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Issue How to Uninstall Wacom Driver

How to Uninstall Wacom Driver

By GoldSparrow in Issue
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Japan's Wacom company has a history rich in profits and reputation among users for stellar tablets, but the market competition in 2021 is as stiff as ever before. Users who decide against Wacom products or end up not using their tablets or pen as much as they thought should remove the associated driver software. Leaving unused driver software on a PC is a bad practice for general clutter and also may cause problems, such as by causing it to identify a plugged-in device wrongly.

Always reboot after uninstalling software before performing other cleanup steps – the operating system may not delete some components until after restarting.

Like other software, users should make sure that no programs that depend on the driver are open before they try to remove it. This step also entails unplugging the tablet, dongle, or another Wacom device from the computer – including any USB cords. Users should turn Bluetooth off on their computers temporarily, and turn off their Wacom devices since Bluetooth-based devices remain connected through a network.

With the opening steps out of the way, Windows users can uninstall their Wacom drivers the same way as other software. Open the Control Panel and navigate to the Programs section. Click the 'Uninstall a program' link, which will open a list of installed programs. Scroll down to the Wacom device's entry, select it with right-click and click the Uninstall. Almost identically, users also may use the Settings method instead of the Control Panel. Inputting 'Add or Remove a Program' into the taskbar's search is the fastest way to open the Settings version of the programs list. Left-click the Wacom device instead of right-clicking it and Uninstall it.

There also can be additional files and folders that the uninstall routine doesn't delete. Wacom provides suggestions for the most commonplace of these components. Before looking for these files, check that the setting for 'Show hidden files' is on. Depending on the Windows version, users may need to go into the Control Panel's 'File Explorer Options' or 'Appearance and Personalization' sections. Windows 10 users also may change it from the 'View' menu (on the top and to the right of 'Share') in any Explorer window.

Users should look for the following, particularly:

  • C:\Program Files\Tablet
  • C:\Users\(user's account name)\AppData\Roaming\WTablet
  • C:\Users\(user's account name)\AppData\Local\Temp\wactemp
  • C:\Users\(user's account name)\AppData\Local\Wacom
  • C:\Windows\System32\WacDriverDLCoinst.dll
  • C:\Windows\System32\Wacom_Tablet.dll
  • C:\Windows\System32\Wacom_Touch_Tablet.dll
  • C:\Windows\System32\WacomMT.dll
  • C:\Windows\System32\WacomTabletUserDefaults.xml
  • C:\Windows\System32\WacomTouchUserDefaults.xml
  • C:\Windows\System32\Wacom_Tablet.dat

For a macOS computer, open Finder. Then, go to the Applications section. Go to the Wacom Tablet entry (there can be multiple 'Wacom' entries with minor name variations like 'Utility,' don't click the wrong one). Open the Wacom Tablet entry's folder and launch the Wacom Tablet Utility. The Tablet Software section of the utility has an Uninstall button. Note that this button isn't the same thing as the 'Remove' button in the Preferences section above it.

Like with Windows installations, macOS uninstall routines might leave some parts of Wacom drivers behind on the computer. Delete the following files and folders, if necessary:

  • Macintosh HD/Applications/Wacom Tablet
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Tablet
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Frameworks/WacomMultiTouch.framework
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Internet Plugins/WacomTabletPlugin.plugin
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Launch Agents/com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Launch Agents/com.wacom.drivers.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Launch Agents/com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Extensions/Wacom Tablet.kext
  • Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.displayhelper.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchDaemons//com.wacom.RemoveTabletHelper.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchDaemons//com.wacom.TabletHelper.plist
  • Macintosh HD/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wacom.DataStoreMgr
  • Macintosh HD/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wacom.DisplayMgr
  • Macintosh HD/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wacom.UpdateHelper
  • Macintosh HD/Library/PreferencePanes/WacomTablet.prefpane
  • Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/Tablet
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Caches/com.wacom.RemoveWacomTablet
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Caches/com.wacom.Wacom-Desktop-Center
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Caches/com.wacom.Wacom-Display-Settings
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Caches/com.wacom.wacomtablet
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Caches/com.wacom.WacomTouchDriver
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Preferences/com.wacom.Tablet-Mapping.plist
  • Macintosh HD/User/(user's account name)/Library/Preferences/com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist

Some versions of macOS or OS X may hide the User Library folder. Select the 'Go' option in Finder and hold down the Alt key for unhiding it.

Windows and macOS users also should double-check for any remaining 'Wacom' or 'Bamboo' files or folders and delete them. Wacom recommends removing the Bamboo Dock application, particularly, which they no longer support.

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