There is also a likelihood of a folder in your application data folder that you will want to look for and delete, if present.
 
The path will be C:\Users\(your user name)\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk
 
If you are running Windows with the default setting of hiding hidden files/folders, which is fine, you will not see this one, but if you copy the above path and paste it into Windows Explorer, then replace the '(your user name)' with your user name and hit Enter, it will still find the folder.
 
Within that folder, you want to look for a sub-folder for the version you are trying to do a clean removal for, and if present then delete it.
 
So if I wanted to get rid of Sonar X2 from my system, the sub-folder I would be looking for would be: SONAR X2 Producer.
 
A GREAT many issues can be resolved by posting a separate thread for each issue, and giving the rest of us in the community forum the opportunity to assist you in getting your issues fixed.
 
This forum is chock full of folks who will bend over backwards to help you, myself included, so please:
 
1.  Complete the removal of your other installation by deleting those registry keys per the other post
2.  Perform the search/delete per my post here
3.  Install Sonar again, making sure to follow the published installation instructions (Run As Administrator, temporarily suspend antivirus software, etc)
4.  Begin documenting each issue you are having, and then create 1 new thread for each separate issue you have with running Sonar, including as much relevant detail as you can, and we will get to work helping you get past your posted issues.
 
Please do one more thing, PRIOR to posting the threads with your issues.  It is VERY helpful for us in the forum community to see your system specs, so that we can better understand your system - this helps us diagnose issues.  To do this, look at the bottom of my post, and perhaps specs from a couple of other folks, to get an idea of the kind of specs we list.  Then, at the top of the forum page, click on User Control Panel and add your specs to your Signature tab.  Make sure you also check the box for the option that tells the forum software to Always Attach Signature to Post.
 
After doing the above, we will see your specs listed every time you post, and it will make things easier for us to help you, which will get your issues resolved quicker.
 
Please give us a chance to help you, 
 
Bob Bone
 

someone probably should have posted this instead.   
(copy/paste this to a text file and save it for later use)
 
For a clean installation of SONAR X2 please try the following:
PRE-uninstall) Disable your Anti-Virus: this means all sheilds, most AV can be disabled right from the taskbar/notifications area by right clicking on your AV icon / disable permanently (this isnt actually permanently/See: *Important note). *Important to note- your Anti virus will not be disabled after your computer re-boots because it is set to start up in services. 
 
1) Completely un-install SONAR from your computer. This is normally done from Start | Programs | Cakewalk. This will not remove any of your project files or audio data.
 
2) Next you will want to open the Run Command              
a) In Windows Vista and 7 this can be done by holding down the ‘windows’ key and pressing ‘R’               
b) In Windows 8 this can be done by holding down the ‘windows’ key and pressing ‘R’ the typing in CMD in the message box/press enter.
   
3) At the prompt type regedit and click OK.   ***Backup your Registry before making edits - you do this by clicking the File menu, Export Registry File.  
 
4) Now delete the following Registry keys:   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\X2 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\X2   *Please note that this will remove any effects presets and key bindings you may have made in Cakewalk. You can back these up separately if you like, using Options|Key Bindings, Tools|SONAR Plug-in Manager, and Options|Colors.  Hit F1 in these views for detailed instructions on how to do this.   *go to C/Cakewalk content/SONAR X2 Producer.(the SONAR X2 Producer folder has all your track templates, Cal scripts, project templetes, pro channel presets and other things you might want to look at before reinstalling incase you want to back those up.
 
5) Open the 'Run' command again.
 
6) Copy and paste the following into the prompt:   %appdata%\Cakewalk.
 
7) This will open your Cakewalk Application Data folder, right-click on the SONAR folder and choose rename.
 
8) Rename this folder SONAR X2 Backup.  
 
9) Open the 'Run' command again and type msconfig Click OK and then click on the Startup tab at the upper right of the window that opens.  
 
10) Uncheck all items listed, click OK, then restart your computer. You can always recheck those items again at a later time.  
 
