--- title: "Edge error 1714 / 1612: “The older version of Microsoft Edge cannot be removed”" description: "Every time Edge updates, the Application log fills with MsiInstaller Event ID 11714: error 1714, system error 1612. Edge itself is fine. The cause is an orphaned Windows Installer registration left behind by an old MSI install of Edge. Here is how to find it, prove it is orphaned, and remove it safely." url: "https://keh-tech.net/kb/edge-error-1714-old-edge-cannot-be-removed/" updated: "2026-09-21" category: Troubleshooting tags: - Event Viewer - Microsoft Edge - PowerShell - Windows - Windows Installer - Windows Server --- # Edge error 1714 / 1612: “The older version of Microsoft Edge cannot be removed” You open Event Viewer on a Windows PC or server and the Application log has the same MsiInstaller error over and over, dated a few weeks apart: ``` Product: Microsoft Edge -- Error 1714. The older version of Microsoft Edge cannot be removed. Contact your technical support group. System Error 1612. ``` It is logged as **Event ID 11714**, and it lines up with Edge's update cycle: every time Edge moves to a new version, a fresh copy appears. Meanwhile Programs and Features shows a single, current Edge, and the browser works perfectly. Nothing is broken. It is log noise, but it is the kind of noise that hides real problems and trips monitoring alerts, so it is worth ten minutes to clear. This article walks through the diagnosis the way it actually went on a real machine, because the fix depends on proving what the orphan is before you delete anything from the registry. **Applies to:** every Windows version that runs Microsoft Edge (Chromium): Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server. Every command below runs in an elevated PowerShell window (right-click, **Run as administrator**). ## What is going on Edge keeps itself up to date with its own updater, not Windows Installer. But long ago, many PCs got Edge from an **MSI package**, either pushed by a deployment tool such as Intune, SCCM or Ivanti, or installed by hand from the enterprise download. When that MSI install was later replaced, it did not always clean up after itself. It can leave a **Windows Installer product registration** behind: the registry still says "an Edge product exists here" but there is no installed package to go with it. Every time the Edge updater runs a version bump it tries to reconcile that stale registration, asks Windows Installer to remove the "older version", Windows Installer cannot find a source package for it, and you get error 1714 with system error 1612 ("the installation source for this product is not available"). Then it gives up until the next update. ## Diagnosis ### 1. Rule out the easy case: a duplicate uninstall entry First check what Windows thinks is installed. If there are two Edge entries in the Uninstall keys, one old and one current, that stale entry is your answer and you can skip to the fix. ``` Get-Package -Name "*Edge*" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Name, Version, ProviderName Get-ChildItem "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall","HKLM:SOFTWAREWOW6432NodeMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall" | Get-ItemProperty | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "*Edge*" } | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, UninstallString, PSChildName ``` On the machine in question this returned one Edge entry, at the current version. No stale duplicate, so the easy case was out. ### 2. Look at the event itself ``` Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='Application'; ProviderName='MsiInstaller'; Id=11714} -MaxEvents 5 | Select-Object TimeCreated, @{n='Message';e={$_.Message}} | Format-List ``` The message text does not include a product code (GUID), which would have made this quick. What it does give you is the timing: the entries match Edge update cycles, not a daily schedule. That points at the updater, not at something a user is doing. ### 3. Find Windows Installer product registrations for Edge Windows Installer keeps its own list of products, separate from Programs and Features. Search it for anything named Edge: ``` Get-ChildItem "HKLM:SOFTWAREClassesInstallerProducts" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Get-ItemProperty | Where-Object { $_.ProductName -like "*Edge*" } | Select-Object ProductName, ProductVersion, PSChildName ``` This is where the orphan showed up: a second Edge product with a **blank ProductVersion**, under a key named `5F860D974E0441636A383E15FD04EBDB`. (That is a product GUID in Windows Installer's reversed form. Yours will be different.) A blank version on a product registration is the signature of an incomplete or abandoned entry. A real install always has one. ### 4. Prove it is orphaned Do not delete on a hunch. A genuine install has a matching `InstallProperties` key under the Installer UserData branch, with a `LocalPackage` that points at the cached MSI. An orphan does not. Check both, replacing the product code with the one you found: ``` Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWAREClassesInstallerProducts" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object ProductName, ProductIcon, PackageCode Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18ProductsInstallProperties" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, LocalPackage ``` The first query returned a product name, icon and package code. The second returned **nothing**: no `DisplayVersion`, no `LocalPackage`. That is the proof. The registration is advertised but has no package behind it, so Windows Installer can never complete the removal Edge keeps asking for. Every update cycle it tries, fails, and logs 1714 / 1612. ## Root cause An orphaned Windows Installer product registration under `HKLM:SOFTWAREClassesInstallerProducts`, left over from an old MSI-based Edge install that never fully cleaned up. It has product metadata but no `InstallProperties` or `LocalPackage`, so Windows Installer has no source to remove it from. The Edge you actually use is not involved and is not affected. ## The fix is for members You have the diagnosis. The fix itself, with the commands and how to check it worked, is for signed-in members. An account is free, and it is the same one you use in The Patch Panel. Signing in unlocks: - The fix - Verification - Notes [Create a free account](https://keh-tech.net/wp-login.php?action=register) [Sign in](https://keh-tech.net/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fkeh-tech.net%2Fkb%2Fedge-error-1714-old-edge-cannot-be-removed%2F)