Uninstall Ubuntu Pro for WSL, Ubuntu on WSL and WSL

This page briefly outlines the steps required to uninstall Ubuntu Pro for WSL, Ubuntu distros, and WSL itself.

Ubuntu Pro for WSL

Uninstall the Pro for WSL app

Go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, locate the “Ubuntu Pro for WSL” application, right-click on it and select Uninstall.

If you installed the app using WinGet, you can instead run the following command in PowerShell:

> winget uninstall Canonical.UbuntuProforWSL

Remove Pro for WSL data

Remove .ubuntupro from your Windows user profile directory.

> Remove-Item -Recurse -Force C:\Users\<username>\.ubuntupro

Remove registry key

If you or your organisation used the Windows Registry to store any configuration data, such as a Pro token, remove the matching registry key:

> Remove-Item -Recurse -Force HKCU:\Software\Canonical\UbuntuPro

Ubuntu distros

Stop WSL

In PowerShell, run the following command to stop WSL:

> wsl --shutdown

Uninstall Ubuntu distros

The method to uninstall an Ubuntu distro depends on the installation format.

For installations that use the modern tar-based installation format, run:

> wsl --unregister <distro>

If a distribution was installed in the legacy format, go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, locate the Ubuntu distro, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.

Tip

While installing Ubuntu in the legacy format, a message appears in the terminal recommending the modern tar-based format.

If you don’t know the format of an installed distro, run:

> Get-ChildItem "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss"

Distros installed using the tar-based format include the property modern with value 1.

WSL app

Only uninstall WSL if you no longer need WSL on your Windows machine:

> wsl --uninstall

Note

Running wsl --install for the first time enables the Virtual Machine Platform, if it is disabled. Uninstalling WSL does not disable the Virtual Machine Platform, and it needs to be disabled manually.