Baldur's Gate 2 troubles: uninstalling and reinstalling

[Hairy Ape]

hey all, a little while back i tried to unistall bg2, cause ive only got a 4 gig hard drive. it normally works ok, but this time it said after i click on uninstall files "Error extracting export files, unexpected error". so i thought i could just manually delete everything. so i did. now it wont let me install it again!!!!!
it comes up with the same message during the setup of install wizard. i unistalled other things, and they worked allright, even bg 1 worked. so, i think i might have left some info there, because if i put in the cd, it comes up withe play option and asks me to configure the game since it's my first run.
could anyone please help?

[Hairy Ape]

after looking into the matter, i can install TOB and uninstall it just fine. i looked on cd1 and ran setup from there. the same problem happened, so i don't know if it's scratched or the file is corrupted.
should i borrow my friends copy and install it from his?

[HighLordDave]

You not only have to uninstall the files, but the registry keys as well. I'm not good at navigating and editing the registry, so you might want to check with Bioware to see if they have any answers to similar questions. You could also wait for one of our local tech gurus who knows which keys BG2 uses to show up and get them to tell you how to delete those keys.

[Mr Sleep]

How experienced a computer user are you? Are you at all familiar with registry editing. It would be a good idea to use a program to back up your registry before doing anything too proactive.

Dealing with the registry can be a dangerous process because it can ruin your entire operating system and then it would require a re-install.

Instead of following the instructions below you could instead use Reg Cleaner which is fairly straight forward and created backups of every key you delete from the registry, i recommend this action.

I'll give you a brief demonstration of what one can manually do with the registry, if that is your choice.
-->start
-->run
-->type regedit at the prompt
-->now you get what looks like the explorer window but with references to Local Machine etc
-->on that window should be edit
-->find
-->type in baldurs at the prompt
-->press enter

Now it will search the registry for everything refering to baldurs. You can also search for Black Isle, BG2, BGII and any other permutations you can think of, be careful regarding what is deleted.

[Yshania]

Here is how to manually uninstall http://www.bioware.com/games/shadows_am ... #uninstall pay particular attention to the hidden directory advice (the directory is called "InstallShield Installation Information" in your program files) this is the usual culprit. In there is a sub-directory called "{8DAE4336-2B71-11D4-9A6C-006067325E47}" - you need to delete this sub-directory.

Good luck

[Demis]

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Instead of following the instructions below you could instead use Reg Cleaner which is fairly straight forward and created backups of every key you delete from the registry, i recommend this action.

I too recommend to follow this path, as Mr Sleep said. It easy and safe, i have this program for a long time now and never had problems with the registry, or miss-deleted key-values.

Just ,in the program, go to tools->registry cleanup->do them all and delete the invalid key entries afterwards.

If this doesn't work follow the link Yshania posted and leave manual registry edit as the last resort.

[Hairy Ape]

Thanks

Thanks everyone. What you said didn't work, it still wouldn't work. But because of the help you gave me regarding that file, the one with the number string, i have found a back way into onstalling it, which fixes all the problems.

The problem now is whether i continue through with my second run of Planescape Torment, os start BG2 again. Such is life with only a 4 gig hard drive and a dad who's golf game takes up a gig and a half.

Thanks for your help everyone!