How to Uninstall ComfyUI Completely (Windows, Mac, Linux): Desktop, Portable and Manual

Uninstalling ComfyUI sounds simple, but it is easy to get wrong. Depending on how you installed it, ComfyUI can leave tens or even hundreds of gigabytes of models, outputs and caches behind. Worse, a careless delete can wipe models you spent days downloading.

This guide shows how to uninstall ComfyUI completely on Windows, macOS and Linux, for every install type: the Comfy Desktop app, the Windows portable build and a manual (git) install. It also shows how to keep your models and outputs, how to reinstall cleanly and how to fix common “cannot delete” problems.

Step 1: Find Out How ComfyUI Was Installed

The right steps depend on the install type. Use this table to work out which one you have.

Install type	How to recognise it	How to remove it
Comfy Desktop app	Listed in Windows Installed apps or the Mac Applications folder; opens as its own window	Uninstall the app, then delete its data folders
Windows portable	A ComfyUI_windows_portable folder with run_nvidia_gpu.bat and python_embeded	Delete the folder
Manual / git install	A ComfyUI folder you cloned, started with python main.py	Delete the folder and its virtual environment or conda env
Third-party launcher (Stability Matrix, Pinokio and similar)	Installed and started from that launcher	Remove the package from inside the launcher first

Some people have more than one. If you are not sure, search your drives for main.py next to a comfy folder, or for folders called ComfyUI-Installs and ComfyUI-Shared.

Step 2: Back Up What You Want to Keep

Deleting ComfyUI folders is permanent. Before you delete anything, copy these to another drive or folder:

Folder	What it holds	Keep it if…
models/	Checkpoints, diffusion models, LoRAs, VAEs, text encoders, upscalers	You might reinstall or use another app
output/	Every image and video you generated	You want your creations
user/	Saved workflows (user/default/workflows), settings, custom node configs	You want your workflows
custom_nodes/	Installed custom node packs	You want a list of what to reinstall
input/	Images you uploaded for img2img or editing	You need those source files

Workflows are also saved inside every PNG ComfyUI generates, so your output folder doubles as a workflow backup. See our ComfyUI workflows guide for how to load them again.

A quick way to save your custom node list is to copy the folder names from custom_nodes into a text file.

Uninstall Comfy Desktop on Windows

1. Close Comfy Desktop fully, including any tray icon.
2. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
3. Find Comfy Desktop, click the three dots and choose Uninstall.
4. Delete the leftover data if you want a full cleanup. Press Win + R, paste each path and delete the folder:

Data	Default location
App settings and install records	%APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop
Logs	%APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop\logs
ComfyUI installations	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Comfy-Desktop\ComfyUI-Installs (older installs: %USERPROFILE%\ComfyUI-Installs)
Shared models, inputs and outputs	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Comfy-Desktop\ComfyUI-Shared (older installs: %USERPROFILE%\ComfyUI-Shared)

The official ComfyUI docs are clear that uninstalling the app only removes the launcher. Your installations, shared models, outputs and settings stay on disk until you delete them yourself. Any custom install folder you picked during setup is also left behind, so check that too.

Tip: you can also delete individual ComfyUI installations from inside Comfy Desktop before uninstalling the app.

Uninstall Comfy Desktop on macOS

1. Quit Comfy Desktop (Cmd + Q).
2. Open Finder > Applications, right-click Comfy Desktop and choose Move to Trash.
3. Delete the leftover folders. In Finder press Cmd + Shift + G, paste each path and delete it:

Data	Default location
App settings and install records	~/Library/Application Support/Comfy Desktop
Logs	~/Library/Logs/Comfy Desktop
ComfyUI installations	~/ComfyUI-Installs
Shared models, inputs and outputs	~/ComfyUI-Shared

Empty the Trash to actually free the space. Model folders are large, so emptying can take a while.

Uninstall Comfy Desktop on Linux

First remove the app itself:

• .deb package: sudo apt remove comfyui-desktop-2. This also deletes its AppArmor profile. Use sudo apt purge comfyui-desktop-2 to also remove the APT source and unattended-upgrades entry.
• AppImage: delete the .AppImage file.

Neither step touches your data. For a complete cleanup, delete:

rm -rf ~/.config/comfyui-desktop-2
rm -rf ~/.local/share/comfyui-desktop-2 ~/.cache/comfyui-desktop-2 ~/.local/state/comfyui-desktop-2
rm -rf ~/ComfyUI-Installs        # your ComfyUI installations
rm -rf ~/ComfyUI-Shared          # shared models and outputs, only if you are sure

Packaged installs also keep a profile and logs in ~/.config/Comfy Desktop. The Comfy-Desktop repository includes a reset-linux.sh script that removes every known app data location while leaving ~/ComfyUI-Installs alone.

Uninstall ComfyUI Portable (Windows)

The portable build has no installer. Everything, including its own Python in python_embeded, lives inside one folder.

1. Close ComfyUI. Close the black console window and the browser tab. If unsure, open Task Manager and end any python.exe started from the portable folder.
2. Back up ComfyUI_windows_portable\ComfyUI\models, output and user if needed.
3. Delete the whole ComfyUI_windows_portable folder. For a big folder, Shift + Delete skips the Recycle Bin and is faster.
4. Delete any desktop shortcuts you made to run_nvidia_gpu.bat.

That is it. The portable build does not write to the registry or install system-wide Python, so nothing else is left except the caches covered below.

Uninstall a Manual (Git) Install

A manual install is a cloned folder plus a Python environment.

