If you’ve tried Wuthering Waves and found it’s not the right open-world RPG for you, or you’re freeing up space for a new game release, or you’re troubleshooting constant crashes that won’t go away with basic fixes, you’ve probably already tried clicking the standard uninstall button. But if you’re reading this, you likely know that basic removal leaves gigabytes of junk behind, from old shader caches to broken registry entries that cause pop-up errors for weeks after the game is gone. Learning how to fully uninstall Wuthering Waves isn’t just about deleting an icon from your desktop—it’s about getting back all that wasted storage and preventing annoying system issues down the line. I went through this process myself last month when I needed to free up 90GB of space for a different game, and I was shocked to find 17GB of leftover files even after I ran the official uninstaller. I put together this guide based on that experience, so you don’t have to hunt through random folders on your own to get a clean removal.
Pre-Uninstall Checks You Should Do First
Before you start clicking uninstall buttons, there are a few quick checks you need to run to make sure the process goes smoothly, no errors, no locked files, no lost progress if you plan to come back to the game later. Skipping these steps is the top reason people end up with half-uninstalled game files that they can’t delete without restarting their PC multiple times. The three most important checks are:
- Back up local save files stored in your Documents/WutheringWaves/Saved/SaveGames folder to an external drive or cloud storage if you want to keep your progress for future play sessions
- End all Wuthering Waves and launcher processes via Task Manager (look for WutheringWaves.exe, WuWaLauncher.exe, and any related background updater processes) to avoid file lock errors during uninstall
- Disable auto-launch settings for the game launcher if you have it set to open on PC startup, to prevent it from running mid-uninstall
For example, I forgot to end the launcher process on my first uninstall attempt, and I kept getting a “file in use” error that stopped the process halfway through. I had to restart my PC and start over, which added 10 minutes to the whole process. Taking 2 minutes to run these checks saves you that headache.
How to Fully Uninstall Wuthering Waves Manually, Step by Step
Once you’ve completed the pre-uninstall checks, you can move on to removing the core game files. The exact process varies slightly depending on how you installed the game, but all these methods are tested and work for both the official launcher and Steam versions. If you used the official Kuro Games launcher to install Wuthering Waves, open the launcher, click the gear icon in the top right corner to open settings, scroll down to the bottom of the General tab, and select “Uninstall Game”. Follow the prompts that pop up, and when asked if you want to delete user data and save files, select “Yes” unless you plan to reinstall the game in the next few weeks.
If you installed the game via Steam, open your Steam library, right-click Wuthering Waves in your game list, hover over “Manage”, then select “Uninstall”. Confirm the prompt, and Steam will handle removing the core game files automatically. If you don’t see Wuthering Waves in either your launcher or Steam library, you can use Windows’ built-in app removal tool. Open Windows Settings, go to Apps > Installed Apps, search for Wuthering Waves in the search bar, click the three dots next to the game name, select “Uninstall”, and follow the wizard prompts.
Do not cancel the uninstall process halfway even if it looks frozen—the game is over 80GB, so it can take a few minutes for the system to process all the file deletions, especially if you have it installed on a HDD instead of an SSD. Once the uninstall wizard finishes, you’ve removed the bulk of the game files, but you’re not done yet. There are still hidden leftover files that most users miss.
How to Remove Hidden Leftover Files After Uninstall
The official uninstall process only removes the main game assets, launchers, and core files. It leaves behind all kinds of hidden files that can take up 10 to 20GB of storage space, from crash logs and shader caches to temporary download files and user configs. These files don’t just take up space—they can also cause conflicts if you ever reinstall the game later, leading to random crashes or poor performance even on a fresh install.
First, check the original installation folder to make sure it’s fully deleted. If you used the default install path, look for folders named Wuthering Waves or WuWaLauncher in C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files (x86), or your dedicated games drive if you use one. If the folder is still there, delete it manually, as long as you don’t have any other Kuro Games installed that use the same launcher. Next, clear out the app data folders. Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type %appdata% and hit enter. Look for any folders named Wuthering Waves, WuWa, or Kuro Games, and delete them if you don’t play any other Kuro titles. Repeat the process with %localappdata% in the Run dialog—this is where most of the shader cache, crash log, and temporary download files are stored, so you’ll often find several gigabytes of junk here related to the game.
You should also check your Documents folder, as Wuthering Waves stores local save files, screenshots, and custom config files there by default. Delete that folder if you don’t need your save progress anymore. The last step is cleaning up leftover registry entries. Only edit the Windows Registry if you are comfortable navigating it, because incorrect changes can break your operating system entirely. If you know what you’re doing, open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Run dialog, go to HKEYCURRENTUSER\Software, look for the Kuro Games or Wuthering Waves folder, and delete it. Repeat the same process in HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE to remove any system-wide registry entries. If you’re not comfortable editing the registry, you can use a trusted free registry cleaner tool that’s designed to remove leftover game entries safely.
Common Uninstall Mistakes to Avoid For a Clean Removal
Most people run into issues with leftover files or uninstall errors because they make one of a few very common mistakes that are easy to avoid if you know what to look for. The first mistake is deleting the game folder directly instead of using the official uninstaller. It might seem faster to just select the folder and hit delete, but this leaves all the launcher files, registry entries, and scheduled update tasks intact. I made this mistake on my first ever WuWa uninstall, and I kept getting pop-up error messages from the hidden launcher process every time I turned on my PC for two weeks, until I went back and ran the proper uninstall steps.
The second mistake is leaving the WuWa launcher installed when you don’t play any other Kuro Games. The launcher itself takes up 3 to 5GB of space, and it runs background processes every time you start your PC to check for game updates, even if you don’t have the game installed anymore. Uninstall the launcher the same way you uninstall the game, via Settings > Apps, to get rid of those background processes. The third mistake is ignoring temporary file folders when you’re cleaning up leftovers. Many users remember to delete the main install and app data folders, but forget that Windows stores temporary download files for game updates in a separate temp folder. You can clear this folder by typing %temp% in the Run dialog and deleting all the files you can (some will be in use by other apps, that’s fine, just skip those).
If you plan to reinstall Wuthering Waves in the future, keep only your save files and delete all other leftover data to avoid conflicts that cause crashes or frame drops on your new install. That way you get the benefit of keeping your progress without the risk of old broken files messing up your new install.
Uninstalling a game seems like a simple task, but doing it properly saves you a ton of storage space and prevents annoying system glitches that pop up out of nowhere weeks later. Now that you know how to fully uninstall Wuthering Waves, you can free up that 80+ GB of space for other games, or do a clean reinstall if you were troubleshooting performance issues that wouldn’t go away with basic fixes. If you’re just taking a break from exploring Jinzhou, don’t forget to back up your save files before you start the process, so you can jump right back into your progress if you decide to return to the game later.