Removing Skype for Business using the Office tool

His Boy Elroy 26 Reputation points
2021-02-09T23:34:33.21+00:00

Our environment consists of Windows 10 1909 Enterprise workstations running Office 365. We are transitioning to Teams and I am trying to uninstall Skype for Business. Eventually I will deploy a script using SCCM for the removal but right now I am testing.

According to this site my product ID is SkypeforBusinessRetail:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/troubleshoot/installation/product-ids-supported-office-deployment-click-to-run

I have downloaded the Office Deployment Tool and I have created an .XML file called RemoveSkype.xml for removal that looks like this:

<Configuration>
<Remove>
<Product ID="SkypeforBusinessRetail">
</Product>
</Remove>
</Configuration>

I kill the skype task using: taskkill /f /im lync.exe and I see Skype close and the task disappear
I run the command line for the office deployment tool using the above XML:
setup.exe /configure RemoveSkype.xml

I see the Office Deployment tool run successfully, it recommends a reboot.
I reboot, Skype for Business is still installed.

What am I doing wrong?

Skype for Business
Skype for Business
A Microsoft communications service that provides communications capabilities across presence, instant messaging, audio/video calling, and an online meeting experience that includes audio, video, and web conferencing.
603 questions
Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
2,010 questions
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4 answers

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  1. Talven Taurog 21 Reputation points
    2022-04-05T22:56:11.38+00:00

    Found a much simpler answer... to start ignore Microsoft's recommendations on how to do this if using the MUI version. None of it works, and their inability to provide a basic uninstall string is actually quite pathetic.

    From the installation media path run...

    msiexec /x .\lync.en-us\lyncmui.msi
    msiexec /x .\lync.ja-jp\lyncmui.msi

    Repeat for each language... then it leaves a little bit of trash behind in the start menu...

    del "%programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Skype for Business 2016.lnk"

    This can even be done with office/outlook running, next reboot it's gone.

    Seriously MS, why try to make this so complicated? It's getting WORSE with 365. I give most of your teams credit for having to put up with a lot and make complicated software, but your Office team isn't even trying to communicate with any other team and do things in a sane and consistent fashion with the rest of Microsoft.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. JimmyYang-MSFT 49,031 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-02-10T06:03:22.353+00:00

    Hi @His Boy Elroy

    According to your product ID, your client is Skype for Business 2016.

    Before uninstalling Skype for Business, you should stop Skype for Business from starting automatically.

    Then you can go to control panel to uninstall it from your computer. Another option is to disable it in your registry. For more details, you can learn it from:

    https://technoresult.com/how-to-uninstall-skype-for-business-from-office-2013-2016-o365/

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

  3. DonPick 1,256 Reputation points
    2021-02-14T11:27:22.203+00:00

    to remove an installed component/app which is part of an M365apps installation, you have to reconfigure the M365apps package, like this:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/overview-office-deployment-tool#exclude-or-remove-microsoft-365-apps-applications-from-client-computers

    create a config.xml which contains the ExcludeApp settings you wish, then run ODT like this:

    setup /configure config.xml

  4. Ray Melvin 1 Reputation point
    2021-09-21T18:52:35.293+00:00

    You cannot simply "uninstall skype for business", but what you can do is re-configure Office 365. During that reconfiguring, Skype can be removed.

    This is how I achieved this
    I added the following lines to my existing config.xml

    <ExcludeApp ID="lync" />

    <Remove>
    <Product ID="Lync">
    </Product>
    </Remove>

    here is the full config.xml with these lines added. adding <Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" /> will result in a completely quiet installation.

    <Configuration ID="????" Host="cm">
    <Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
    <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" Channel="SemiAnnual" OfficeMgmtCOM="TRUE" Version="16.0.12527.21104">
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
    <Language ID="en-us" />
    <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />
    <ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" />
    <ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
    <ExcludeApp ID="Bing" />
    <ExcludeApp ID="lync" />
    </Product>
    </Add>
    <Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="0" />
    <Property Name="PinIconsToTaskbar" Value="FALSE" />
    <Property Name="SCLCacheOverride" Value="0" />
    <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="0" />
    <Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="FALSE" />
    <Property Name="DeviceBasedLicensing" Value="0" />
    <Logging Level="Off" />
    <Remove>
    <Product ID="Lync">
    </Product>
    </Remove>**

    </Configuration>

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