Google Nearby Share app stopped working & I can’t uninstall it

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I have Win 10 Pro Version 22H2 updated through last month (i.e. I haven’t installed any updates for June).

At the beginning of May I installed the Google Nearby Share app. I had no problem installing it and no problem using it (about once a week) until a week ago. Then, last Thursday, it stopped working in both directions: the app on the phone can’t detect my computer and I can’t launch the app on the computer. Also, every so often a white screen that seems to be labeled “Nearby Share” randomly pops up on the computer for just a split second and then disappears — as though Nearby Share is repeatedly trying to launch on it’s own but can’t. I’m unable to say how often this happens, but it’s probably more than once an hour. I went into the Task Manager | Startup and disabled Nearby Share from launching at startup and rebooted, but this white screen keeps reappearing at random times.

I couldn’t find anything describing such a problem online (could be that I’m inept using Google), so I decided to uninstall Nearby Share from the computer. But I can’t, neither directly through Windows settings nor by using Revo Uninstaller. When I try to do it, I get a message that says: “The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable. Click OK to try again or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package ‘better_together.msi’ in the box below” (see the attachment). Of course, clicking OK does nothing and searching has failed to find a “better_together.msi” file on the computer.

I haven’t installed any other programs since I installed Nearby Share and, as already stated, neither have I updated Windows during that time. Nor have I been tinkering with settings on the computer other than in reaction to this problem. So if I did something to cause it, I can’t even speculate as to what it could have been.

Any ideas on what the problem may be and how to address it?

Thanks.

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Try just reinstalling the beta app with the BetterTogetherSetup.exe download from https://android.com/better-together/nearby-share-app/ ?

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Thanks for the suggestion. However, I tried that and it didn’t work.

This actually highlights the fact that I really have two questions.

The first, as I stated originally, is how to get Nearby Share working again.

But second, regardless of the answer to that one, I’m also wondering why I can’t get Windows to uninstall what’s already on the computer — why Windows refers me instead to an unidentified “network resource” and an msi file that I don’t and never have had on the computer.

I’d welcome any other suggestions.

Thanks very much.

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BobStr wrote:

I’m also wondering why I can’t get Windows to uninstall what’s already on the computer — why Windows refers me instead to an unidentified “network resource” and an msi file that I don’t and never have had on the computer.

That’s because that specific .msi is what was used to installed it and, since Windows can’t find it at the location stored in the uninstall section of the registry, it “assumes” it’s located somewhere on an external source.

I downloaded and installed Nearby Share on my own PC and here’s what I discovered.

On my system, Nearby Share was installed at the following location:

C:\Program Files\Google\NearbyShare

In that folder is a file named nearby_share_package.msix and, if I run it, here’s what it displays.

If I select Reinstall, it warns me that a newer version is already installed but still lets me continue the reinstall.

After selecting Reinstall again, it indicates Nearby Share is ready.

If this file exist on your system, using it might get things working again, or at least let you uninstall it.

BTW, I was able to uninstall it on my system so the above “might” not work for you, but at least it’s worth a try.

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b

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I apologize for not acknowledging your message earlier. The email telling me that there was a new message in this thread went to my spam folder, which I check only once a week or so, so I wasn’t aware of your reply until recently.

Anyway, problem solved. I went to the Google file you indicated and reinstalled the app from there (instead of from the .exe file that I had originally downloaded from Google, which hadn’t helped). The app still didn’t work, but I was then able to uninstall it using Revo uninstaller. After a reboot, I installed it again, and it now works. For how long, who knows, but at least I now have a fix.

Thanks very much for the help.

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