I installed a .Net 8.0 VB app published via ClickOnce deployment on my computer. When a new version was released for some reason the app would not update. Rather than trying to use ‘Add/Remove programs’ (and I admit this was a crucial mistake) I just started deleted the files to manually remove all traces of the program. Unfortunately when I now try to install the new version I get the error: ‘The referenced assembly is not installed on your system’.

Here’s a list of all the places I deleted the published app or references to the published app:

1. All files/folder in C:Users{UserName}AppDataLocalApps2.0* but just those referring to the published app.
2. All references in ComputerHKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion DeploymentSideBySide2.0Components*
3. The reference in: ComputerHKEY_CLASSES_ROOTLocalSettingsSoftwareMicrosoft WindowsShellMuiCache*
4. All references in HKEY_USERS{UserIDs}SoftwareMicrosoft WindowsCurrentVersionUninstall
   (I went through all the UserIDs to ensure it was not installed for any other user although I am the only person using this computer.)
5. Ran Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
6. I did eventually run Add/Remove Uninstall but of-course this late in the game the uninstall no longer does anything.

What did I miss? Somewhere the system still has a reference to this app. Or maybe I am misinterpreting the meaning of ‘The referenced assembly is not installed on your system’?