In this short post, I’d like to share with you how to completely remove an instance of IntelliJ IDEA from Windows operating system, either it is installed by installer or from ZIP archive.

Basically, to completely uninstall IntelliJ IDEA, you need to:

- Run installer program, or delete folder extracted from Zip archive

- Delete folders that store settings and cache

 

1. Remove IntelliJ IDEA using Uninstaller

On Windows, click Start menu > Settings, and click Apps in Settings window. Under Apps & Features, look for IntelliJ IDEA, and click Uninstall:

Click Uninstall again to confirm. You will the Intellij IDEA uninstaller:

Check the two delete options to delete caches and settings of IntelliJ IDEA. Then click Uninstall to proceed. It will remove the IDE under 1 minute or 2.

2. Uninstall IntelliJ IDEA installed from Zip archive

If you have an instance of IntelliJ IDEA extracted from ZIP archive, just delete the whole directory. And then you have to manually delete some folders that store settings and caches.

With IntelliJ IDEA 2020.1 or newer. Delete these folders:

%APPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>

%LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>

Example:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2021.2

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2021.2

With IntelliJ IDEA 2019.3 or older, delete this folder:

%USERHOME%\.<product><version>\config

Example:

C:\Users\Username\.IntelliJIdea2019.3\config

That’s how to completely uninstall IntelliJ IDEA from Windows computer. To see the steps in action, I recommend you watch the video below:

 

Other Uninstallation Guides:

• How to Uninstall NetBeans IDE completely from Windows
• How to Completely Uninstall Eclipse IDE from Windows computer