Applies to: Sophos Home for Windows

You have removed all previously installed Sophos software from your computer, but you receive this error during installation:

Installation Unsuccessful - Sophos Home could not be installed because Sophos products have already been installed on this computer.

Cause

This issue is caused by a stopped Windows Security Center service. The Windows Security Center service must be started for the Sophos Home installer to continue.

Solution

Before proceeding, double check that there are no left-overs from a previous installation: Unable to install/uninstall Sophos Home - Windows 

Then,  restart the Windows Security Center service:

1. Click on the Start menu button and search for cmd.
2. Right-click on the cmd and select Run as Administrator.
3. Type net start wscsvc then press Enter on your keyboard. You should get a response: The Security Center was started successfully.
4. Run the Sophos Home installer again.

Note: If the Windows Security Center cannot be started, see Security Center service cannot be started.

Related information

• Sophos Home could not be installed
• I get Unable to Proceed message when installing Sophos Home
• Unable to uninstall Sophos Home
• Unable to install Sophos Home due to a pending reboot