How to uninstall Minecraft Launcher on Windows

Back up Minecraft worlds, mods and launcher settings before uninstalling the launcher.

This covers Minecraft Launcher 2.0.0.0 installed for the machine with winget (MSI). No Microsoft account was signed in, and the game runtime was not downloaded.

Quit Minecraft Launcher first. This run was one MinecraftLauncher.exe.

A machine install needs an administrator to uninstall.

msiexec /x "{57D4CF7E-F8ED-42DA-A49A-271EA8C55A7C}"

Where the data is

Location	What it holds	What to do
`%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Minecraft Launcher`	The launcher	msiexec removed the program. `update_files` was still in the folder
`%APPDATA%\.minecraft`	Launcher logs, the version list, and worlds under `saves`	Left in place. Do not delete the folder while it still has worlds
`HKCU\SOFTWARE\Mojang\Minecraft Launcher`	A few launcher values	Removed this time

Check

Test-Path "${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Minecraft Launcher\MinecraftLauncher.exe"
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\.minecraft\saves"

False on the first path means the launcher program is gone.
True on the second means the worlds folder is still there.

Mole listed the Start Menu entry, the public desktop shortcut, and the Mojang registry key. It did not list %APPDATA%\.minecraft. A test file written under saves before uninstall remained afterward; it was not a real game world.

What Mole lists

Location	Item	Default
`%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Minecraft Launcher`	Shortcut	Selected by default
`%PUBLIC%\Desktop\Minecraft Launcher.lnk`	Shortcut	Selected by default
`HKCU\SOFTWARE\Mojang\Minecraft Launcher`	Registry entry	Listed but not selected

The MSI completed and the selected shortcut and settings rows were removed or already absent. %APPDATA%.minecraft was not offered in the later run, and a preservation check file remained. The old update_files folder inside the launcher directory also remained. No real game world or restoration was tested.

These defaults assume Remove data and settings with apps is off. Explicit Select all or Also remove user data can include the listed personal-data rows. Check the selection before confirming. Selected files that Mole removes go to the Recycle Bin; selected registry entries are backed up before removal. The vendor uninstaller has its own deletion behavior.

What this test covered

Recorded on 2026-10-20: Minecraft Launcher, version 2.0.0.0, machine-wide, MSI, winget package Mojang.MinecraftLauncher. The evidence comes from an ARM64 Windows test environment and a development build of Mole. It does not certify the current downloadable package or removal of real signed-in accounts, synchronized data or production projects.

Vendor documentation. The paths and removal results above are observations from the Windows test unless explicitly attributed to the vendor.