How to uninstall Elgato 4K Capture Utility on Windows

Back up any recordings and settings you want to keep before uninstalling. This check covered Elgato 4K Capture Utility 1.7.16.10419, installed for the machine through winget; it opened without a capture device or an account.

Remove Elgato 4K Capture Utility

Quit 4KCaptureUtility.exe and check Task Manager, then use Settings › Apps › Installed apps › Elgato 4K Capture Utility › Uninstall. The registered MSI uninstaller can ask whether to keep settings. Keeping settings in that dialog is separate from removing the Roaming folder in Mole's review.

Observed locations and checks

The exact MSI uninstall registration and %ProgramFiles%\Elgato\4KCaptureUtility were absent after this test. A firewall rule named 4K Capture Utility remained; leave it to Windows or the vendor rather than deleting firewall rules by name.

The shared HKCU\Software\Elgato Systems GmbH\ClientCoefficients key remained. It contains both 4KCU values and system coefficients, so leave the whole key intact. Cleanup of the product-specific values remains under review.

Check the result

Test-Path "$env:ProgramFiles\Elgato\4KCaptureUtility"
Test-Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{07AC808D-7954-4229-A08C-83E75002DCAB}'
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\Elgato"
Get-Process 4KCaptureUtility -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Test-Path 'HKCU:\Software\Elgato Systems GmbH\ClientCoefficients'

The first three checks returned False and the process query returned no app process. The final key check returned True. A surviving program folder or exact MSI entry means this machine needs a closer check; an empty process query alone does not prove removal.

What Mole lists

Mole lists %APPDATA%\Elgato for review, unselected by default, and the two public shortcuts selected by default. All three rows were explicitly selected in this test. Mole reported Removed for the settings folder and Missing for both shortcuts because the vendor had already removed them. It reported the firewall rule without deleting it. Its Mole development build performed this check; the downloadable package was not verified.

What this test covered

Tested on October 5, 2026, in a Windows 11 ARM64 VM with a Mole development build, covering first launch, uninstall and checks of the remaining program and registration. Capture hardware, recording files, detection after an external uninstall and the released download were not tested.