How to uninstall plugins in Eclipse 3.4.X or higher

Question

The GUI for managing plugins in Eclipse got a bit of an overhaul in version 3.4.0. This GUI is accessed via the "Software Updates..." option in the Help menu.

The option to remove the selected Mylyn plugin is greyed out. In fact, this is true of virtually every installed plugin. I know that the Mylyn plugins are optional, so why amn't I provided with an option to remove them?

Answer 1

While Help → About Eclipse IDE [or wherever it was in the past or will be in the future] → Installation Details → Installed Software → Uninstall... is the official and preferred way there are features/plugins the latter button of which is disabled.

Remember also that there aren't only plugins but features too. In my case I wanted to remove Mylyn and Wild Web Developer from a rather fresh Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers package. I did the following.

But first a:

DISCLAIMER
Enter ECLIPSE_HOME at your own risk. Mistakes like typos might be in the following, too. I take no responsibility for whatsoever.

• Created the directories features.DISABLED and plugins.DISABLED in Eclipse's home dir.
• Moved *mylyn* from ECLIPSE_HOME/features to ECLIPSE_HOME/features.DISABLED
• Moved *wildwebdeveloper* from ECLIPSE_HOME/features to ECLIPSE_HOME/features.DISABLED
• Moved *mylyn* from ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins to ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins.DISABLED
• Moved *wildwebdeveloper* from ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins to ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins.DISABLED

After starting Eclipse there were about a dozen "not found" errors in Eclipse's Error Log view. If you double-click on each of them you can see which dependency plugin JAR(s) haven't been found.

• Set the Error Log view's filter to just display errors and warnings.
• Moved the dependency plugin *.jars mentioned in the errors from ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins.DISABLED back to ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins one by one (with Eclipse restart after each) until no "not found" error appeared in the view any longer. It were nine *mylyn*.jars in the end.:

*.mylyn.commons.core_*
*.mylyn.commons.net_*
*.mylyn.commons.notifications.core_*
*.mylyn.commons.notifications.ui_*
*.mylyn.commons.screenshots.ui_*
*.mylyn.commons.ui_*
*.mylyn.commons.workbench_*
*.mylyn.commons.wikitext.markdown_*
*.mylyn.commons.wikitext.*

Note that this applies to a rather fresh Eclipse 2021-03 (4.19.0) installation. It might be different from one – even patch – version to the other.

Furthermore:

• Keep Eclipse's Error Log view open for a while. The underlying OSGi activates bundles (plugins) on the fly if they are referenced from an other bundle (plugin) for the first time. And if one isn't there then...

• Check the Error Log view especially after installing new features/plugins. They might rely on plugins/JARs you moved to .DISABLED. If that's the case move the according JAR(s) back to ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins and/or ECLIPSE_HOME/features.

• If something doesn't work as it did in the past once in the future remember what you did and ... → Error Log view.

Answer 2

The following text is quoted from the Eclipse help docs:

The Uninstall wizard allows you to review and uninstall items in your configuration. This wizard is shown when you select items and press Uninstall... from the Installed Software page. To uninstall software from your system:

1. Click Help > About and then click Installation Details... to open a dialog showing pages that provide more detail about your installation.

2. Click the Installed Software tab to see a list of the software items that you have installed into your system.

3. Select the items that you wish to uninstall.

   Click Uninstall...

The Uninstall Details page will show you a list of the items that will be uninstalled. Expanding each item will show what additional items (if any) will be uninstalled as a result of your choice.

If you change your mind about which items should be uninstalled, you may click Back to see a checkmark list of the items you selected before. You may check and uncheck different items in the list, and click Next when you are ready to continue.

5. Click Finish to start the uninstall.

Once all of the software is uninstalled successfully, you will be prompted to restart for the Workbench. Click Yes when asked to exit and restart the Workbench for the changes to take effect.

Answer 3

In eclipse Helios (version 3.6), to uninstall a plugin:

1. Go to Help->Install New Software...
2. Click on "What is already installed?" link at the bottom right side of the dialog
3. In the Installed Software tab choose the software you want to uninstall
4. Click on the "Uninstall..." button at the bottom
5. Click 'Finish' on the Uninstall Details dialog
6. Observe the 'Uninstalling Software %' status at the bottom status bar of eclipse
7. Click 'Restart Now' when prompted to do so.

Eclipse restarts. Choose the workspace. Now when you go again to the Installed Software window , you do not find the uninstalled software.

Answer 4

If you are using Windows, make sure you are running Eclipse as administrator. Without administrator privileges, some options may be grayed-out in "Installed Software".

Answer 5

In Eclipse 3.6 Helios, the interface has changed again. Go to "About Eclipse", and then click the "Installation Details" button in the about box.

Answer 6

I just don't know what the hell these Eclipse developers are thinking! Removing plug-ins from Eclipse became a pain in the ass since Helios!

I hear you pal... I just went through the whole day trying to figure out as no one seems to give an straight answer like "do this, that, done." Man I'd rather be programming instead....

Found, in the middle of my evening that it is possible to uninstall pretty much everything. The issue is that the damn thing is hidden in the "HELP->ABOUT". Who would guess after going over and over through the "Help->Install New Software" or "Help->Check for updates" and never finding anything like "remove" or "reinstall" or "force reinstall". Seriouly, I'd rather go back to 1990 when we had Microsoft, Borland and Watcom.. you picked your platform and you'd be with 1/3 of the world of developers with you.. ok, perhaps Watcom didn't hit that mark but you get the point.

So... to uninstall any plugin from Eclipse Helios (Service Release 1) or Springsource 3.5.2 (or 3.6.1 I 'm using), do this:

1. close all your projects (just to be on the safe side);
2. Hit menu "HELP-->ABOUT" (yeah.. help, about);
3. Hit "Installation Details" button and you get the list with all plugins;
4. Click on the one you want to remove; hit uninstall;
5. If want to remove more than one, just apply the change without restart;
6. Goto to 4) as needed
7. Finally, restart Eclipse and reinstall what you need !

It was hard to find, but it worked very well for me.

Answer 7

And just to update it for Helios - Eclipse 3.6

Help->Install New Software at the bottom of dialog there is link What is already installed once you click on that you will get list of installed plugins and Uninstal... button

Answer 8

eclipse 3.5(Galieo) Help>> Install New Software >> Already Installed Plugins >> select Plugins >> Uninstall works charm.

Answer 9

It sure looks like there's no way to do this.

I just had exactly this problem with a fresh download of the Eclipse Java IDE (Ganymede SR2). I didn't want Mylyn, but I didn't want "Eclipse Classic", either, because the download was twice the size, I presume because it includes source.

The apparent solution was to update everything and restart Eclipse, after which the "Uninstall..." button became enabled for the Mylyn plugins. Unfortunately, this only uninstalled the most recent, updated version (3.0.11 IIRC), reverting to the un-uninstallable 3.0.5.

Answer 10

There are distributions of Eclipse that come packaged with certain plugins that can't be mix-and-matched. That is the case with Mylyn, that went from a student's thesis project to an integral part of Eclipse. If you want to actually get rid of Mylyn, you may want to install Eclipse classic instead of the distribution you have, and then install the stuff you need.

The standard Eclipse distributions come with Myln.

BTW, Eclipser 3.5 completely changes all these screens :(

Answer 11

I'm running (a relatively fresh copy of) 3.4.1. I was able to select the same plug-in shown in your screen shot (Mylyn Bridge: Java Development) to get an enabled "Uninstall..." button. I'd suggest getting the latest updates and trying again.