Whether you’re freeing up storage for a new AAA release, taking a break from grinding for limited 5-star characters, or troubleshooting constant crash issues, you might be looking for how to delete Honkai Star Rail on PC without messing up other files on your device. A lot of players make the mistake of just deleting the desktop icon or the game folder directly, which leaves tons of junk files cluttering your hard drive over time. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled this game at least 4 times over the last year, so I’ve tested every method to find the safest, fastest options that work for both official launcher and Steam installs. You won’t have to deal with random leftover files taking up 10+ GB of space if you follow the steps below.
How to delete Honkai Star Rail on PC via official launcher (recommended for non-Steam users)
If you downloaded the game directly from the HoYoverse website, using the built-in uninstall tool in the official launcher is the most reliable option. Always close the game and launcher completely before starting the uninstall process to avoid file corruption or incomplete removal. You can open your task manager to double check that no Honkai Star Rail or HoYoverse launcher processes are running in the background.
To start, open the HoYoverse launcher, select Honkai Star Rail from the game list on the left, and click the three dots next to the Launch button. You’ll see an Uninstall option in the dropdown menu. Click it, and you’ll get a pop-up asking if you want to delete user data along with the game files. You can choose to keep your saved progress if you plan to reinstall the game later by leaving the user data box unchecked. The whole process takes 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how fast your storage drive is.
This method works for 90% of non-Steam users, but if your launcher is corrupted and won’t open, you can use the Windows built-in uninstall tool instead. Just search for Add or Remove Programs in your Windows search bar, find Honkai Star Rail in the list of installed apps, and click uninstall. It will launch the same uninstall wizard as the launcher does.
Uninstalling the Steam version of Honkai Star Rail
For players who downloaded the game via Steam, the process is even simpler. The Steam client handles most of the uninstall process automatically, so you don’t have to dig through folders unless you want to clear leftover files later. First, open your Steam library and make sure Honkai Star Rail is not running. You can right click the game name and select “Stop” if it’s updating or running in the background.
Right click Honkai Star Rail in your library list, hover over the Manage option, and select Uninstall from the secondary menu. A pop-up will appear confirming that you want to remove the game from your device. Click Uninstall again, and Steam will delete all core game files in a few minutes. Steam will automatically sync your saved progress to the cloud if you have cloud saves enabled, so you won’t lose your account data even if you delete all local files.
One thing to note: if you have both the official launcher version and Steam version of Honkai Star Rail installed on the same PC, you need to uninstall them separately. Uninstalling one won’t remove the other, and you’ll still have 30+ GB of game files taking up space on your drive if you only remove one instance.
How to remove leftover files after uninstalling Honkai Star Rail
Even if you use the official launcher or Steam uninstall method, small leftover files like cache, crash logs, and temporary download files can stay on your PC, taking up several gigabytes of space. I once found 12 GB of old patch files left on my drive after uninstalling the game, so this step is worth taking if you’re short on storage. To fully clear these, follow these simple steps:
- Open your File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you installed Honkai Star Rail. If you didn’t change the default install location, it’s usually in C:\Program Files\HoYoverse\Honkai Star Rail or your Steam\steamapps\common folder. Delete the Honkai Star Rail folder if it’s still present after uninstall.
- Type %appdata% in your Windows search bar and open the folder. Look for the HoYoverse or Honkai Star Rail folder inside, and delete it to remove local save data, preference settings, and crash logs. You can skip this step if you want to keep your local settings for a future reinstall.
- Use a trusted registry cleaner to remove broken entries associated with the game, if you’re comfortable editing system files. If you’re not, skip this step entirely to avoid accidentally damaging your operating system.
Never delete system files you don’t recognize to clear leftover game data. The two folders mentioned above hold 99% of leftover Honkai Star Rail files, so deleting them is more than enough for most users. You don’t need to download third-party cleaning tools unless you already have one you trust installed on your device.
Important things to note before you uninstall the game
A lot of players rush to uninstall the game when they hit a frustrating gacha pull or a tough boss fight, but there are a few things you should check first to avoid regret later. First, if you have an active battle pass or unspent paid currency left, use it before you uninstall. You won’t lose access to it if you log back into the same account later, but it’s easy to forget you have it if you take a break for several months.
Second, if you’re uninstalling to fix bugs or performance issues, try verifying game files first to save yourself the hours of re-downloading the 30+ GB game. Both the official launcher and Steam have a built-in file verification tool that will fix corrupted files in 10 to 15 minutes, without deleting any of your saved progress. That’s a way faster fix than a full uninstall and reinstall for most technical issues.
You can back up your local save files to a separate folder if you’re worried about losing progress even with cloud sync enabled. Just copy the Honkai Star Rail folder from your %appdata% folder to an external drive or cloud storage service, and you can drop it back in the same location if you reinstall the game later. If you’re only taking a temporary break, you don’t even have to uninstall the game entirely: you can just move the core game folder to an external hard drive to free up space on your main SSD, and move it back when you want to play again.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to delete Honkai Star Rail on PC doesn’t have to be a complicated process, as long as you follow the right steps to avoid leftover junk or lost progress. You can pick the method that matches how you installed the game, and take a few extra minutes to clear leftover files if you want to free up as much storage as possible. If you decide to come back to the game later for a new version update or character banner, you can reinstall without worrying about corrupted old files causing issues.
