Issue
I will be switching from NetBeans to Eclipse for Java development, and want to know what will happen to my current NetBeans project files before doing so. Will uninstalling NetBeans delete my project files and folders? What is the proper way to uninstall so no important files are lost?
Solution
Will uninstalling NetBeans delete my project files and folders?
No, definitely not. They will still be there after you uninstall/delete NetBeans, unless you unwisely created projects within your NetBeans installation structure. That is highly unlikely, but I'll mention it just for completeness.
What is the proper way to uninstall so no important files are lost?
This is a moot point, since none of your project files will be lost, if that is what you mean by "important" files.
With respect to properly uninstalling NetBeans, the approach depends on how NetBeans was originally installed. There are two possibilities:
NetBeans may have been installed using an installer wizard. That was certainly the case for NetBeans 8.2 on Windows. In that scenario there will be an entry for NetBeans in Control Panel under Programs > Programs and Features. In that scenario you should just click the Uninstall button to uninstall NetBeans. (I don't whether a similar process may exist for Linux installation.)
Alternatively, NetBeans may have been installed by unzipping a downloaded zip file. That was certainly the case for Apache NetBeans 9.0 on Windows and Linux. In that scenario you should simply delete the unzipped directory to uninstall NetBeans.
However, there is an additional action to take which can potentially save you gigabytes of wasted disk space. After uninstalling NetBeans, be sure to delete two directories that were created on your behalf by NetBeans. To identify those directories, do the following prior to uninstalling NetBeans:
- Open NetBeans for the final time.
Help > About will open a screen similar to this, depending on which version of NetBeans you are uninstalling:
There are a couple of directories specified near the bottom of the screen: User directory and Cache directory. These directories contain information relevant only for NetBeans, such as configuration details, installation options, and (if you created Maven projects) a local repository.
- Take a screen shot of that About screen.
After you have uninstalled/deleted NetBeans, you should also delete the User directory and Cache directory. Without a NetBeans installation they contain nothing of any value. Get the names of those directories by referring to the screen shot you took earlier if necessary.
Other files you may want to consider removing after deleting NetBeans:
- You may want to remove JDK installations that you added to NetBeans as Java Platforms, that are no longer needed.
- If you were using NetBeans for other languages you may want to uninstall additional components (such as Cygwin for C++, Grails for Groovy, etc.).
- If you installed NetBeans by unzipping, delete the original downloaded zip file if it still exists.
Answered By - skomisa
Answer Checked By - Willingham (JavaFixing Volunteer)
