# Uninstalling DDEV

A DDEV installation consists of:

- The self-contained `ddev` binary.
- Each project’s `.ddev` directory.
- The global `$HOME/.ddev` directory where various global items are stored. (This directory can be [moved](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/architecture/#global-files>) to another location.)
- The global `$HOME/.ddev_mutagen_data_directory` directory where Mutagen sync data may be stored.
- The associated Docker images, containers and volumes DDEV created.
- Any entries in `/etc/hosts`.

Please use [`ddev snapshot`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#snapshot>) or [`ddev export-db`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#export-db>) to make backups of your databases before deleting projects or uninstalling.

You can use [`ddev clean`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#clean>) to uninstall the vast majority of things DDEV has touched. For example, `ddev clean <project>` or `ddev clean --all`.

To uninstall one project, run [`ddev delete <project>`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#delete>). This removes any hostnames in `/etc/hosts` and removes your database. If you don’t want it to make a database backup/snapshot on the way down, include the `--omit-snapshot` option: `ddev delete --omit-snapshot <project>`.

To remove all DDEV-owned `/etc/hosts` entries: [`ddev hostname --remove-inactive`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#hostname>).

To remove the global `.ddev` directory: `rm -r $HOME/.ddev`.

To remove the global `.ddev_mutagen_data_directory` directory: `ddev poweroff && rm -r $HOME/.ddev_mutagen_data_directory`.

If you installed Docker only for DDEV and want to uninstall it with all containers and images, uninstall it for your version of Docker.

Otherwise:

- Remove Docker images from before the current DDEV release with [`ddev delete images`](<https://ddev.github.io/ddev/en/stable/users/usage/commands/#delete-images>).
- Remove all DDEV Docker containers that might still exist: `docker rm $(docker ps -a | awk '/ddev/ { print $1 }')`.
- Remove all DDEV Docker images that might exist: `docker rmi $(docker images | awk '/ddev/ {print $3}')`.
- Remove all Docker images of any type (does no harm; they’ll be re-downloaded): `docker rmi -f $(docker images -q)`.
- Remove any Docker volumes: `docker volume rm $(docker volume ls | awk '/ddev|-mariadb/ { print $2 }')`.

To remove the `ddev` binary:

- Find the binary location with `which -a ddev`, you may have several binaries installed in different ways. The output will give you a general idea of how you installed it.
- On macOS or Linux with Homebrew, `brew uninstall ddev`.
- For Linux or other simple installs, remove the binary. Example: `sudo rm /usr/local/bin/ddev`. For Linux installed via apt, `sudo apt-get remove ddev`.
- On Windows, if you used the DDEV Windows installer, use the uninstall on the Start Menu or in the “Add or Remove Programs” section of Windows Settings.