How to uninstall NetEase Cloud Music on Windows
NetEase Cloud Music (网易云音乐) keeps your playlists and account with NetEase, so removing the Windows app does not delete them. What can be lost is local: songs you downloaded and anything cached for offline play. Check where your downloads are saved before you remove the app, and keep that folder. This guide covers NetEase Cloud Music installed machine-wide from the NetEase.CloudMusic winget package.
Keep your downloads
Open NetEase Cloud Music's settings and look at the download and cache locations. If they point to a folder you chose, such as Music or another drive, uninstalling will not touch it. Copy anything you want to keep out of %LOCALAPPDATA%\Netease\CloudMusic before clearing that folder.
Quit NetEase Cloud Music first
Quit from the tray icon's menu; closing the window leaves it playing in the tray. Then check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any cloudmusic.exe still listed. The app adds a sign-in startup entry, which you can see in Settings › Apps › Startup; its uninstaller removed it in this test.
Remove the app with its own uninstaller
Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find 网易云音乐, and choose Uninstall, or run:
winget uninstall --id NetEase.CloudMusic
Because it is installed for all users, Windows asks for administrator approval. In this test the uninstaller marked the program folder for deletion at the next restart instead of removing it right away, so restart Windows before you judge whether it is gone.
Where the data lives
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
%ProgramFiles%\NetEase\CloudMusic |
Program files | Removed by the uninstaller, possibly only after a restart |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Netease\CloudMusic |
Local cache and app data | Copy out any downloads you set there, then remove it |
%ProgramData%\NeteaseWinDev\isc.dat |
A small file the app writes for all users | Safe to remove once the app is gone |
%ProgramFiles%\NetEase, %ProgramData%\NeteaseWinDev, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Netease, %APPDATA%\Netease |
NetEase's shared parent folders | Leave them if other NetEase apps are installed; remove them only once they are empty |
Check the result
After the uninstall and a restart, run these read-only commands:
Get-Process cloudmusic -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id NetEase.CloudMusic
Test-Path "$env:ProgramFiles\NetEase\CloudMusic"
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Netease\CloudMusic"
- No output from
Get-Processonly means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown. - A completed
winget listquery with no match means the package record is gone; a matching row means the uninstall did not finish. Test-Path "$env:ProgramFiles\NetEase\CloudMusic"returningTruebefore a restart is expected;Trueafter a restart means files remain there.Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Netease\CloudMusic"returningTruemeans the local cache is still there; remove it yourself once you have saved any downloads inside it.
If you installed it with winget
winget uninstall runs the same uninstaller Settings › Apps uses; it does not touch %LOCALAPPDATA%\Netease\CloudMusic.
Membership
Uninstalling does not cancel a NetEase Cloud Music membership or its auto-renewal. Manage it in your NetEase account, or where you paid for it.
What Mole lists
For NetEase Cloud Music installed machine-wide from winget:
- The program folder goes with the app row. When the uninstaller leaves it for the next restart, the result says "Restart to finish".
- The Start Menu folder and shortcut and the desktop shortcut are selected by default.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Netease\CloudMusicand%ProgramData%\NeteaseWinDev\isc.datare not listed; check them and remove them yourself after the uninstall.- NetEase's shared parent folders are not listed.
What this test covered
Tested on September 28, 2026 with NetEase Cloud Music 3.1.41.205529 installed through winget, machine scope, on an ARM64 test VM. Every listed row was ticked and removed in this test. The VM was not restarted, so the delayed removal of the program folder was not confirmed. Not verified: signing in, downloaded songs and a membership.