The Problem

Currently, the official install scripts make it incredibly easy to get Ollama running, but there is no readily discoverable documentation or automated method for cleanly uninstalling it. Users who want to remove the software or do a clean reinstall are often left guessing which directories to clean up, occasionally leaving gigabytes of orphaned model weights behind.

The Proposed Solution

I have reverse-engineered the official install.sh and install.ps1 scripts to create accurate, manual teardown commands for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

In addition to the documentation, I have written three interactive uninstall scripts (.sh and .ps1). These scripts:

• Safely stop background services/processes.
• Remove binaries, symlinks, and systemd files.
• Clean up dedicated system users (Linux).
• Interactively prompt the user, asking if they want to keep or delete their downloaded .ollama models.

Handing over the baton

I am relatively new to GitHub, so I am opening this Issue rather than a Pull Request. I am offering these scripts and the README addition as a community contribution for the Ollama team to adopt, modify, and maintain moving forward as you see fit!

1. The Proposed README Additions (Uninstall.md):

🤖 The Ollama Uninstall Guide MacOS/Windows/Linux

Currently, the official install scripts make it incredibly easy to get Ollama running, but there is no readily discoverable documentation for cleanly uninstalling it.

I propose adding a dedicated Uninstall.md file to the repository. Placing this in its own explicitly named file makes it much easier for users to find when they need to remove the software or do a clean reinstall, rather than burying it inside a general troubleshooting guide.

Below, you will find the accurate, reverse-engineered manual teardown commands for macOS, Windows, and Linux. I have also included interactive script files (.sh and .ps1) in this folder if you prefer an automated one-click removal.

[!WARNING] Regarding model data: The optional manual commands below to remove the .ollama directories will completely wipe your downloaded models and cache. If using the automated scripts, you will be interactively prompted to keep or delete these files.

Package Manager Note: These teardowns and scripts are designed only for users who installed Ollama via the official download links or curl scripts. If you installed Ollama using a package manager (like Homebrew, Winget, Chocolatey, or Docker), please use your package manager's native uninstall commands instead.

🍎 macOS

The Setup: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh The Reality: The Mac script is essentially a downloader. It downloads a compressed .zip file containing Ollama.app, extracts it directly into /Applications, and creates a symbolic link in /usr/local/bin so the terminal recognizes the ollama command. It stores downloaded model blobs in ~/.ollama.

The Accurate Teardown:

# 1. Kill any running Ollama processes
pkill -f ollama

# 2. Remove the symlink created by the script
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/ollama

# 3. Remove the core application bundle
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Ollama.app

# 4. Wipe the model directory and cache
rm -rf ~/.ollama

The Automated Method (Using the Script): If you prefer not to enter the commands manually, you can use the included uninstall-mac.sh script. This script executes the teardown safely and will interactively ask if you want to keep or delete your downloaded models.

• Open Terminal and navigate to the directory containing the script.
• Make it executable: chmod +x uninstall-mac.sh
• Run the script: ./uninstall-mac.sh

[!NOTE] You will be prompted for your administrator password to remove the application bundle.

[!TIP] ✅ Verify Uninstallation

To confirm that Ollama has been completely removed from your system, and to check if any heavy model weights were left behind, run this quick check in your terminal:

if ! command -v ollama &> /dev/null; then if [ -d ~/.ollama ]; then echo -e "✅ Ollama app is removed, but model weights remain.\n💡 To delete them, run: rm -rf ~/.ollama"; else echo "✅ Ollama and all model weights have been completely removed."; fi; else echo "❌ Ollama is still installed."; fi

🪟 Windows

The Setup: irm https://ollama.com/install.ps1 | iex The Reality: The PowerShell script does not install Ollama manually. It simply downloads OllamaSetup.exe into a temporary directory and executes it with a silent flag (/SILENT). The .exe then writes the core application into your Local AppData folder and registers an official uninstaller (unins000.exe) with Windows. Models are saved in C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.ollama.

The Accurate Teardown (via PowerShell as Administrator):

# 1. Kill the background Ollama processes
Stop-Process -Name "ollama" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Stop-Process -Name "ollama app" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# 2. Trigger the official uninstaller exactly as Windows would, but silently
$UninstallExe = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Ollama\unins000.exe"
if (Test-Path $UninstallExe) {
    Start-Process -FilePath $UninstallExe -ArgumentList "/VERYSILENT", "/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES", "/NORESTART" -Wait
}

# 3. Clean up any orphaned AppData folders left behind
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# 4. Wipe the downloaded models
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

The Automated Method (Using the Script): If you prefer not to enter the commands manually, you can use the included uninstall-windows.ps1 script. This script triggers the silent uninstaller, cleans up orphaned folders, and interactively asks if you want to keep or delete your downloaded models.

Method 1 (File Explorer): Right-click the uninstall-windows.ps1 and select Run with PowerShell. Click "Yes" if prompted by UAC. Method 2 (Terminal): Open PowerShell as Administrator, navigate to the script's folder, and run: .\uninstall-windows.ps1

[!TIP] ✅ Verify Uninstallation

To confirm that Ollama has been completely removed from your system, and to check if any heavy model weights were left behind, run this quick check in PowerShell:

if (!(Get-Command ollama -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) { if (Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.ollama") { Write-Host "✅ Ollama app is removed, but model weights remain.`n💡 To delete them, run: Remove-Item -Recurse -Force `"$env:USERPROFILE\.ollama`"" -ForegroundColor Yellow } else { Write-Host "✅ Ollama and all model weights have been completely removed." -ForegroundColor Green } } else { Write-Host "❌ Ollama is still installed." -ForegroundColor Red }

🐧 Linux

The Setup: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh The Reality: The Linux script does heavy system-level configuration. It downloads the raw executable to /usr/local/bin/ollama, creates a dedicated background ollama user account (so the service can run securely without your personal user account), generates a systemd service file in /etc/systemd/system/, and sets the default model storage to /usr/share/ollama.

