punktfunk/docs-site/content/docs/uninstall.md

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Uninstalling	Remove the Punktfunk host or client for every install method — and what each one deliberately leaves behind.

Every install method has a clean removal path. This page walks through each one, and — just as important — says what stays on the machine afterwards: the Linux packages run no removal scripts of their own, and the Windows uninstaller leaves a few things in place on purpose.

Your configuration always survives. Removing Punktfunk never deletes its config directory — ~/.config/punktfunk on Linux, %ProgramData%\punktfunk for the Windows host. It holds the host's identity certificate and key, its management token, your paired devices, the web-console login password, host.env, the game library, the logs, and any installed plugins and their state. Keeping it is what lets a reinstall pick up where you left off — each section below gives the one command that clears it, for when you want a clean slate instead.

Jump to what you installed:

• Linux host — apt · dnf · rpm-ostree layer · Bazzite sysext · pacman · SteamOS on-device build · NixOS
• Windows host (installer or winget)
• Clients — Flatpak, Linux packages, Windows, macOS, iOS/tvOS, Android, Steam Deck, LG webOS
• Plugins and the script runner

Linux hosts

Stop the services first

The Linux packages ship systemd user units, and systemctl --user enable writes symlinks into your home directory that package removal cannot see. Disable them before you remove anything, or you'll be left with dangling links and a unit that fails at every login:

systemctl --user disable --now punktfunk-host punktfunk-web

Add punktfunk-scripting to that line if you enabled the plugin runner, and punktfunk-kde-session if you set up the headless KDE session.

If you turned on linger so the host ran without a login, and nothing else on the box needs it:

sudo loginctl disable-linger "$USER"

Ubuntu (apt)

sudo apt purge punktfunk-host punktfunk-web punktfunk-client punktfunk-scripting
sudo apt autoremove

Name only the packages you actually installed — the others are simply reported as not installed. Then drop the repository and its key, so apt update stops contacting it:

sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/punktfunk.list /etc/apt/keyrings/punktfunk.asc
sudo apt update

Left behind: ~/.config/punktfunk, and the two system groups the package created — the empty punktfunk-update for one-click updates, and punktfunk for the virtual Steam Deck pad's usbip nodes. Clear them with:

rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk
sudo groupdel punktfunk-update
sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" punktfunk; sudo groupdel punktfunk

Your input group membership is harmless to keep (it is a stock Ubuntu group). Drop it with sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" input if you'd rather not have it. The punktfunk group above is worth dropping rather than keeping: it can present arbitrary emulated USB hardware, and with the host gone nothing uses it. If you opened the firewall, close it again: sudo ufw delete allow punktfunk-native (and punktfunk-gamestream / punktfunk-web if you allowed those too).

Fedora (dnf)

The host package is called punktfunk on RPM, not punktfunk-host:

sudo dnf remove punktfunk punktfunk-web punktfunk-client punktfunk-scripting
sudo rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/punktfunk.repo

Left behind: ~/.config/punktfunk, the punktfunk-update and punktfunk groups, and the signing key dnf imported into the rpm keyring when it first installed a Punktfunk package. Clear the first two with rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk and sudo groupdel punktfunk-update; drop punktfunk too (sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" punktfunk; sudo groupdel punktfunk) — it can present arbitrary emulated USB hardware and nothing uses it once the host is gone. The key is harmless to leave — on its own it only marks packages from our registry as trusted, and nothing fetches them once the repo file is gone.

On firewalld, close the ports you opened:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --remove-service=punktfunk-native
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --remove-service=punktfunk-gamestream   # if you opened it
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --remove-service=punktfunk-web          # if you opened it
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Fedora Atomic / Bazzite (rpm-ostree layer)

If you layered the RPMs rather than using the sysext:

sudo rpm-ostree uninstall punktfunk punktfunk-web
systemctl reboot

The change only takes effect in the new deployment, so the reboot is part of the removal. Remove /etc/yum.repos.d/punktfunk.repo as well if you added it. ~/.config/punktfunk is untouched.

Bazzite / Fedora Atomic (systemd-sysext)

This is the supported Bazzite path and the tidiest one — the whole install is a single image under /var/lib/extensions/. Stop the services before you unmerge, because once the image is gone their binaries are gone and the units just keep failing:

systemctl --user disable --now punktfunk-host punktfunk-web
sudo punktfunk-sysext remove

remove deletes the image, its version sidecar, /etc/punktfunk-sysext.conf, the tray autostart entry, and the gamescope session drop-in unless you edited it — then prints punktfunk sysext removed (user config in ~/.config/punktfunk is untouched).

