“Uninstall” buttons are gone from Add/Remove programs. How to get them back?

Question

After uninstalling a few applications in Windows XP, there are no buttons to remove applications or reinstall them.

The problem seems to be known in Windows XP, according to the number of discussion boards where lots of people are encountering the same issue. Unfortunately, the solutions (here another one) listed on those forums doesn't help.

Is there a Microsoft's KB article or some known workaround to solve this issue?

---

Edit: here some details:

• The issue appeared after uninstalling ZoneAlarm. This already happened.
• There is no HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\. At all.
• There is, on the other hand, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\. It contains one entry corresponding to one application.
• In the list of applications, this one application has an uninstall button. It is the only entity with a button in the list.
• There are multiple users on the machine. The issue is the same for all those users, not only the one who uninstalled ZoneAlarm.

Answer 1

Here is a Microsoft Article on the issue but it pertains to Windows 95/98. Alternatively, you can also follow the solution outlined below:

Issue:

Solution:

Click Start >> Run >> type regedit. This starts the Registry Editor.

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\<Program Name>

Lets take Adobe Acrobat 5.0 as an example

In the right-pane, do the following:

Double-click NoRemove (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0. Double-click NoModify (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0

If NoRemove is set to 1, the Remove button will be unavailable. If NoModify is set to 1, the Change button will be unavailable

Result:

Source.