---
title: "Error: Pharos Popups cannot be installed on this machine. Unable to stop ComTaskMaster service"
slug: "error-pharos-popups-cannot-be-installed-on-this-machine-unable-to-stop-comtaskmaster-service"
updated: 2024-03-19T10:37:05Z
published: 2024-03-19T10:37:05Z
canonical: "kb.pharos.com/error-pharos-popups-cannot-be-installed-on-this-machine-unable-to-stop-comtaskmaster-service"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.pharos.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Error: Pharos Popups cannot be installed on this machine. Unable to stop ComTaskMaster service

When installing Popups I receive the following error message

Error: Pharos Popups cannot be installed on this machine. Unable to stop ComTaskMaster service

---

The following steps should manually uninstall the Pharos Popup Client. They must be carried out in the order described below:

1. Stop the Pharos Systems ComTaskMaster service.
2. Run the profiler manual uninstall as follows:
  1. Go to **Program Files\PharosSystems\OutputManagement\PrintTracker**. If the folder doesn’t exist, create it.
  2. Check for a file called **profiler.dll**. If the file is not there, copy in the one attached.
  3. Open a command prompt in that location and type: rundll32 profiler.dll,Exec uninstall
3. Uninstall the ComTaskMaster service as follows:
  1. Ensure the Services window is closed
  2. Go to **Program Files\PharosSystems\Core**. If the folder doesn’t exist, create it.
  3. Check for a file called **CTskMstr.exe**. If the file is not there, copy in the one attached.
  4. Open a command prompt in that location and type: CTskMstr.exe -unregserver
4. Delete folders:
  1. Ensure the command prompt window (from 3, above) is closed.
  2. Go to **Program Files\Pharos**. If it exists, delete the folder (and contents).
  3. Go to **Program Files\PharosSystems**. Delete the folder (and contents).
5. Check for the following registry keys. If they exist, delete them:
  - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Pharos
  - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PharosSystems
6. Restart the Print Spooler service in Services.

The PC should now be back to as it was before the Popup Client was installed, and should now be able to install a new package.

If any of these points fail **don’t go on to the next step**. Please capture the error and report it to Pharos Support for advice on how to continue.

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