The Accurate Teardown:

# 1. Stop and disable the background service
sudo systemctl stop ollama
sudo systemctl disable ollama

# 2. Remove the systemd service file and refresh the daemon
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# 3. Remove the binaries
sudo rm $(which ollama)
# (Optional fallback if the script placed libraries here)
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/ollama 

# 4. Delete the dedicated system user and group created by the script
sudo userdel ollama
sudo groupdel ollama

# 5. Wipe the root-level model directory
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/ollama

# 6. Wipe any local user models (if you ran models without the system service)
sudo rm -rf ~/.ollama

The Automated Method (Using the Script): If you prefer not to enter the commands manually, you can use the included uninstall-linux.sh script. This script safely stops the systemd services, removes the binaries and dedicated system user, and interactively asks if you want to keep or delete your downloaded models.

• Open Terminal and navigate to the directory containing the script.
• Make it executable: chmod +x uninstall-linux.sh
• Run the script: ./uninstall-linux.sh

[!NOTE] You will be prompted for your sudo password to cleanly remove the background services and system user.

[!TIP] ✅ Verify Uninstallation

To confirm that Ollama has been completely removed from your system, and to check if any heavy model weights were left behind, run this quick check in your terminal:

if ! command -v ollama &> /dev/null; then if [ -d ~/.ollama ] || [ -d /usr/share/ollama ]; then echo -e "✅ Ollama app is removed, but model weights remain.\n💡 To delete them, run: sudo rm -rf ~/.ollama /usr/share/ollama"; else echo "✅ Ollama and all model weights have been completely removed."; fi; else echo "❌ Ollama is still installed."; fi

2. MacOS Uninstall Script (uninstall-mac.sh):

#!/bin/bash

echo "🍎 Uninstalling Ollama for macOS..."

1. Kill running processes

pkill -f ollama

2. Remove symlink and application bundle

echo "Removing application files (you may be prompted for your password)..." sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/ollama sudo rm -rf /Applications/Ollama.app

3. Prompt for model deletion

echo "" read -p "⚠️ Do you want to entirely delete all downloaded models and cache? (y/N): " wipe_models

if [[ "$wipe_models" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then rm -rf ~/.ollama echo "🗑️ Models and cache deleted." else echo "💾 Models retained in ~/.ollama." fi

echo "✅ Ollama uninstalled successfully."

3. Linux Uninstall Script (uninstall-linux.sh):

#!/bin/bash

echo "🐧 Uninstalling Ollama for Linux..." echo "Stopping services and removing binaries (you may be prompted for your password)..."

1. Stop and disable the background service

sudo systemctl stop ollama 2>/dev/null sudo systemctl disable ollama 2>/dev/null

2. Remove the systemd service file and refresh the daemon

sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service sudo systemctl daemon-reload

3. Remove the binaries and libraries

OLLAMA_BIN=$(which ollama 2>/dev/null) if [ -n "$OLLAMA_BIN" ]; then sudo rm -f "$OLLAMA_BIN" fi sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/ollama

4. Delete the dedicated system user and group

sudo userdel ollama 2>/dev/null sudo groupdel ollama 2>/dev/null

5. Prompt for model deletion

echo "" read -p "⚠️ Do you want to entirely delete all downloaded models and cache? (y/N): " wipe_models

if [[ "$wipe_models" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then sudo rm -rf /usr/share/ollama sudo rm -rf ~/.ollama echo "🗑️ Models and cache deleted." else echo "💾 Models retained in /usr/share/ollama and ~/.ollama." fi

echo "✅ Ollama uninstalled successfully."

4. Windows Uninstall Script (uninstall-windows.ps1):

<# .SYNOPSIS Uninstalls Ollama from Windows, with an option to wipe downloaded models. Requires Administrator privileges. #>

Write-Host "🪟 Uninstalling Ollama for Windows..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

1. Kill background processes

Stop-Process -Name "ollama" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Stop-Process -Name "ollama app" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

2. Trigger the official uninstaller silently

$UninstallExe = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Ollama\unins000.exe" if (Test-Path $UninstallExe) { Write-Host "Running official uninstaller..." Start-Process -FilePath $UninstallExe -ArgumentList "/VERYSILENT", "/SUPPRESSMSGBOXES", "/NORESTART" -Wait }

3. Clean up orphaned AppData folders

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

4. Prompt for model deletion

Write-Host "" $wipeModels = Read-Host "⚠️ Do you want to entirely delete all downloaded models and cache? (y/N)"

if ($wipeModels -match "^[Yy]") { Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:USERPROFILE.ollama" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Write-Host "🗑️ Models and cache deleted." -ForegroundColor Red } else { Write-Host "💾 Models retained in $env:USERPROFILE.ollama." -ForegroundColor Green }

Write-Host "✅ Ollama uninstalled successfully." -ForegroundColor Green