11) Then reinstall SONAR. Make sure to have any virus scanners disabled on installation. It is not required or recommended to turn off any windows services.
 
 
 

With all due respect to Cakewalk, I think it's a really bad idea for a company to recommend editing the Windows Registry to the end user, especially for something as simple as an uninstall. Is there any reason for this, other than not having programmed it into the uninstaller? There was another recommendation to edit the registry in order to change note selection behavior in the piano roll view, what gives?

Sanderxpander
With all due respect to Cakewalk, I think it's a really bad idea for a company to recommend editing the Windows Registry to the end user, especially for something as simple as an uninstall. Is there any reason for this, other than not having programmed it into the uninstaller? There was another recommendation to edit the registry in order to change note selection behavior in the piano roll view, what gives?

with all due respect every software leaves behind traces of files in the registry which leads to corruption.
cakewalk is suggesting the best possible way to re install sonar.
not for nothing but I can see  you haven't had too much experience with re installing software in general ?
 
this is very typical for all software not just sonar.
please do a Google search.

well not every software but many do; it would make sense to have this regedit stuff in the knowledge base and ideally a downloadable script or batch file, rather than having to find the information in a user forum

chuckebaby

SanderxpanderWith all due respect to Cakewalk, I think it's a really bad idea for a company to recommend editing the Windows Registry to the end user, especially for something as simple as an uninstall. Is there any reason for this, other than not having programmed it into the uninstaller? There was another recommendation to edit the registry in order to change note selection behavior in the piano roll view, what gives?

with all due respect every software leaves behind traces of files in the registry which leads to corruption.cakewalk is suggesting the best possible way to re install sonar.not for nothing but I can see  you haven't had too much experience with re installing software in general ? this is very typical for all software not just sonar.please do a Google search.

You assume a lot, but I won't rise to the bait any further in that respect.

Your argument is entirely self-defeating though. Firstly, not only is there a fallacy in assuming that just because a lot of software leaves behind useless registry keys after uninstalling, it's ok to do so. In fact, you yourself said it can "lead to corruption". Secondly, it does not follow that it's a good idea to send people into regedit just because the uninstall procedure is a bit sloppy. You can screw up a LOT more than your Sonar preferences with regedit, and though people are recommended to make a backup of their registry (ever wonder why?) most of them wouldn't know what to do if they accidentally deleted or altered a vital key and created a boot problem.
And this is just for an uninstall procedure - in another thread someone quoted the reference guide suggesting to go into the registry just to alter note selection behavior. Why is this behavior not in a preferences window, or even an INI file?

I stand by my statement that in my opinion, it's a bad idea to send the average end user into the registry for common standard procedures such as reinstalling, uninstalling or changing basic software preferences.

you cant program a removal of floating reg edits of this sort,
sure most of the reg edits are removed with the sonar install but these values are for people who install in other places than recommended by sonars install IE.custom installs)
no one can predict that. it just seemed as if you had a problem with the uninstall, like it wasn't competent or something ?
or missing something.
you read on another thread about editing the reg for note placement in the prv because that's the way users choose to work, to make mod's.. not because there is anything wrong with it.
 
I myself never edit the reg..UNLESS its for uninstalls, I don't want stray reg files hanging around corrupting future installs while I can take them out (yes only 2 of of them) rather than chance a reg cleaner software that deletes what it thinks I want gone.
just sounds like you were knockin it, like there is something wrong with it.
every software leaves files left over in the reg, that's why people use things like c cleaner, I only c cleaner for junk files, not reg clean.

These keys aren't "floating at all" and of course you can program an automatic removal. So I am knocking it, in the sense that if this is a standard operation to secure a clean install, it should be part of the uninstall process. Or otherwise it should be available as a separate tool. E.g. Korg has a midi driver removal utility that completely removes all drivers and registry keys of their midi devices, and also allows you to clean up left over registry references of other midi devices still left on your system. Very useful if you run into Windows' midi device limit, and no chance at all of messing up our registry. The worst you could possibly do is uninstall one midi driver too many.

