Uninstalling the host agent on Windows

You can uninstall the Instana agent on Windows by using either a graphical user interface (GUI) method or a command-line method.

Before you begin

Before you uninstall the Instana agent, you must uninstall any tracers (or in-process collectors) that are installed in your application runtimes.

If your host contains PHP runtimes and PHP tracing is enabled (by default) in the agent configuration.yaml file, uninstall the PHP tracer by following the steps in Disabling PHP tracing.

Uninstalling by using the GUI

Complete the following steps to uninstall the Instana agent by using the Windows graphical user interface:

  1. Stop the Instana agent by running the following command: 
    <instana-agent-install-dir>\bin\stop.bat

  2. Uninstall any tracer components as described in the Before you begin section.

  3. Go to Settings > Apps & features.

  4. Find and select Instana agent version in the list of installed applications.

  5. Click Uninstall and follow the prompts to complete the uninstallation.

Uninstalling by using the command line

You can use the command-line method to uninstall the Instana agent in automated or scripted deployment scenarios. This method is suitable for enterprise environments that require scriptable operations and works with both default and custom installation paths.

Complete the following steps to uninstall the Instana agent by using the command line:

  1. Stop the Instana agent by running the following command: 
    <instana-agent-install-dir>\bin\stop.bat

  2. Uninstall any tracer components as described in the Before you begin section.

  3. Navigate to the directory that contains the instana-agent-windows-64bit.exe file.

  4. Run the following command to uninstall the agent:

    .\instana-agent-windows-64bit.exe -uninstall -quiet

    The -uninstall parameter removes the Instana agent from the system, and the -quiet parameter runs the uninstallation without user interaction.

  5. Verify that the agent is removed. If needed, manually remove any remaining folders or registry entries.

Limitations

Be aware of the following limitations when you use the command-line uninstallation method:

  • The uninstall command might not remove all folders or certain registry entries. You might need to manually remove these items after uninstallation.
  • Tracer components are not automatically removed. You must manually uninstall tracers before you run the uninstall command.
  • Future releases might include improvements to the cleanup process.