How to uninstall Garmin Express on Windows

Garmin Express syncs your device's activities to Garmin Connect and installs its updates, so before you remove it, connect your device once more and let the last sync finish; after that, your data lives in your Garmin Connect account, not in the app. Installing Garmin Express also adds Garmin's USB drivers and a Visual C++ runtime as separate programs, and they stay after you remove the app. This guide covers Garmin Express installed from the Garmin.Express winget package.

Quit Garmin Express first

Garmin Express adds a startup entry and sits in the tray. Right-click its tray icon and exit, or turn the entry off in Settings › Apps › Startup, then check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any express.exe still listed.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Garmin Express, and choose Uninstall, or run:

winget uninstall --id Garmin.Express

What else the install added

The winget install added four more entries to Installed apps: a Microsoft Visual C++ runtime and three Garmin driver packages. Keep the drivers if you still connect any Garmin device to this PC. If you do not, you can uninstall the Garmin driver entries from Settings › Apps › Installed apps. Leave the Visual C++ runtime alone, since other apps may use it. The installer may also have turned on the .NET Framework 3.5 Windows feature, which is shared and can stay.

Where the data lives

Location	What it holds	What to do
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Garmin\express`	App data	The uninstaller removed it in this test
`HKCU\Software\Garmin\Express`	Settings	The uninstaller removed it in this test
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Garmin` and `%ProgramData%\Garmin`	Vendor parent folders	Left empty in this test; remove them yourself if no other Garmin app is installed
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Garmin_Ltd._or_its_subsid`	A small .NET settings folder named after `express.exe`	Left empty in this test; safe to remove

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the uninstall finishes:

Get-Process express -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id Garmin.Express
winget list Garmin
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Garmin"
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Garmin_Ltd._or_its_subsid"

No output from Get-Process only means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown.
If winget list --id Garmin.Express completes successfully, no match means the app's record is gone; a matching row means the uninstall did not finish.
Rows from winget list Garmin are the driver packages or other Garmin programs still installed.
Test-Path returning True means the folder is still there; open it to confirm it is empty before you remove it.

If you installed it with winget

winget uninstall --id Garmin.Express removes only the app. The driver packages and the Visual C++ runtime winget installed with it stay until you uninstall them one by one.

Account

Uninstalling does not sign you out of Garmin Connect or remove your devices or activities from your account.

What Mole lists

For Garmin Express installed from winget:

The app row and the Start Menu folder, selected by default.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Garmin\express and HKCU\Software\Garmin\Express are listed but not selected.
The empty vendor folders, the .NET settings folder, the driver packages and the Visual C++ runtime are not listed. The driver packages and the runtime appear as their own entries in the app list.

What this test covered

Tested on 2026-09-27 with Garmin Express installed through winget on an ARM64 virtual machine, with no Garmin device connected and no account signed in. Its uninstaller removed the listed items itself before Mole reached them. Not verified: syncing a real device and removing the driver packages.