NuclearOEMRemover

Purpose-built Windows cleanup interface for Dell, HP, and Lenovo OEM software.

NuclearDellRemover.ps1 is the complete app: GUI and cleanup engine in one self-contained script.

What It Does

NuclearOEMRemover removes preinstalled OEM utilities, background agents, update helpers, recovery plugins, scheduled tasks, startup entries, registry remnants, and filesystem leftovers through a native Windows GUI. It auto-detects the manufacturer or lets you target a specific OEM.

Start with the default dry run for a no-change audit and HTML report, then run live cleanup when the findings look right.

Cleanup Coverage

Supported OEMs

Usage

GUI

.\NuclearDellRemover.ps1

The interface defaults to dry run, self-elevates if needed, streams live output, tracks cleanup phases, and writes a per-run report, log, and undo manifest.

Unattended (Intune / SCCM / RMM / scheduled task)

# Audit first
.\NuclearDellRemover.ps1 -Unattended -DryRun

# Live cleanup, keep Dell Command Update for BIOS/driver management
.\NuclearDellRemover.ps1 -Unattended -KeepDellCommandUpdate

# Force removal of SupportAssist even at or above the version gate
.\NuclearDellRemover.ps1 -Unattended -Force

# Seed the hardware-ID deny list with extras collected from a fleet-wide audit
.\NuclearDellRemover.ps1 -Unattended -HardwareIdSeedsFile C:\Fleet\alienware-hwids.txt

-Unattended runs the engine headless and auto-elevates. Exit codes: 0 = clean (or dry-run complete), 2 = verification found remnants (restart may clear), 3 = exception during phase execution.

Hardware-ID seed file format

One hardware ID per line. Lines beginning with # are comments. Blank lines are ignored.

# Alienware Command Center controller (example - verify against your hardware)
USB\VID_187C&PID_0529
ROOT\AlienwareOSDPackage

# Dell Data Vault driver
ROOT\DDVDD

Collect hardware IDs from a reference machine with:

Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object { $_.FriendlyName -match 'Dell|Alienware|SupportAssist' } |
    ForEach-Object { Get-PnpDeviceProperty -InstanceId $_.InstanceId -KeyName DEVPKEY_Device_HardwareIds } |
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty Data -Unique

Running the test suite

# Convenience runner (auto-installs Pester 5 if needed)
.\Invoke-Tests.ps1 -InstallIfMissing

# Or manually
Install-Module Pester -MinimumVersion 5.0.0 -Scope CurrentUser
Invoke-Pester -Path .\tests\NuclearDellRemover.Tests.ps1 -Output Detailed

44 tests, no admin rights required, no system changes. Tests dot-source the main script in -LoadOnly mode. CI runs the suite on every push / PR via GitHub Actions.

Further reading

• docs/undo-manifest-schema.md - JSON schema of the undo manifest, action vocabulary, sample consumption snippets, and why it is audit-only.
• examples/hardware-id-seeds/ - template seed files and discovery workflow for -HardwareIdSeedsFile.

GUI Controls

Report

Each GUI or unattended run writes a polished HTML report, text log, and JSON undo manifest to %TEMP% with a timestamped filename.

The report includes system context, target OEMs, phase counts (including Residue), verification status, dry-run state, detailed result rows, and the log location. The undo manifest records every destructive change with timestamp, phase, action, target, before value, and after value for audit or reversal.

Requirements

• Windows 11
• Administrator privileges
• PowerShell 5.1 or newer

Notes

• Restart after live cleanup if Windows reports pending removals or verification finds remnants.
• Some OEM tools protect their uninstallers; the script includes Dell-specific fallback paths plus a dynamic %ProgramData%\Package Cache walk that catches newer installer versions without a static allowlist.
• -KeepDellCommandUpdate is the recommended sysadmin default on fleet Dell machines - it lets DCU keep delivering BIOS and driver updates while the rest of the Dell surface is nuked and silenced.
• If Alienware Command Center or Dell Optimizer kept coming back before, the new Block Reinstall phase in v1.3.0 adds the Windows Update driver exclusion and the Device Installation Restrictions hardware-ID deny list that the Dell community recommends.
• Logs, reports, and undo manifests are written per run to %TEMP%.