How to Uninstall DirectX 10

What is DirectX?

DirectX is a collection of applications which includes components like DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectMusic, DirectPlay etc. DirectX is used to enhance multimedia performance, which includes audio and video features on a Windows system. All the audio and video cards should be DirectX compliant to play games designed for Windows. It comes bundled with all versions of Windows, and DirectX 10 is a version which was released with Windows Vista.

Knowing the version of DirectX on a Windows system

Windows provides a tool call DxDiag.exe which helps in finding out the version of DirectX on a system. To run this tool, follow these steps:

  1. Click on Start
  2. Click on Run
  3. Type Dxdiag and Click on OK

This will display the version of DirectX on the system.

How to uninstall DirectX 10

The trend of this application is that with every new release of OS, Microsoft releases a newer version of DirectX. DirectX 10 is purely designed for Windows Vista and its updated versions. It can also be installed on its predecessor Windows XP, which has DirectX 9 by default. To uninstall DirectX 10, you can follow these methods –

  1. Uninstall from the Control Panel
  2. Use the Windows Installer Cleanup and Registry Editor
  3. Third Party software

Uninstall from the Control Panel – Windows provides a tool in its control panel called Add/Remove Programs in XP or Programs and Features in Vista / Win 7. This tool keeps the list of programs installed on the system. This method will work only when a newer version of DirectX is installed on the system, else you will not find the default version of DirectX listed in the programs.

To uninstall DirectX 10, follow these steps –

  1. Close All programs
  2. Click on Start and then click on  Control Panel
  3. Click on Add or Remove Programs or Program and Features
  4. Select DirectX 10 from the program list and choose Change/Remove or uninstall
  5. Click Yes on the dialogue box which says Are you sure you want to remove DirectX 10 from your computer?

This will remove DirectX 10 from the system.

Using the Windows Installer Cleanup and Registry Editor – You can download and install the Windows installer cleanup utility from the Microsoft website. It deletes all the registry keys related to the software chosen for uninstallation. Again, this is applicable only if DirectX 10 is installed on a system. Follow these steps to uninstall –

  1. Close all programs
  2. Click on Start and click on All programs
  3. Click on Windows Install Clean up
  4. From the window choose DirectX 10
  5. Click on the Remove button

After this, close the Windows Installer Cleanup, and then –

  1. Click on Start and then Run
  2. Type Regedit and Press Enter
  3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DirectX
  4. Delete all the keys related to DirectX 10 and then delete the Directx folder
  5. Close Regedit
  6. Restart the system

This will remove the DirectX version installed on the system. Once the system restarts, it will install the default version of DirectX, which can also be downloaded from the Microsoft website.

Third Party Software – You can use Perfect Uninstaller to completely uninstall DirectX 10 from the system. You can also use RegGenie to remove all registry keys related to DirectX 10.