How to uninstall Chrome on Windows

Chrome can sync bookmarks, history, passwords and extensions to your Google account, but a profile that has never synced, or a saved password you have not exported, exists only on this PC. Check your sync status and export anything you need before you remove Chrome. Removing the app and removing your browsing data are separate decisions. This guide covers Chrome installed machine-wide from the Google.Chrome winget package.

Quit Chrome first

Chrome runs one process per window, tab group and helper (GPU, extensions, utility processes), so closing the last window does not always end every process. Close Chrome from its own menu, then check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any chrome.exe still listed before you uninstall.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Google Chrome, and choose Uninstall, or run:

winget uninstall --id Google.Chrome

Uninstall Chrome walks through the same Settings steps and notes that Windows 10 shows a checkbox to also delete your browsing data during removal; leave it unchecked if you are not sure.

Where the data lives

Location	What it holds	What to do
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome`	Every profile: bookmarks, history, saved passwords, sign-in state and extensions	Personal data. Copy and verify it first if you want to keep it, or leave it if you plan to reinstall
The `Cache`, `Code Cache`, `GPU Cache` and shader cache folders inside each profile	Chrome's disk cache	Safe to remove after Chrome has quit; it rebuilds
`HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome`	Chrome's own registry values, plus a few values other software (native messaging hosts, browser extensions) registers underneath	Chrome's own values can go; values other software put there stay even if you remove the rest of the key

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the uninstall finishes:

Get-Process chrome -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id Google.Chrome
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Google\Chrome"
Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "*Google Updater*" }

No output from Get-Process only means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown. A listed process means a window or helper is still open.
A completed winget list query with no match means the package record is gone; a matching row means the uninstall did not finish.
Test-Path returning True means your profile folder, and the data in it, is still on this PC. That is expected unless you chose to remove it yourself.
A row from Get-Service means Google's shared updater is still installed. That is expected if you have another Google app, such as Drive for desktop, installed.

If you installed it with winget

winget uninstall runs the same uninstaller Settings › Apps uses and removes the same program files; it does not touch your profile folder in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome on its own.

Account and sync

Uninstalling Chrome does not sign you out of your Google account or remove data already synced to it. If your bookmarks and passwords are fully synced, reinstalling and signing in restores them without needing the local profile folder above.

What Mole lists

For Chrome installed machine-wide from winget:

The Start Menu and public desktop shortcuts are selected by default.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome, your profile, is listed as personal data: never selected and never ticked by a bulk action; tick it yourself if you want it gone.
HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome is listed but not selected. Removing it keeps the native messaging host and extension entries other software registered underneath, and the key itself when Windows created it.
Google's updater services are shared by every Google app on the PC and are not listed.

What this test covered

Tested with Chrome 154.0.8037.58 installed through winget, machine scope, and removed by selecting every item Mole listed. Chrome was not signed in and sync was not exercised, so restoring synced data after removal was not tested. The historical test tool's select-all included personal-data rows, so these removal results do not establish Mole's UI bulk-selection behavior.