How to uninstall Prism Launcher on Windows

Prism Launcher keeps your Minecraft instances, with their worlds, mods, resource packs and screenshots, inside its own data folder, together with the Microsoft accounts you added. None of it goes away when you uninstall the launcher, and it is the part worth backing up. This guide covers Prism Launcher installed per-user from the PrismLauncher.PrismLauncher winget package.

Back up your instances first

Copy %APPDATA%\PrismLauncher\instances somewhere safe, or copy the whole folder if you want your accounts and settings back after a reinstall. Worlds you care about are in each instance's saves folder.

Quit Prism Launcher first

Close any running game, then close the launcher. Check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any prismlauncher.exe or Java process still listed. It adds no startup entry.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

Go to Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Prism Launcher, and choose Uninstall, or run:

winget uninstall --id PrismLauncher.PrismLauncher

Where the data lives

Location	What it holds	What to do
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrismLauncher`	Program files	The uninstaller left this folder in the test; remove it after the uninstall
`%APPDATA%\PrismLauncher`	Instances, accounts, settings, plus `Cache` and `logs`	Back up `instances` first; remove the rest only for a clean start
`HKCU\Software\PrismLauncher`	A small settings key	The uninstaller removed it in this test
`HKCU\Software\Classes\prismlauncher` and `curseforge`	The `prismlauncher://` and `curseforge://` link registrations	Left by the uninstaller; safe to remove once the app is gone. If another launcher handles CurseForge links for you, leave `curseforge` alone

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the uninstall finishes:

Get-Process prismlauncher -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id PrismLauncher.PrismLauncher
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\PrismLauncher"
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\PrismLauncher"
Test-Path HKCU:\Software\Classes\prismlauncher

No output from Get-Process only means this query observed no matching process; a suppressed error leaves the running state unknown.
A completed winget list query with no match means the package record is gone; a matching row means the uninstall did not finish.
The first Test-Path returning True means program files remain; False means the folder is gone.
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\PrismLauncher" returning True means your instances and accounts are still there, which is expected unless you removed them yourself.
The last Test-Path returning True means the link registration is still there.

If you installed it with winget

winget uninstall runs the same uninstaller Settings › Apps uses and leaves the same things; it never touches %APPDATA%\PrismLauncher.

Account

Uninstalling does not sign your Microsoft account out anywhere or affect your Minecraft purchase. The launcher stores a sign-in token in its data folder; removing that folder signs this PC out.

What Mole lists

For Prism Launcher installed per-user from winget:

The program folder goes with the app row, together with a row grouping Windows' own records of when you opened the program, selected by default.
%APPDATA%\PrismLauncher is listed but not selected, since it holds your instances and accounts. Its Cache and logs folders are listed on their own and selected.
The Start Menu shortcut is selected by default.
HKCU\Software\PrismLauncher is listed but not selected.
The prismlauncher:// and curseforge:// links, still pointing at the removed program, are selected by default and backed up to a .reg file before removal.

What this test covered

Tested on 2026-09-28 with Prism Launcher 11.1.0, the arm64 installer from the PrismLauncher.PrismLauncher winget manifest, per-user scope, on an ARM64 virtual machine. Its NSIS uninstaller ran silently. No instance was created and no account added, so backing up and restoring instances was not verified. Every listed row was ticked and removed in this test.