Cannot install Brave due to "more recent version of brave installed" error

Description

Cannot install Brave due to “more recent version of brave installed” error on Windows. Installer throws an error message every time, even after uninstalling all the brave versions. Got a temporary fix from @bsclifton, after deleting the following registry keys and install the exe worked fine. But, this is not a permanent solution, definitely would need fix for this. Please note this issue is happening only for Windows.

Go into regedit and specifically look for the below two keys:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BraveSoftware\
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BraveSoftware\

Delete BraveSoftware folder from both keys and install the exe solves the issue.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Download the stub installer exe file from Github
2. Click on the installer
3. Gives the error

Actual result:

Click on stub installer is throwing the error as “This computer already has more recent version of Brave. If you’re software is not working please uninstall Brave and try again”

Expected result:

Installer should not throw any error

Reproduces how often:

Always

Brave version (brave://version info)

0.55.20

Reproducible on current release:

• Does it reproduce on brave-browser dev/beta builds? -Yes

Website problems only:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields? NA
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome? NA

Additional Information

@kjozwiak @LaurenWags @srirambv @btlechowski

[MadhaviSeelam]

This issue surfaced today as I tried to install older version Nightly 1.36.64 on Windows 11. Reopening as per @kjozwiak.

Adding additional scenarios where Registry keys modifications were necessary to install previous versions.

Uninstall the existing version and install release version from github

1. Uninstalled 1.35.101 Chromium 98.0.4758.87 (Production)
2. Installed 1.35.102 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102 (https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/download/v1.35.102/BraveBrowserStandaloneSetup.exe )
3. Ran some of the tests
4. Uninstalled 1.35.102 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102
5. Tried to reinstall 1.35.101 from https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/download/v1.35.101/BraveBrowserStandaloneSetup.exe
6. Received the message “This computer already has a more recent version of Brave. If the software is not working please uninstall Brave and try again.”
7. Cleared Brave update background process
8. Attempted install again. Received the same message “This computer already has a more recent version of Brave. If the software is not working please uninstall Brave and try again.”
9. So followed these steps in the Registry Editor: a.Go into regedit and specifically look for the below two keys: b.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BraveSoftware
   c.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BraveSoftware
   d. Delete BraveSoftware folder from both keys and restart the machine 10.Attempted install from https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/download/v1.35.101/BraveBrowserStandaloneSetup.exe Actual results: Successful.

Tested with different installers as per @GeetaSarvadnya. Worked as expected in some cases and some didn’t. One of the examples as below:

Downgrade to two previous version

1.Uninstalled 1.35.103 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102 (Official Build) (64-bit) 2.Installed 1.35.102 From https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.35.102 - (BraveBrowserStandaloneSetup.exe) 3.Verified 1.35.102 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102 (Official Build) (64-bit) successfully installed 4.Go to Brave://settings/help - Clicked Relaunch to update the browser 5.Browser updated to Version 1.35.103 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102 (Official Build) (64-bit) 6.Uninstalled 1.35.103 Chromium: 98.0.4758.102 (Official Build) (64-bit) 7.Attempted to install 1.35.101 From https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.35.101 - (BraveBrowserStandaloneSetup.exe) 8.Received the message “This computer already has a more recent version of Brave. If the software is not working please uninstall Brave and try again.” 9.Cleared Brave update background process 10.Attempted install again. Received the same message “This computer already has a more recent version of Brave. If the software is not working, please uninstall Brave and try again.” 11.So followed these steps in the Registry Editor: 12.Go into regedit and specifically look for the below two keys: a.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\BraveSoftware
b.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BraveSoftware
13.Delete BraveSoftware folder from both keys and restart the machine 14.Install 1.35.101 From https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.35.101 Actual Results: successful

[GeetaSarvadnya]

@kjozwiak I haven’t seen this issue recently in newer versions. I did not see this issue in the last 6 to 7 months. I agree with @bbondy’s comments, good to close the issue.