How to Uninstall Python

This wikiHow teaches you how to uninstall Python applications and related files and folders on your computer. You can proceed on both Windows and Mac computers.

Table of Contents

On Windows 10

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Open Start

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. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen. A menu will pop up.

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Open Settings

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(Setting). Click the Settings gear icon at the bottom left of the Start menu. The Settings window will appear.

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Click the Apps section in the middle of the Settings window.

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Find the Python version you want to uninstall. Scroll down to the “P” section and find the app with the word “Python” in the name (for example, “Python 3.6”).

You may need to first click the Apps & features tab in the upper-left corner of the window.

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Click on the Python version name. This section will expand and display the Uninstall button.

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Click the Uninstall button located below the Python version name.

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Click Uninstall when prompted. This option will appear at the beginning of the name of the Python version.

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Click Yes when the option appears to confirm that you want to uninstall Python.

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Allow Python to uninstall. A window will pop up with a progress bar; after the progress bar fills up and disappears, Python has been uninstalled.

You may need to click on the prompts that appear as part of the uninstallation process.

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Uninstall other Python versions if necessary. Because Python often has multiple versions installed at the same time, you should look to see if there are other versions of Python in the “P” section of the installed application; if there is another version of Python here, repeat the steps above to uninstall as needed.

You’ll probably also want to remove the Python Launcher app.

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Delete the Python 2 folder. Although uninstalling Python 3 will also delete the Python 3 folders on your computer, the Python 2 folder will remain even if you uninstall the program. To delete the Python 2 directory, you need:

Open This PC.
Double-click the hard drive in the “Devices and drives” section.
Find the folder “Python27” (or similar) in the directory listing.
Select the Python folder and then right click on it, a menu will drop down.
Click Delete in the drop-down menu.

On Mac

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Open

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Finder. Click the app icon with the blue face in the Mac’s Dock.

You can also click an empty space on the desktop.

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Click Go . This menu item is at the top of the screen. A menu will drop down.

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Click Go to Fpder… (Go to folder). This option is near the bottom of the Go drop-down menu. A window will pop up.

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Enter the path of the Python installation directory. Depending on the version of Python you have installed, you will need to enter one of the following addresses in the “Go to Fpder” text box: ^{[1] X Research Source}

With Python 3.6 or later, enter /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions here.
With Python 2.7, type /Library/Python/Versions or /Library/Python here.

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Click Go at the bottom of the pop-up window. The directory where Python was installed will appear.

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Select the folder with the version number in the name. Click on one of the folders with the Python version number in the name.

For example, if you want to remove Python 3.6, you need to click on the folder with the number 3.6 to select it.

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Click File in the upper-left corner of your Mac screen. A menu will drop down.

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Click Move to Trash . This option is in the File drop-down menu.

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Enter the password when prompted. Enter the password you use to sign in to your Mac.

Skip this and the next step if the system does not ask you to enter a password.

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Click OK at the bottom of the password prompt that pops up. The password window will close and the Python folder you selected will be moved to the Trash.

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Remove the Python program if necessary. Not all versions of Python install programs in your Mac’s Applications folder, but we should double check. You can find and remove Python applications by:

Click Go at the top of the screen.
Click Applications in the drop-down menu.
Look for the app with the word “Python” in the name (for example, “Python 3.6”).
Select the app when you find it.
Click File and then select Move to Trash .
Enter the password and click OK .

Advice

Uninstalling Python 3 will also remove the application from the PATH variable list.

Warning

Since it’s possible that multiple versions of Python are installed on your computer, it may take a while to completely uninstall Python from your computer.

Steps

On Windows 10

On Mac

Advice

Warning

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