From the November 2015 Issue of Prestwood eMag

Coder Borland Database Engine: Uninstalling the BDE By Wes Peterson

Posted 14 years ago on 10/30/2008 and updated 2/10/2009 Take Away: It's rare, but sometimes it may be necessary to remove the BDE from a machine. Not for the faint of heart, and with serious possible consequences, we explain how to manually uninstall the BDE. This is intended for developers or power users.  Tags: BDE , Uninstalling , Uninstall , Removing , Remove , Clean Install KB101473

Introduction

The Borland Database Engine (BDE) is found on many computers.  It's installed when you intall programs like Delphi, C++ Builder, Paradox and Corel Office Suite. But the BDE is also used (and thus installed) by an unknown horde of other applications. To put it charitably, some of these programs do "unusual" things when installing the BDE. For a variety of reasons, a BDE installation may be kinked beyond repair, and your only recourse is to manually remove it, then install it properly.

Steps to Uninstall

Proceed with Caution!

1: Locate the current BDE's folder. You'll usually find this in one of two places:

• C:\Program Files\Borland\Common Files\BDE
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Borland Shared\BDE. 

A quick way to find the BDE folder is to inspect this registry key:

• HKLM\Software\Borland\Database Engine

When you find it, make a note of its location.  You'll need that in a bit.  The BDE folder will contain many files.  Most of them are DLLs.  BDEADMIN.EXE is usually in there, too. Among the files you should see are: IDAPI32.DLL, BLW32.DLL, and IDASCI2.DLL.

2: Remove BDE Registry entries.  The registry nodes to delete are:

• HKLM\Software\Borland\BLW32
• HKLM\Software\Borland\Database Engine
• HKCU\Software\Borland\Bde Admin

3: Delete the bdeadmin.cpl file from C:\Windows\System32

4: Delete the BDE folder, noted above.

5: Restart the machine.

That's it!

Reinstalling the BDE

Use your original installation files to reinstall the BDE or you can install the latest version from the following link:

• Download BDE 5.202 - Installs a small "BDE Info" program that features a "Test" button to ensure the BDE is operating correctly.

More Info

Definition:	BDE
Definition:	BDE Alias
KB Post:	BDE Best Practices: Safely Use Paradox Tables
KB Post:	BDE Broken? Recent Microsoft Betas may be the culprit
Download:	Borland Database Engine 5.202
Article:	Installing BDE using Merge Modules
KB Post:	Paradox Table Specifications
Article:	Repair Paradox Tables
Article:	Sub-Classing the BDE TQuery Component
KB Post:	Using BDE TTables to read or write text file records

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Article Contributed By Wes Peterson:

Wes Peterson is a Senior Programmer Analyst with Prestwood IT Solutions where he develops custom Windows software and custom websites using .Net and Delphi. When Wes is not coding for clients, he participates in this online community. Prior to his 10-year love-affair with Delphi, he worked with several other tools and databases. Currently he specializes in VS.Net using C# and VB.Net. To Wes, the .NET revolution is as exciting as the birth of Delphi. Visit Profile