Great table explaining states during installing/uninstalling solutions:
The above table has been taken from here: Install/Uninstall table
Installing (MSDN)
Uninstalling (MSDN)
| Central Admin | Site/Web Level Features | GAC | Web.Config | 14-RootFeatures | SharePoint Config DB, Objects Table – Solutions | SharePoint Config DB, Objects Table – Features | Web App Content DB, Features Table | |
| Add-SPSolution | Solution Added but Not Deployed | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Solution Definition Added | N/A | N/A |
| Install-SPSolution | Deployed to Web App | Installed Feature | DLLs Added | Safe Control Entries Added | Features Added | Solution Definition Still Exists | Feature Definition Added | N/A |
| Enable-SPFeature | Solution Still Deployed | Activated feature to Site/Web | Still Exists | Still Exists | Still Exists | Solution Definition Still Exists | Feature Definition Still Exists | Feature Activation Link Added |
| Disable-SPFeature | Solution Still Deployed | Deactivated feature from Site/Web | Still Exists | Still Exists | Still Exists | Solution Definition Still Exists | Feature Definition Still Exists | Feature Activation Link Deleted |
| UnInstall-SPFeature | Solution Still Deployed | Uninstalled feature | Still Exists | Still Exists | Still Exists | Solution Definition Still Exists | Feature Definition Deleted | N/A |
| UnInstall-SPSolution | Retracted from Web App | Uninstalled feature | DLLs Deleted | Safe Control Entries Deleted | Features Deleted | Solution Definition Still Exists | Feature Definition Deleted | N/A |
| Remove-SPSolution | Solution Deleted | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Solution Definition Deleted | N/A | N/A |
The above table has been taken from here: Install/Uninstall table
Installing (MSDN)
Uninstalling (MSDN)