1. Stop ComfyUI (Ctrl + C in its terminal).
2. Back up models, output and user.
3. Delete the environment.
   • venv inside the folder: it goes when you delete the folder.
   • conda: conda deactivate then conda env remove -n comfyenv (use your environment name; conda env list shows it).
4. Delete the ComfyUI folder:

   # macOS / Linux
   rm -rf ~/ComfyUI
   
   # Windows PowerShell
   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force C:\path\to\ComfyUI

5. Remove startup scripts or services you created, such as a systemd unit or a desktop launcher.

Do not uninstall your system Python or CUDA unless nothing else uses them. ComfyUI’s packages live in its own environment, so deleting that environment is enough.

Clean Up Caches and Leftovers

A few shared caches can hold several gigabytes after ComfyUI is gone. Delete them only if no other AI app on your PC uses them.

Cache	Windows	macOS / Linux	Who uses it
pip download cache	%LOCALAPPDATA%\pip\Cache	~/.cache/pip (Linux), ~/Library/Caches/pip (macOS)	Any Python project
uv cache	%LOCALAPPDATA%\uv\cache	~/.cache/uv	Desktop installs and uv users
Hugging Face cache	%USERPROFILE%\.cache\huggingface	~/.cache/huggingface	Custom nodes that download models, plus other AI tools
PyTorch hub cache	%USERPROFILE%\.cache\torch	~/.cache/torch	Some preprocessors and nodes

Safer than deleting folders by hand: run pip cache purge or uv cache clean, which clear only their own caches.

Keep Your Models for a Reinstall

If you are uninstalling to fix a broken setup, you do not need to download models again.

1. Move your models folder somewhere permanent, for example D:\AI\models.
2. Reinstall ComfyUI. Our ComfyUI install guide covers every method.
3. Point the new install at the old folder. Copy extra_model_paths.yaml.example in the ComfyUI folder to extra_model_paths.yaml and add your path, or use the Desktop app’s model folder setting.
4. Restart ComfyUI and press R in the canvas to refresh model lists.

This also lets several apps share one model library, which saves a lot of disk space.

Uninstall Just One Custom Node

Often you do not need to remove ComfyUI at all, just a broken custom node.

• ComfyUI Manager: open Manager, find the pack under installed nodes and click Uninstall, then restart. See our ComfyUI Manager guide.
• By hand: close ComfyUI and delete (or move out) the pack’s folder in ComfyUI/custom_nodes.

If ComfyUI broke after an update, try updating ComfyUI properly first. A clean update often fixes the problem without a reinstall.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
“The action can’t be completed because the folder is open in another program”	ComfyUI’s Python is still running	End python.exe in Task Manager, close terminals and Explorer windows inside the folder, then retry
“Path too long” or delete fails on Windows	Deep custom node folders	Use PowerShell Remove-Item -Recurse -Force, or rename the folder to something short like C:\x first
Disk space did not come back	Files went to the Recycle Bin or Trash	Empty the Recycle Bin or Trash
Disk space still low after uninstalling Desktop	ComfyUI-Installs and ComfyUI-Shared were left behind	Delete those folders (after backing up models)
Comfy Desktop not listed in Installed apps	You used the portable build or a manual install	Follow the portable or manual steps instead
Permission denied on Linux or Mac	Files created by another user or with sudo	Check ownership with ls -l; use sudo rm -rf carefully on the exact path
Reinstalled ComfyUI still shows old errors	Old custom nodes or settings copied back	Reinstall with an empty custom_nodes folder and add packs one by one

My Take

The biggest mistake I see is people deleting the Desktop app and thinking the job is done, while 100 GB of models sits in ComfyUI-Shared. The second biggest is the opposite: deleting everything, including models, when they only needed to fix one custom node.

So decide first: is this a full removal, or a clean reinstall? For a reinstall, move your models out, delete the rest and point the fresh install back at your models folder.

FAQ

Does uninstalling ComfyUI delete my models?

Uninstalling the Comfy Desktop app does not. Models stay in ComfyUI-Shared or your install folder. Deleting a portable or manual ComfyUI folder does delete the models inside it, so back them up first.

How do I completely remove ComfyUI from Windows?

Uninstall Comfy Desktop from Installed apps, then delete %APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Comfy-Desktop and any older %USERPROFILE%\ComfyUI-Installs or ComfyUI-Shared folders. For portable, delete the portable folder.

Where are my ComfyUI workflows saved?

In ComfyUI/user/default/workflows. Every generated PNG in output also contains its workflow.

Do I need to uninstall Python or CUDA too?

No. The portable and Desktop builds bring their own Python environment. Only remove system Python or CUDA if nothing else needs them.

Can I reinstall ComfyUI without downloading models again?

Yes. Keep your models folder and point the new install at it with extra_model_paths.yaml or the Desktop model folder setting.

How much space does ComfyUI take?

The Desktop docs recommend at least 4.85 GB per installation, before models. With a few image and video models, 50 to 200 GB is common.

How do I uninstall a single custom node?

Use ComfyUI Manager’s Uninstall button, or close ComfyUI and delete the pack’s folder in custom_nodes.

Sources

• ComfyUI docs: Comfy Desktop for Windows (uninstalling)
• ComfyUI docs: Comfy Desktop for macOS (uninstalling)
• ComfyUI docs: Comfy Desktop for Linux (removing leftover data)
• ComfyUI docs: ComfyUI Portable for Windows
• ComfyUI docs: Manual install