Guide: How To Completely Uninstall AMD Graphics Drivers

Today we would like to address an issue that many users experience when switching between AMD drivers or switching away from AMD graphics. Unlike NVIDIA, AMD does not provide a clean installation option. These leftover AMD driver remnants can often cause issues when installing new drivers or trying to roll back to older ones.

A method that is often recommended in various online forums is to use the program Driver Sweeper. However, the primary site which hosted Driver Sweeper, Guru3D, has ceased to host it. It has been speculated that the reason for this is that the newer versions of Driver Sweeper contain adware, since Phyxion (the makers of Driver Sweeper), no longer provide a stand-alone version.

Regardless, there is a better way than using Driver Sweeper, which gives the user complete control over the uninstallation process.

WARNING: Do not use this method if you have an AMD processor/chipset. This guide is only for users who have Intel processors and AMD graphics. Using this method on an AMD chipset will cause vital chipset drivers to be deleted and create system instability.

(Any time “AMD/ATI” is mentioned in this article, it refers to all files and folders containing the words “AMD” or “ATI”)

1. Click on Control Panel, and click on Uninstall a Program

2. Click on AMD Catalyst Install Manager

3. Click on Express Uninstall in the AMD Catalyst Install Manager and go through the uninstallation process, then reboot the computer.

4. Click on the Start Menu, type “Show hidden files and folders” into the search box, then press ‘Enter’.

5. Make sure you are on the “View” tab, and in the “Advanced Settings” box, scroll up to “Files and Folders”, and then the subfolder “Hidden files and folders”. Then click on “Show hidden files, folders, and drives”.
Keep in mind, in steps 7-11, there may not always be an AMD or ATI folder in the directories mentioned, but these are all the possible destinations for AMD/ATI files/folders to be found.

6. Go into your C:\ and delete any AMD/ATI folders.

7. Go into the C:\Program Files (as well as C:\Program Files (x86) if you are running a 64 bit operating system), and delete any AMD/ATI folders.

8. Go into C:\Users (make sure you can see hidden files and folders) and go into C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local and delete any AMD/ATI folders

9. Do the same in the C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming

10. Do the same in C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local

11. Do the same in C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming

12. Click on the Start Menu, type “regedit” into the search box, then press ‘Enter’.

13. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE, and delete any folders labeled AMD/ATI

14. Inside the SOFTWARE folder, scroll down to Wow6432Node. Click Wow6432Node and delete any AMD/ATI folders, then reboot the computer.

Congratulations, you have completed a thorough removal of AMD graphics drivers and software.

Original Author: Ryan Glovinsky

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