Three things it created outside /usr stay behind:

sudo rm -f /etc/modules-load.d/punktfunk.conf /etc/udev/rules.d/60-punktfunk.rules
sudo groupdel punktfunk-update
sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" punktfunk; sudo groupdel punktfunk

And your config, if you want it gone: rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk. See Bazzite for the same sequence in context.

Arch / CachyOS (pacman)

sudo pacman -Rns punktfunk-host punktfunk-web punktfunk-gamescope \
  punktfunk-client punktfunk-scripting

Name only what you installed. -Rns also takes the dependencies nothing else needs and removes the packages' own configuration files.

Then delete the [punktfunk] section (or [punktfunk-canary]) from /etc/pacman.conf — the two lines you appended when you added the repo. Optionally drop the repo's signing key from pacman's keyring:

sudo pacman-key --delete E0CA04465C99C936E0B0C6510A317015A34DDD69

Left behind: ~/.config/punktfunk and the punktfunk-update and punktfunk groups — rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk, sudo groupdel punktfunk-update, and sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" punktfunk; sudo groupdel punktfunk clear them. Drop that last one rather than keeping it: it can present arbitrary emulated USB hardware. On CachyOS, close the ufw rules you opened: sudo ufw delete allow punktfunk-native.

SteamOS / Steam Deck host (on-device build)

There is no uninstall script for this install method. The on-device build is spread across your user session and a handful of root-owned files, so stop the user services first:

systemctl --user disable --now punktfunk-host punktfunk-web \
  punktfunk-scripting punktfunk-rebuild-check
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/punktfunk-*.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload

Then follow SteamOS (Host) → Uninstalling for the build container, the files under your home, and the root-owned tuning. Don't skip the last of those: the atomic-update keep list is what carries those files through every SteamOS update, so left alone they stay on the device indefinitely.

Left behind: ~/.config/punktfunk (rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk for a clean slate), your input and punktfunk group memberships, and — if the installer seeded it because you had none — the KDE RemoteDesktop portal grant at ~/.local/share/flatpak/db/kde-authorized. Drop the second group once the host is gone — it can present arbitrary emulated USB hardware and nothing else on a Deck uses it: sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" punktfunk; sudo groupdel punktfunk.

NixOS

There is nothing to uninstall imperatively — remove what you declared:

1. Delete the services.punktfunk.* options from your configuration.
2. Remove punktfunk.nixosModules.default from the system's module list and the punktfunk flake input.
3. Rebuild: sudo nixos-rebuild switch.

The unit, udev rules, sysctl tuning, firewall ports and the input / punktfunk group memberships all disappear with the generation. The store paths stay until you garbage-collect, and ~/.config/punktfunk — which the module never managed — stays regardless.

Windows host

Uninstall from Add/Remove Programs (Settings → Apps → Installed apps) → Punktfunk Host, or, if you installed with winget:

winget uninstall unom.PunktfunkHost

Both run the same uninstaller, which takes the PunktfunkHost service, the scheduled tasks, the virtual-display and gamepad drivers and every firewall rule it added back off the machine — the full inventory is on Windows Host → Uninstalling.

Three things are left on purpose:

• %ProgramData%\punktfunk — host.env, the host certificate and key, the management token, the console password, your paired devices and the logs. For a clean slate:

  Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:ProgramData\punktfunk"
  

• VB-CABLE, if an older Punktfunk version installed it (releases used to bundle it for the microphone; current hosts use Steam's streaming drivers instead). It is a third-party VB-Audio component other apps may be using, so the Punktfunk uninstaller never touches it. Remove it with its own uninstaller — VBCABLE_Setup_x64.exe -u -h — or the VB-Audio Virtual Cable entry in Installed apps.

• The publisher certificate, if you imported it by hand to silence the Unknown Publisher prompt. Remove it in certlm.msc under Trusted Publishers and Trusted Root Certification Authorities. (This is not the driver certificate above, which the uninstaller does remove.)

If you registered the winget source, drop it too — in an admin PowerShell, the same as registering it:

winget source remove -n punktfunk

If a Punktfunk display or gamepad survives in Device Manager — an older build could leave one behind — run the host's own cleanup from an elevated prompt, which is exactly what the uninstaller calls. Do this while the host is still installed:

punktfunk-host driver uninstall
punktfunk-host driver uninstall --gamepad

If you have already uninstalled, punktfunk-host.exe went with it. Install the current version again and uninstall it — its uninstaller runs both commands for you.

See Windows Host → Install for the installer's side of the same story.

