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Prerequisites

To build Bulk Crap Uninstaller from source, you’ll need to set up your development environment with the required tools and dependencies.

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Required Software

Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2019 or 2022 (Community edition works fine)

.NET SDK

.NET 8 SDK (included with Visual Studio)

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Visual Studio Workloads

You need to install the following workloads in Visual Studio:
1

.NET desktop development

This workload provides the core .NET desktop development tools required for building the C# projects.
2

Desktop development with C++

Required for building the BCU-launcher native C++ component.
3

Class Designer (Optional)

Install the Class Designer component if you wish to view or edit the included class diagrams.

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Getting the Source Code

Clone the repository from GitHub: 
git clone https://github.com/Klocman/Bulk-Crap-Uninstaller.git
cd Bulk-Crap-Uninstaller

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Building with Visual Studio

1

Open the Solution

Navigate to the source directory and open BulkCrapUninstaller.sln in Visual Studio.
source/BulkCrapUninstaller.sln
2

Restore NuGet Packages

Visual Studio should automatically restore NuGet packages when you open the solution. If not, right-click the solution in Solution Explorer and select “Restore NuGet Packages”.
3

Select Build Configuration

Choose your build configuration:
  • Debug - For development with debugging symbols
  • Release - For optimized production builds
And select the platform:
  • Any CPU - Platform-agnostic build
  • x64 - 64-bit only
  • x86 - 32-bit only
  • ARM64 - ARM64 architecture
4

Build the Solution

Build the entire solution:
  • Press Ctrl+Shift+B or
  • Select Build > Build Solution from the menu
If the compile fails the first time, try Build > Rebuild Solution. The first build occasionally has dependency resolution issues that a rebuild fixes.

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Build Output

After a successful build, the compiled binaries will be located in: 
source/BulkCrapUninstaller/bin/[Configuration]/[Platform]/
For example:
  • source/BulkCrapUninstaller/bin/Debug/net8.0-windows/
  • source/BulkCrapUninstaller/bin/Release/net8.0-windows/

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Solution Structure

The solution contains multiple projects:

Main Projects

  • BulkCrapUninstaller - GUI application
  • BCU-console - Console application
  • BCU-launcher - Native launcher

Libraries

  • UninstallTools - Core library
  • KlocTools - Utility library
  • ObjectListView - UI controls

Helpers

  • SteamHelper
  • WinUpdateHelper
  • StoreAppHelper
  • OculusHelper
  • ScriptHelper

Support

  • UninstallerAutomatizer
  • UniversalUninstaller
  • SimpleTreeMap
  • And more…
All projects will be built as part of the solution build process.

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Building for Release

To create a release build suitable for distribution:
1

Run the Publish Script

The repository includes a publish.bat script that creates optimized release builds:
publish.bat
This script is located in the root of the repository (parent directory of source).
2

Build the Installer (Optional)

To create the installer package, you’ll need InnoSetup v6.4 or later.After running publish.bat, use InnoSetup to compile the installer script (if present in the repository).

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Running Tests

The solution includes a test project: BulkCrapUninstallerTests
Some tests require:
  • Running as 64-bit process
  • Specific applications to be installed on the system
  • Administrator privileges
To run tests:
  1. Open Test Explorer: Test > Test Explorer
  2. Click Run All or select specific tests

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Common Build Issues

Try Build > Rebuild Solution. The dependency chain is complex, and a rebuild often resolves ordering issues.
If you get errors building BCU-launcher, ensure you have the “Desktop development with C++” workload installed in Visual Studio.
Make sure you have .NET 8 SDK installed. You can check by running:
dotnet --list-sdks
Try:
  1. Delete the .vs folder in the solution directory
  2. Delete bin and obj folders in all project directories
  3. Restart Visual Studio and rebuild

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Development Tips

  • Use Debug configuration for development with full debugging support
  • The AnyCPU platform is recommended for general development
  • Some features may behave differently between 32-bit and 64-bit builds
  • Test on multiple platforms if making changes to platform-specific code

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Next Steps

Contributing

Learn how to contribute your changes back to the project

Architecture

Understand the codebase structure

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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