Deep Freeze is a good program if you want to keep your system protected, but if you don't use it anymore, it is very difficult to remove. Before you can uninstall Deep Freeze, you must disable the program. And to turn it off you need the password. Follow the steps in this article to remove Deep Freeze for good, with or without a password.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Remove Deep Freeze with the password
Step 1. Locate the Deep Freeze icon in your system tray
Before you can uninstall Deep Freeze, you must disable the program. You do this by clicking the icon in the system tray. The icon looks like a polar bear.
Click on the small arrow if you want to see more icons
Step #2. Open Deep Freeze preferences menu
Press ⇧ Shift and double click the Deep Freeze icon. Now the "Preferences" window opens.
Step 3. Enter the Deep Freeze password
you may have to enter your password several times. Click OK in each dialog box. This will open the "Boot Options" menu.
Step 4. Select "Boot Thawed"
Due to this selection, Deep Freeze will not start when you restart your computer.
Step 5. Close all programs and restart your computer
When the computer has restarted, you should see a red "X" over the Deep Freeze icon in the system tray. That indicates that Deep Freeze is turned off and that means you can now uninstall the program.
Step 6. Locate the installation file
There is no separate file to remove Deep Freeze. Instead, you have to use the installer. If you don't have it anymore, you can download it from Deep Freeze's website.
- The Deep Freeze 5 installation file is named: DF5Std.exe
- The Deep Freeze 6 installation file is named: DF6Std.exe
Step 7. Open the installation file
Then click Uninstall to start uninstalling. Your computer will reboot one more time after Deep Freeze is removed.
Method 2 of 2: Remove Deep Freeze without the password
Step 1. Reboot your PC and enter your BIOS
If you no longer have the Deep Freeze password, you will need to use another method, from within your BIOS. Press the key during boot to enter your BIOS. Which key that is differs per manufacturer, but usually it is F2, F10 or Del.
Step 2. Change your computer's date
To bypass the password, you must set your computer's date at least 10 years before or after the current date. That way, Deep Freeze thinks it should stop being active. If you have changed the date, save the changes and restart your computer.
Step 3. Open the "Advanced Boot Options" menu
Hold down the F8 key during startup. This will open the "Advanced Boot Options" menu. Select "Debug Mode" from the list of options.
Step 4. Immediately open "Task Manager"
Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Del when the welcome screen appears. The timing is very important, if you are not fast enough you should try again.
Step 5. Search for the "DFServ" process
Within the Task Manager, click the "Processes" tab to see all current processes. End the process after you find it. You may also need to terminate the "FrzState2K.exe" process.
To end the process, select it and click End Process at the bottom of the window. Confirm that you want to end the process
Step 6. Delete the folder of Deep Freeze program
You'll probably find it in this location: C:\Program Files\Faronics\. Delete the entire folder.
Step 7. Open Windows registry editor
You can access the registry by pressing ⊞ Win+R and typing regedit in the text box. Locate the folder named "Faronics" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\. Delete the entire folder. When you're done with this, Deep Freeze should be removed properly.
Be careful when modifying the registry. If you remove the wrong item, your operating system may not work at all, then you will have to reinstall Windows
Step 8. Format and reinstall Windows
If you are unable to remove Deep Freeze, you can choose to format the drive and reinstall Windows. This will erase all data from your hard drive, so make sure to make a proper backup first.