Does Calibre change the registry in Win 11?

Rellwood · 09-17-2025, 12:42 PM

I was reading a post on reddit where someone is complaining that Calibre leaves a lot of things behind after uninstallation on Windows 11. This is new to me because I have never come across it leaving anything behind.

r/ereader "Is Calibre still "the tool"

Comment:

IceburgCastaway
Folks say Calibre is THE tool for ebooks. I say it's the software from hell when it comes to uninstallation from Windows 11. It leaves dozens of entries in the registry that have to be manually deleted one by one otherwise you will continue to see several meaningless calibre related entries remaining in file explorer context menus.

BetterRed · 09-17-2025, 06:31 PM

Which file explorer context menus they vary by file system object class (folder, file, device etc) and file type (EXE, TXT, EPUB, PNG etc) ?

The Windows Installer adds a quite a few which it removes on uninstall, or it did when I checked a while back. But it won't remove things added by the user - e.g. File explorer->Open with entries or Environment Variables (e.g. CALIBRE_TEMP_DIR).

Have a look for yourself using Nirsoft's Regscanner before and after doing an uninstall:

Click image for larger version

Name: Screenshot 2025-09-18 082511.jpg
Views: 43
Size: 149.3 KB
ID: 218134

BR

theducks · 09-17-2025, 07:11 PM

Calibre leaves the LIBRARY and the USER configuration.
This is a safety, that allows for version rollback and maintaing settings.

If you really want a Library GONE, you FIRST use the Remove Library on the library icon. This make Calibre forget it was used. The last step in the process, tells yo to use the fire manager to DELETE the Library folder.

Some folk can't seem to handle 3 clicks

kovidgoyal · 09-17-2025, 10:53 PM

It doesnt. The uninstaller removes everything the installer creates. There are the file type handler entries that calibre creates that are not removed on uninstall as they are not created by the installer because they are per user and the installer runs system wide. These are harmless but can be trivially removed with a single command at any time:

calibre-debug --default-programs=uninstall

Reddit is full of people that *think* they know a lot more than they actually do.

09-17-2025, 12:42 PM	#1
Rellwood Library Breeder (She/Her) Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1937893 Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Fullerton, California Device: Paperwhite 2015 (2), PW 2024 (12 GEN), PW 2023 (11 GEN), Scribe (1st)	Does Calibre change the registry in Win 11? I was reading a post on reddit where someone is complaining that Calibre leaves a lot of things behind after uninstallation on Windows 11. This is new to me because I have never come across it leaving anything behind. r/ereader "Is Calibre still "the tool" Comment: IceburgCastaway Folks say Calibre is THE tool for ebooks. I say it's the software from hell when it comes to uninstallation from Windows 11. It leaves dozens of entries in the registry that have to be manually deleted one by one otherwise you will continue to see several meaningless calibre related entries remaining in file explorer context menus. Last edited by Rellwood; 09-17-2025 at 12:45 PM.

09-17-2025, 06:31 PM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,939 Karma: 30277294 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Which file explorer context menus they vary by file system object class (folder, file, device etc) and file type (EXE, TXT, EPUB, PNG etc) ? The Windows Installer adds a quite a few which it removes on uninstall, or it did when I checked a while back. But it won't remove things added by the user - e.g. File explorer->Open with entries or Environment Variables (e.g. CALIBRE_TEMP_DIR). Have a look for yourself using Nirsoft's Regscanner before and after doing an uninstall: BR

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Calibre with Win 8.1	clockmaker	Related Tools	3	07-09-2014 01:02 AM
How do I import Calibre settings from regular Win Calibre to Calibre Portable?	ABW	Calibre	9	05-20-2013 02:34 PM
Is it possible to change Calibre-Server.exe to change to a service for Windows	roadrunnerm	Calibre	1	10-19-2012 06:44 PM
Win Vista to Win 7 Upgrade messed up Calibre	Amy44	Calibre	2	06-01-2010 10:12 PM
Unutterably Silly Win a Kindle rules change...	pshrynk	Lounge	47	02-19-2009 09:43 AM

09-17-2025, 07:11 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,201 Karma: 60406678 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre leaves the LIBRARY and the USER configuration. This is a safety, that allows for version rollback and maintaing settings. If you really want a Library GONE, you FIRST use the Remove Library on the library icon. This make Calibre forget it was used. The last step in the process, tells yo to use the fire manager to DELETE the Library folder. Some folk can't seem to handle 3 clicks

09-17-2025, 10:53 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,561 Karma: 28548962 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	It doesnt. The uninstaller removes everything the installer creates. There are the file type handler entries that calibre creates that are not removed on uninstall as they are not created by the installer because they are per user and the installer runs system wide. These are harmless but can be trivially removed with a single command at any time: calibre-debug --default-programs=uninstall Reddit is full of people that think they know a lot more than they actually do.

Advert