How to uninstall QuickLook on Windows

QuickLook has little to back up: a couple of small settings files and the video plugin's options in the registry. After the uninstall those stay behind and Mole does not list them, so this guide shows where they are. It covers QuickLook installed from the Windows Installer package in the QL-Win.QuickLook winget manifest, which registered as a machine-wide install.

Quit QuickLook first

QuickLook runs in the background with a tray icon so it can preview files when you press Space in File Explorer. Right-click the tray icon and choose Quit, then check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for any QuickLook.exe still listed. It added no startup entry in this test; if you turned on start at login from its tray menu, turn it off there first.

Remove the app with its own uninstaller

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

winget uninstall --id QL-Win.QuickLook

The uninstaller runs without questions and removes the program in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\QuickLook, its desktop and Start Menu shortcuts, and HKCU\Software\QuickLook.

Where the data lives

Location	What it holds	What to do
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\QuickLook`	Program files	Removed by the uninstaller
`HKCU\Software\QuickLook`	Settings	Removed by the uninstaller in this test
`%APPDATA%\pooi.moe\QuickLook`	`QuickLook.config` and the image viewer plugin's config	Stayed after the uninstall; remove it, then the `pooi.moe` folder if it is empty
`HKCU\Software\QLV`	Options of the video preview plugin (formats, hardware acceleration, output)	Stayed after the uninstall; remove it if you are not reinstalling

Check the result

Get-Process QuickLook -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
winget list --id QL-Win.QuickLook
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\QuickLook"
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\pooi.moe\QuickLook"
Test-Path "HKCU:\Software\QLV"

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.
Test-Path on the program folder returning False means it is gone.
Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\pooi.moe\QuickLook" returning True means the settings files are still there, which is what this test found after the uninstall.
Test-Path "HKCU:\Software\QLV" returning True means the video plugin's options are still there.

If you installed it with winget

winget uninstall runs the same Windows Installer uninstall that Settings › Apps uses; it does not touch %APPDATA%\pooi.moe or HKCU\Software\QLV.

What Mole lists

For QuickLook installed from its Windows Installer package:

The desktop and Start Menu shortcuts are selected by default.
HKCU\Software\QuickLook is listed but not selected, and backed up to a .reg file before removal.
In this test the program folder in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\QuickLook was not listed; the uninstaller removed it.
%APPDATA%\pooi.moe\QuickLook and HKCU\Software\QLV are not listed; check them and remove them yourself after the uninstall.

What this test covered

Tested on September 27, 2026 with QuickLook 4.5.0 installed from the x86 Windows Installer package in its winget manifest, which registered machine-wide, and removed with that package running silently. Every listed row was ticked and removed in this test. Not verified: plugins you add yourself, or the Microsoft Store version.