IDE 2.3.9 tree - for manual deleting files/folders

Development Tools IDE 2.x
1

I had a bit of a struggle with:

  1. Using Windows11 (most recent update)
  2. OneDrive crashed (probably my internet related)
  3. Causing IDE to choke (ever compile had errors of demonic proportion)
  4. Now, "IDE" is not recognized as "installed" (it is present, I can launch an ".INO")

While searching for 2.3.9 why-and-what, I found IDE 2.3.7 still available to launch... which leads me to fear; IDE fragments from 1.8 until now are "somewhere"...

If a "tree" is available, I would like to manually search and destroy all traces of the IDE, past and present before I install the most recent IDE (hopefully, an "image blob" will be available for Win11). (my sketchbook is untouched on a local drive, not OneDrive)

2

I'm aware of the following directories for IDE 2.x

  1. C:\Users\yourUsername.arduinoIDE
  2. C:\Users\yourUsername\AppData\Local\Arduino15
  3. C:\Users\yourUsername\AppData\Roaming\arduino-ide
  4. C:\Users\yourUsername\AppData\Local\arduino
  5. C:\Users\yourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Arduino IDE

Number 2 is shared with Arduino 1.x if you installed additional board packages.

3

Thank you... I had only found #2 and #4.

I am looking for an "uninstall" that might know where to find 2.3.9 ArduinoIDE.exe

4

Here are the default installation locations:

  • When using the "Windows Win 10 and newer, 64 bits" installation package:

    • If "Only for me (<username>)" was selected (or /S flag used from command line) in the installer dialog:

      C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Programs\Arduino IDE

      (where <username> is your Windows username)

    • If "Anyone who uses this computer (all users)" was selected in the installer dialog:

      C:\Program Files\Arduino IDE
  • When using the "Windows MSI installer" installation package:
    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Programs\arduino-ide
  • "Windows ZIP file": wherever you extracted the downloaded ZIP file.

I haven't checked where it is installed when the Microsoft Store app is used.

If you installed Arduino IDE via the installer, then you should be able to just uninstall Arduino IDE using the Windows built-in "Programs and Features" utility. If you installed it via the ZIP package, then there is not uninstaller and you will just have to find where you unzipped it to.

5

Thank you for the information.

This I would expect, but it is gone... it doesn't recognize any permutation of "arduino ide"

I will look in the new .ZIP file for the uninstaller and extract it into its destination folder.

I am hoping to uninstall OneDrive because it is stopping me from using anything because it has filled itself with stuff... and I hear the next generation of Windows will be more bloated with AI. I have a 128GB drive, have four major apps (IDE, LibreOffice, FireFox, GiMP) and I struggle to keep 15GB available for Windows updates... crazyness.

Thank you for the help.

6

As far as I know, there isn't any uninstaller in the ZIP package. It is only in the EXE installer package (NSIS).

The .exe installer file can actually be extracted if you only want to obtain files out of it without performing an installation. You need an extraction utility that supports NSIS type archives. I use the excellent open source 7-Zip tool for this purpose:

8

My final "tree"...

C:\Program Files\Arduino IDE
C:\Users\user\.arduinoIDE

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\arduino
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\arduino\sketches\*.*

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\arduino-ide-updater\*.*

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Arduino15
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Arduino15\staging\libraries\*.*
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Arduino15\staging\packages\*.*
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Arduino15\tmp\*.*

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\arduino-ide
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\Arduino IDE

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino*.*
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\.arduino*.*

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\arduino-ide
C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Arduino IDE

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\ArduinoCloudAgent
C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\ArduinoCreateAgent

And... uninstalled MicrosoftOneDrive...

9

You need to clean the Registry.
You can use CCleaner, among others.

10

Yes, I recognize that... and fear it... so avoid it.

... and then...

I started with 52.4GB of free drive space.
I installed IDE 2.3.9 and the free drive space went to 51.3GB
I uninstalled IDE 2.3.9 and free drive space went to 51.8GM so it left behind .6GB of stuff
I installed IDE 2.3.9 again and free drive space went to 51.1GB without adding libraries or BSPs.
I installed ESP32 BSP to use Nesso N1 and free drive space went to 43.6GB (7.5GB for ESP)
I launched IDE 2.3.9 and free drive space went to 43.1GB.

11

Was part of that the auto-update cache? I saw you posted that you found the installer archive package in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\arduino-ide-updater\. That file should be 150 MB, so pretty close to the 0.2 GB additional disk space usage compared to the first time you installed 2.3.9.

12

My system is now settled around 43GB free space. I still need a few more BSPs and libraries. I wanted ESP32 BSP first to start my Nesso Dead Battery recovery ( Dead Nesso N1 - sorta sad - #24 by ubidefeo )

I opted to find the remaining parts of the IDE, then "install...uninstall...install" rather that try to run the original .exe. I do not have "two IDE instances" showing when I use Windows 11 START >> IDE >> (choice of two IDEs) or right-click on an .INO >> OPEN WITH >> (two IDEs).

The registry is probably suffering... but things have been running nicely... I also moved all my files to a local drive and uninstalled OneDrive. Things "work" now.

Thank you for all the help.

13

If you are trying to be careful about disk space, you can delete the C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Arduino15\staging\ folder after you get done installing all your boards platforms.

Arduino IDE stores the downloaded archives for the installed platforms and tool dependencie there. It is kind of convenient to have those archives on your hard drive in the rare case where you might uninstall and then reinstall a platform (or another platform with the same tool dependency), as Arduino IDE will use the files from the staging folder if present rather than downloading fresh copies from the Internet. However, the contents of this folder are not at all required for the functioning of Arduino IDE or the platforms. So this is a good target for cleanup if you are trying to free disk space.