How to uninstall IntelliJ IDEA on Windows

Removing IntelliJ IDEA and clearing its data are separate decisions. Settings, plugins, caches and logs live in version-named folders under a shared JetBrains parent, and none of that goes away when you uninstall the app. Back up what you want first. This guide covers IntelliJ IDEA Community installed machine-wide from the JetBrains.IntelliJIDEA.Community winget package, and it never touches your projects or .idea folders, which live wherever you keep them on disk.

Quit IntelliJ IDEA first

Close every project window from the IDE's own menu. IntelliJ starts a couple of background processes per running instance (the main JVM and a small watcher), so check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for anything still listed under IntelliJ IDEA before you uninstall.

If you have WSL installed, IntelliJ also checks it in the background with wsl.exe. That helper keeps IntelliJ's install folder as its working directory for a short while after you quit the IDE, which can make the folder briefly refuse to delete right after uninstalling. Waiting under a minute and trying again is normally enough; there is nothing to kill by hand.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find IntelliJ IDEA Community, and choose Uninstall, or replace <version> below with the installed version and run its uninstaller directly:

& "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition <version>\bin\Uninstall.exe"

JetBrains documents both routes and says plainly that the uninstaller does not remove your settings, caches or logs; you delete those folders yourself if you want them gone.

Where the data lives

Each installed version keeps its own subfolder, named IdeaIC<year>.<release> (for example IdeaIC2025.2), under the shared JetBrains folders. JetBrains documents these locations in its directories used by the IDE page.

The shared JetBrains parent folders under %APPDATA% and %LOCALAPPDATA% hold every other JetBrains product's data too; never delete those folders themselves, only the version-named subfolder.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the uninstall finishes:

Get-Process -Name "idea64","wsl" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Test-Path "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition <version>"
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\JetBrains\IdeaIC<year>.<release>"
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\JetBrains\IdeaIC<year>.<release>"

• No output from Get-Process only means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown.
• The first Test-Path returning False means the program folder is gone; True right after uninstalling can mean the folder is still held open briefly, which normally clears within a minute.
• The last two returning True means your caches and settings are still there, which is expected unless you remove them yourself.

Account and subscription

Uninstalling does not cancel a JetBrains subscription or sign you out of your JetBrains Account. Settings synced through JetBrains' Settings Sync stay in your account and reapply the next time you sign in anywhere.

What Mole lists

For IntelliJ IDEA Community installed machine-wide from winget:

• The program folder and the Start Menu shortcut are selected by default.
• The Local version directory holds caches, indexes, logs and Local History; it is listed as personal data and unchecked by default.
• %APPDATA%\JetBrains\IdeaIC<year>.<release> (your settings and plugins) is listed but not selected.
• If the install folder briefly refuses to delete because the WSL helper (wsl.exe) is still holding it as a working directory, Mole retries automatically in the background for about a minute; you do not need to do anything.
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Daemon, shared by every JetBrains product, is only offered once IntelliJ is the last JetBrains product left on the machine.
• The shared JetBrains parent folders are never listed.

Both versioned Local and Roaming directories are personal data, unchecked by default and excluded from bulk selection. Removing either requires selecting its row individually; Local History and scratch files do not regenerate with caches. Another installed copy of the same IDE version keeps both directories.

What this test covered

Tested with IntelliJ IDEA Community 2025.2.6.2 installed machine-wide through winget. The install folder failed to release on the first uninstall attempts because of the WSL helper (wsl.exe); the background retry was verified using a cmd.exe control process that held the folder for 45 seconds, rather than another run with the actual WSL helper. Not verified: a user-scope install, the direct download from jetbrains.com, or an install managed through JetBrains Toolbox.

An isolated ARM64 source retest on October 4, 2026 used the same version. The IDE recorded a real edit, displayed its earlier and current text in Local History, and created a plain-text scratch file. Both version directories appeared as unchecked personal data in the uninstall UI. After bulk uninstall, the installation record was gone while both history storage files, the test project and scratch file remained; the scratch hash matched its pre-uninstall hash. A full before/after history-store hash comparison, recovery after reinstall and the released download were not verified.