navbuttons

Googlesearch

Friday, April 24, 2015

How To Remove Microsoft Apps Using PowerShell In Windows 10

Importance: This instruction is not applicable to Windows 10 Redstone.

PowerShell is a powerful command-line tool to carry out many tasks easily in Windows operating system. It can be used to launch, install and delete applications. It is a shell(a program that accepts inputted commands from a keyboard meant for the system to be processed) and it is used to connect, interact and download files from online servers and much more. Simply, it's a more functional and vast command based form of the general Command Prompt by default in a Windows operating system and as robust as Terminal in Linux or Unix. 

Image showing PowerShell

To learn how to use PowerShell you can visit the Microsoft official website, use Bing or Google search on related tutorials for further knowledgeable information. It can be very handful in fixing your computer related issues and keep your work professional.

When removing Microsoft Apps from your Windows 10 it is easy to use this shell in doing that quickly, most especially, in a situation where you can not locate the root of the file you intend to remove.

The instruction below would be useful to you in removing Microsoft apps from your system in Windows 10.


Image of red arrows pointing to process

STEP 1: Right-click on the 'Start Menu' and select 'Windows PowerShell(Admin)'. **If you don't have that you can right-click on Taskbar, select 'Properties' and click on the 'Navigation' tab. Tick the little box be the side of  'Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the lower left corner or Windows key + X' and click 'Apply' and 'OK' to close the dialog.** . 


Red arrow pointing to Yes at User Account Control dialog

STEP 2: Click 'Yes' to the 'User Account Control Dialogue to continue.


Red arrow pointing to where to type or copy and past Get-AppxPakcage

STEP 3: Type or copy and paste  Get-AppxPackage  into PowerShell  and press ENTER key.


Image showing red arrow pointing to Name  location

STEP 4: Look for the Microsoft Name of the App you are willing to remove from your system by 'Name' .


Image showing example of app to be removed

STEP 5: Type   Get-AppxPackage -Name *[insert the name of the app you want to delete after asterisk]   and press ENTER key.


Image showing red arrow pointing to highlighted part of the link to copy

STEP 6: Next, look for 'InstallLocation' and copy the directory link starting from Windows... and leave behind  'C\Program Files\WindowsApps\'.


Red arrow pointing to command to remove app(in this example Windows Alarms)

STEP 7: Type  Remove-AppxPackage  [insert the location of the app link you copied earlier here] -Confirm   and press the ENTER key.


**Indicating that PowerShell is not the default command shell in your operating system which must be initiated before you can make use of it.