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I'm trying to remove AOMEI Backupper 4.0.2 from my PC. I installed a trial and found it can't do what I need it to do. Now I can't remove it without killing my PC. After removal the PC will bootloop 3 times, the 3rd time it will go into "Automatic Repair" and fail. Luckily I can use advanced options > System Restore to recover the machine.

I've narrowed it down to these 3 drivers: ambakdrv.sys, ammntdrv.sys, amwrtdrv.sys. Even unchecking these drivers in Autoruns will cause the system to fail.

Autoruns and Everything showing these drivers are from AOMEI Backupper

I had Revo Uninstaller monitor the installation of this product and I have all the logs for this install, yet it still fails to uninstall AOMEI without killing the machine. The default un-installer fails because it can't find uninst000.dat.

How do I remove this software from my machine? How do I completely remove: ambakdrv.sys, ammntdrv.sys, amwrtdrv.sys without breaking the current Windows Install?

I've successfully removed it by:

  • Created restore point and USB rescue drive.
  • Booting into Safe mode.
  • Using AutoRuns, unchecked the three drivers.
  • Using Revo Uninstaller, did a Custom Uninstall and manually went through every item.
  • Refreshed AutoRuns and deleted any entries left behind.
  • Using registry-finder, scanned entire registry for anything I thought might be related. I did not find anything in LowerFilters or UpperFilters.

These are the same steps as before, except this time in Safe Mode. I had tried so many things that had failed I figured it was a lost cause and I didn't want to try again until I had some more info. The whole recovery process after failure takes about up to an hour. So after the 5th time, I was done messing with it. Took a while to nail down because I had uninstalled 8 different programs through Revo at once. First time was a surprise (been over a week since last reboot and Windows had installed updates on that shutdown), second to verify uninstalling the programs caused the issue, 3rd to nail down the program, 4th to try something different, 5th after unchecking the drivers in autoruns.

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    Boot into Safe mode and try to remove AOMEI - what happens ?
    – harrymc
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 8:53
  • Probably this is not the specific expected answer but it might help other people: in the future try to avoid shady Chinese (or Russian) software. Sure Aomei looks OK but you have granted ring 0 access to absolutely your whole system. Chinese/Russian software? no thanks
    – Pat
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 11:58
  • I simply needed to copy and resize 1TB disk with 5 partitions to a 256GB Samsung SSD. AOMEI's GUI is bad, took 30 minutes dragging partitions to correct size in tiny window. It also assigns drive numbers different than Windows. I have 3 same model disks in a Storage Space pool (so all show as unformatted), guess what happened... Samsungs Data Migration tool was throwing a "Referenced Memory at 0x.... could not be read". On Windows 7 I've done this twice before with no issues. On Win10 I still have yet to accomplished this, I'm just going to use my brothers Win7 PC when possible.
    – Derek Ziemba
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 18:52

4 Answers 4

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There is a trick in removing "drivers" using Autoruns: Unchecking the driver or deleting its entry is not enough and may render your computer unbootable. Instead, you must follow the instructions below to properly excise the driver before removing it.

Before following these steps, please make a System Restore checkpoint, or better yet, a backup.

  1. Open Registry Editor using regedit.exe command.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\
  3. Press CTRL+F to invoke the search command.
  4. Search for LowerFilters.
  5. Inspect every LowerFilters entry for a mention of ambakdrv, ammntdrv, and amwrtdrv. If you found a LowerFilters field with any of these entries, carefully edit to remove ambakdrv, ammntdrv, or amwrtdrv from it. Please be super-careful!
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5.
  7. Repeat this procedure, only this time, look for UpperFilters.
  8. Now use Autoruns to disable the drivers.
  9. Keep your fingers crossed and restart.

Once this is done, feel free to use Autoruns to track down their files and delete them. (Actually, they are visible in your screenshot.)

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Try making a Windows 10 Recovery USB (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/instantanswers/3a747883-b706-43a5-a286-9e98f886d490/create-a-recovery-drive) and then use that instead of the System Restore.

It's not a guaranteed repair, but it'll have a better change of repairing the installation without having to restore back to when the unwanted drivers/software are in place.

To make a Windows 10 Recovery USB:

  1. From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
  2. When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next.
  3. Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next > Create. A lot of files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.
  4. When it’s done, you might see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC link on the final screen. If you want to free up drive space on your PC, select the link and then select Delete. If not, select Finish.
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+100

First, reboot in Safe mode and try to uninstall AOMEI Backupper via Revo.
Safe mode is always recommended when encountering difficulties when uninstalling a product.

If this does not work, use regedit to delete the three following keys :

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ambakdrv
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ammntdrv
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\amwrtdrv

Now reboot again in Safe mode and try to uninstall AOMEI Backupper using Revo.

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  • The question does say "Revo Uninstaller can't uninstall it successfully. I even had Revo Uninstaller monitor the installation of this product and I have all the logs for this install." There's also a fair bit of overlap with fleet command's somewhat more detailed answer on the registry, explaining what exactly to look for, and what things to watch out for.
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 14:21
  • @JourneymanGeek: Safe mode will prevent non-Microsoft services and may enable the uninstallation to go thru - astounding that the poster didn't try that. And I don't understand why Fleet Command suggested searching for LowerFilters when the keys are well-known.
    – harrymc
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 14:58
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An easy way is to reinstall aomei backup and use revo uninstaller in normal mode. When the message from Aomei is the installer was not complete, would you uninstall manualy you don't have the choice. So Revo should uninstall all missing files. After that reboot your computer and use CCleaner. Best regards, PM

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