HP Smart App Uninstall

[WouterSit]

Thanks for the effort Ray, support tried to contact me, tried calling me 2 times, ringed the phone 2 or 3 times then hang up. Closed the ticket with the comment that they could not reach me. Really not the way to handle a call in my opnion, really unprofessional. You have to give the customer at least the possibility to answer the phone.

[Raj1788]

@WouterSit

Thanks for the reply,

I have sent you a private message, for more details that cannot be shared in a public post.

Can you please check your inbox on the forums page for the private message.

Have a great day!

[HeapStack]

Same problem - I've got a managed network environment with Windows Store blocked by GPO and removed from the deployed Windows build.  The HP Smart attempts to install itself on every login but gets stuck with the progress bar empty because, I presume, it can't access the Windows Store.  Where is the HP Smart app installer/deployment package cached?  I wish to remove it.

[WouterSit]

As HP could not deliver a solution for this issue I am waiting for MS to maybe explain how to remove this. If in the meantime you would find something would be good to know how you fixed it. 🙂

[HeapStack · Accepted solution]

I figured it out.

You need to:

1. "uninstall" the app from the Start Menu

2. stop wuauserv

3. clear the contents of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

4. delete any file* with 9WZDNCRFHWLH in the title

*I found them in the following folders, but YMMV:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp

C:\WINDOWS\Temp

C:\WINDOWS\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\InstallAgent\Checkpoints

Preventing the app from attempting to install itself in the first place can be controlled by setting you device installation settings (Do you want to automatically download manufacturers' apps and custom icons available for your devices?) to No.  This can be accomplished manually, through the registry, or through policy.

Good luck!

[ShlomiL]

Please also ensure that auto app updates are disabled:

From the MS Store click the top-right 3 dots and select Settings, there disable the Update Apps Automatically option.

Also from Control Panel \ Network and Internet \ Network and Sharing Center \ Advanced sharing settings ensure the "Turn on automatic setup of network connected device" option is not checked and see if that may help to disable the auto HP Smart Setup by Windows 10.

Shlomi

[WouterSit]

Awsome Heapstack. Located the file in windows\temp.

Was expecting it on other locations but after removing it the application no longer appeared for installation.

Thanks for the advice.

[CityHall358]

One thing you'll want to also look to prevent the HP Smart App from installing is going onto the Printer's Web UI and turning off Microsoft Web Services. We are evaluating three new printer models and ran into the app installing despite having access to the Windows store turned off. Once we turned off both WS-Discovery and WSD Print services, we found that the app no longer automatically installs.