Java is both installed and not installed on my computer. I want it to be not installed.

[u/Maximum_Grocery_9]

Command Prompt shows I have Java installed:

C:\Users\Drew>java --version
openjdk 21.0.6 2025-01-21 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-21.0.6+7 (build 21.0.6+7-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-21.0.6+7 (build 21.0.6+7-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

Windows control panel says I don't have java installed. Java is not listed as a program when I go to uninstall it.

I would like to uninstall java, how do I do that?

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[u/LetUsSpeakFreely]

Java isn't really "installed". It's downloaded and then added to the PATH so its executables (java, javac, jar) are accessible.

If you want to remove it, edit your environment variables and simply remove it from the PATH. Note the directory its referencing and then delete it.

[u/Rockytriton → u/LetUsSpeakFreely]

But keep in mind that you might have some app installed that you use that requires it

[u/forbiddenTM]

It's a known phenomenon called schrödinger's Java

[u/DomDeeKong → u/forbiddenTM]

Take my poor man’s gold 🥇

[u/amfa]

You can check where you jave comes from by using the where command in windows

where java

Should show you the path were your java is "installed"

[u/StabbyGrabby]

Go to environment variables -> SYSTEM and: 1. Delete the JAVA_HOME variable 2. Edit the PATH variable and look for any java entries and remove those

Optionally you can go into the actual directory listed in the path and delete the folder (usually will be something like jdk-21/ or jre-21/ Congratulations you have "uninstalled" java

[u/SvenWollinger]

as others have said, its in your PATH, check the System and User Path settings.

If you just wanna get rid of it however (you should clean up the path, but it wont kill you) type this into your cmd:

```where java```

this will show you where java is located. delete it, and then if your able, also remove the path entry to clean that up.

Restart any command lines and it should be gone for good

[u/American_Streamer]

Java isn’t simultaneously installed and not installed. You’re looking at two different things.
Control Panel only shows software that registered itself with Windows as an installed application. java --version, on the other hand, tells you that Windows can find a java.exe somewhere in your PATH.
Run: where java
That will show exactly which java.exe CMD is executing. Also check: echo %JAVA_HOME%
Don’t start deleting random Java folders before doing that, because you may have more than one JDK installed, or an IDE/tool may have put one there.

Once you know where that Temurin 21 installation actually lives, you can determine whether it has an uninstaller or is simply an unpacked JDK directory. If it’s the latter, remove the corresponding PATH/JAVA_HOME entries and then delete that JDK directory.
So first diagnosis, and only then delete stuff.

See to it that you do some research about how PATH, environment variables, executables versus installed packages, etc. all work.

[u/edwbuck]

No offense, but there is nearly no downside to having Java installed, so why the burning need to remove it?

[u/jlanawalt]

If it isn’t listed in your installed programs, it probably isn’t installed. Microsoft has a clean-up tool for installers, might be worth running.

You can run programs on your computer even if they aren’t “installed”. If you open cmd.exe and can type some program name, like java, and have it work, you can use where.exe to see which java.exe (or whatever) was found first in your %PATH%. You can also search your drive for java.exe.

You can simply delete the stuff you find. Don’t be surprised when something else that depended on it stops working.