked your logs: the 0.95 version is per-user, and 0.96.1 is machine-level. The installer should check the type and block the installation, but we haven't been able to reproduce the issue.

[MichaMican]

@lei9444 splending! it worked! on that note i did realise something that might help you troubleshoot this: i was updating PowerToys through winget in a shell that likely had elevated permissions - so i assume what happened was:

• user installation was incorrectly detected
• machine installation was performed (because it ran with elevated permissions)
• user uninstallation failed because the uninstaller checks if there are more than one version of powertoys installed - which leads to this deadlock.

thanks a lot for helping with the workarround - hope this will be fixed in the next release