Clients

Removing a client does not tell the host to forget it. Unpair the device from the host's web console (Pairing → unpair) if you want its pairing gone as well.

Linux — Flatpak

flatpak uninstall --user --delete-data io.unom.Punktfunk

--delete-data clears the Flatpak's own per-app directory. It does not clear ~/.config/punktfunk — the client keeps its identity, known hosts and settings in your real config directory (that is what lets the Flatpak, a native package and the Decky plugin share one paired identity). Remove it with rm -rf ~/.config/punktfunk.

The remote it was installed from also stays. Its name depends on how you installed: if you added the repo by hand it is unom, and if you installed straight from the .flatpakref — the route Install a Client gives — Flatpak named its own origin remote for it. List them and delete the one that served Punktfunk, if no other app uses it:

flatpak remotes --user
flatpak remote-delete --user <name>

Linux — apt / dnf / pacman packages

sudo apt purge punktfunk-client       # Ubuntu
sudo dnf remove punktfunk-client      # Fedora
sudo pacman -Rns punktfunk-client     # Arch / CachyOS

Then remove the repository as described under the host sections above, if this box had no host on it. To clear the client's own state without uninstalling — saved hosts and stream settings, keeping the paired identity — run punktfunk-client --reset instead.

Windows client (MSIX)

Get-AppxPackage unom.Punktfunk | Remove-AppxPackage

The client's saved hosts, settings and pairing identity live under %APPDATA%\punktfunk and are not removed with the package — delete that folder for a clean slate. The publisher certificate you imported to install the MSIX stays in Trusted People; remove it in certlm.msc if you're done with Punktfunk on that machine.

macOS

Quit Punktfunk and drag it from Applications to the Trash. If you installed it through TestFlight instead, remove it from TestFlight.

iPhone, iPad, Apple TV

Delete the app the usual way. To leave the beta entirely, open TestFlight, select Punktfunk, and stop testing — that removes the app and its data with it.

Android / Android TV

Uninstall the app from Google Play or from Settings → Apps. That's the whole job — it's a public Play listing, so there's no tester list to leave. If you were on the invite-only canary (Internal testing) track and want off that too, say so on Discord.

Steam Deck — Decky plugin

Uninstall Punktfunk from Decky's own plugin list (Quick Access Menu → the plug icon (Decky) → the gear (Settings), where the installed plugins are listed). Decky's uninstall hook does nothing beyond that — the two Steam shortcuts it created, the Steam Input template, the client it launched and ~/.config/punktfunk all survive. The step-by-step is on Steam Deck → Uninstalling; the client itself comes off as in Linux — Flatpak above.

LG webOS TV

Remove the app from the TV's launcher like any other Homebrew Channel app. pf-webos is a community project — its repository is the place for anything beyond that.

Plugins and the script runner

Plugins are installed into the host's config directory, so they survive host removal. Take them off before you uninstall the host, or delete the directories afterwards.

punktfunk-host plugins list             # what's installed
punktfunk-host plugins remove <name>    # uninstall one
punktfunk-host plugins disable          # stop and disable the runner

On Windows run these from an elevated PowerShell; if punktfunk-host isn't on your PATH yet, use the full path: & "$env:ProgramFiles\punktfunk\punktfunk-host.exe" plugins list.

plugins remove takes the plugin's code out of plugins/, but nothing else. These stay in the config directory — ~/.config/punktfunk (Linux) or %ProgramData%\punktfunk (Windows) — whether you removed the plugins first or uninstalled the host with them still installed:

• plugins/ — the plugin code itself, for any plugin you did not plugins remove.
• plugin-state/<plugin>/ — each plugin's own config and cache, including any API keys you put in a plugin's config.json. plugins remove does not touch this.
• plugin-token — the runner's scoped credential for the management API.

Deleting the whole config directory removes all three. The runner package itself (punktfunk-scripting on Linux) comes off with your package manager, as in the sections above; on Windows it is part of the host installer and goes with it.

Removing the pairing, not the software

If you only want to undo a pairing, you don't need to uninstall anything. The two halves are separate:

• On the host — unpair the device from the web console; it stops being trusted immediately.
• On a Linux client — punktfunk-client --forget-host <fingerprint|host[:port]> drops a saved host from that client's list, and punktfunk-client --reset clears all of them plus the stream settings (the client keeps its identity, so a re-pair doesn't look like a brand-new device).
• On a Linux or Windows client — the headless punktfunk command that ships with the same package does the same two jobs: punktfunk hosts forget <host-ref> for one host, punktfunk reset for all of them plus the stream settings.

See Pairing for the full model.