Uninstall an installed App

[denelon]

As a user I want to be able to use winget to uninstall a package so I don't have to go through the Add/Remove software UX.

Experimental Feature
winget uninstall <package> - uninstalls the specified package.
winget uninstall -? - displays help for the uninstall command.

Note: uninstall depends on list also being enabled.

winget features - displays all experimental features and their status
winget settings - launches settings.json to configure settings like experimental features

Note:
There are limitations about how programs get installed and whether or not that binary supports uninstall. This may also need to be supported in the manifest with new key(s) and or syntax.

Edited: experimental status

[phiresky]

This is never going to happen since packages just consist of running random executable files that can do whatever they want. There's no package building step or anything.

(edit: see also my clarification below)

[jedieaston]

Chocolatey (and scoop in certain scenarios) already does it through running the uninstaller that is registered in the control panel, I thought. winget could do a similar thing, although the flags for a silent uninstall would have to be in the manifest somewhere.

[michaelvolz]

IMHO this is basic functionality which is paramount for the success of winget.

[Smart123s]

This is never going to happen since packages just consist of running random executable files that can do whatever they want. There's no package building step or anything.

There could be references to the programs' "uninstaller" executables as well.
For example, it could launch C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\uninstall.exe to uninstall Steam.

[Karl-WE]

The uninstaller reference comes with every installation. There are RARE cases of applications that cannot be uninstalled this way but it is doubtful they will be ever accessible / installable via winget.

Other than that you can clearly uninstall all apps using a WMI call and I have even borrowed a method someone else that is even able to crawl the registry for uninstalling applications by a name or wildcards.

Without blaming anyone, I certainly support an /u --uninstall switch, which can also be combined with /h --silent

[Karl-WE]

in terms of naming i would not use Winget remove, imho as it is "install" it should be named "uninstall" for ease of use. https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/issues/192

[masx200]

i support it

[phiresky]

For clarification about what I meant with my (admittedly flippant) comment above, see these three threads:

• Not a package manager #223
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23238051
• https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/gmqv6n/microsoft_announces_the_windows_package_manager/fr5pasi/?context=3

Basically, my point is that since this works by running arbitrary exe files on the host computer, the only thing it can do to uninstall something is run another arbitrary exe, again pulled from 3rd party sources. That exe can do anything, especially not clean up all the crap left by the install process.

What you expect from package managers (coming from other OSs) is that they build packages that are pretty much just declarative file archives with as little logic as possible, then those are installed with logic defined almost completely on the side of the package manager instead of the to-be-installed app. The logic that comes with the package itself is minimal if it exists at all, runs at specific times with specific functions (preinstall / postinstall / etc) and is declared as readable code (e.g. shell scripts). The package manager or user then can also verify that the package does not do anything weird like copying files to unusual locations or removing other files, or setting up / starting system services. (that's also a job of the package manager).

[Karl-WE]

Yes in fact what you are describing is something like MSI or MSIX / Windows Store that allows an internal uninstall via WinGet while at the moment and forseeable future winget is just the commandline (now also GUI) proxy for this task, but relies on some of the mentioned packagers and installation methods.