You know as well as I do that you can seriously screw up your computer if you mess up in the registry. The fact that you and I are smart enough to edit safely doesn't mean it's a good idea to send the average end-user in with little to no knowledge. The average producer or musician is not an IT specialist and is completely unable to even realize what he could screw up, let alone how to fix it.

The page fail trying to direct you to support has been resolved. Our redirect was broken. I'm sorry for the confusion on that. :/
 
In all fairness to Cakewalk, who from Cakewalk recommended you dive into your registry to fix this problem? Unless I'm missing it, I'm not sure we've even discussed what problems you're running into. Perhaps that might be a better place to start versus starting from the last resort?
 
Keep in mind that "Clean Installation" steps are always provided with great care when we assist customers with this directly. This is not part of the normal process and it is not usually required. It might not even be required in this case but I don't know the extend of the issues you're running into. The installer/uninstaller we use is pretty standard (probably one of the most common ones in Windows actually). Honestly I hate discussing registry keys with customers, so you're preaching to the choir. It's a very sensitive area.
 
Technically whether it's possible to do it or not, the problem with wiping all keys on an uninstaller is that a lot of components are shared across multiple versions of SONAR, so to wipe the keys on an uninstall means that you would have to always start over from scratch. So if you upgraded and then removed your older version, you'd be wiping out references to things you wish you hadn't. Any custom settings made to things like the Plug-in Manager would be erased. It would create more problems then it would solve.
 
Either way, removing shared registry keys is frowned upon by Microsoft and will prevent official certification.

Thanks Charlie,
 
I also found files left behind after a "successful" uninstallation under C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\ and duplicate copy of the registry entries under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Cakewalk Music Software\ - you may want to add this to the uninstallation steps you posted.
 
It'll be nice if X2 had an option in the uninstall steps to completely uninstall clean from system...  Maybe something for your R&D to consider in X2b
 
 

chuckebaby
someone probably should have posted this instead.   
(copy/paste this to a text file and save it for later use)
 
For a clean installation of SONAR X2 please try the following:
PRE-uninstall) Disable your Anti-Virus: this means all sheilds, most AV can be disabled right from the taskbar/notifications area by right clicking on your AV icon / disable permanently (this isnt actually permanently/See: *Important note). *Important to note- your Anti virus will not be disabled after your computer re-boots because it is set to start up in services. 
 
1) Completely un-install SONAR from your computer. This is normally done from Start | Programs | Cakewalk. This will not remove any of your project files or audio data.
 
2) Next you will want to open the Run Command              
a) In Windows Vista and 7 this can be done by holding down the ‘windows’ key and pressing ‘R’               
b) In Windows 8 this can be done by holding down the ‘windows’ key and pressing ‘R’ the typing in CMD in the message box/press enter.
   
3) At the prompt type regedit and click OK.   ***Backup your Registry before making edits - you do this by clicking the File menu, Export Registry File.  
 
4) Now delete the following Registry keys:   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\X2 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\X2   *Please note that this will remove any effects presets and key bindings you may have made in Cakewalk. You can back these up separately if you like, using Options|Key Bindings, Tools|SONAR Plug-in Manager, and Options|Colors.  Hit F1 in these views for detailed instructions on how to do this.   *go to C/Cakewalk content/SONAR X2 Producer.(the SONAR X2 Producer folder has all your track templates, Cal scripts, project templetes, pro channel presets and other things you might want to look at before reinstalling incase you want to back those up.
 
5) Open the 'Run' command again.
 
6) Copy and paste the following into the prompt:   %appdata%\Cakewalk.
 
7) This will open your Cakewalk Application Data folder, right-click on the SONAR folder and choose rename.
 
8) Rename this folder SONAR X2 Backup.  
 
9) Open the 'Run' command again and type msconfig Click OK and then click on the Startup tab at the upper right of the window that opens.  
 
10) Uncheck all items listed, click OK, then restart your computer. You can always recheck those items again at a later time.  
 
11) Then reinstall SONAR. Make sure to have any virus scanners disabled on installation. It is not required or recommended to turn off any windows services.