_content/doc/manage-install.html

<!--{
    "Title": "Managing Go installations"
}-->

<p>
This topic describes how to install multiple versions of Go on the same machine, as well as how to uninstall Go.
</p>

<p>For other content on installing, you might be interested in:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/doc/install">Download and install</a> -- The simplest way to get installed and running.</li>
<li><a href="/doc/install/source">Installing Go from source</a> -- How to check out the sources, build them on your own machine, and run them.</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="installing-multiple">Installing multiple Go versions</h2>

<p>
You can install multiple Go versions on the same machine. For example, you might want to test your code on multiple Go versions. For a list of versions you can install this way, see the <a href="/dl/">download page</a>.
</p>

<p>
<strong>Note:</strong> To install using the method described here, you'll need to have <a href="https://git-scm.com/">git</a> installed.
</p>

<p>
To install additional Go versions, run the <a href="/cmd/go/#hdr-Compile_and_install_packages_and_dependencies"><code>go install</code> command</a>, specifying the download location of the version you want to install. The following example illustrates with version 1.10.7:
</p>

<pre>
$ go install golang.org/dl/go1.10.7@latest
$ go1.10.7 download
</pre>

<p>
To run <code>go</code> commands with the newly-downloaded version, append the version number to the <code>go</code> command, as follows:
</p>

<pre>
$ go1.10.7 version
go version go1.10.7 linux/amd64
</pre>

<p>
When you have multiple versions installed, you can discover where each is installed, look at the version's <code>GOROOT</code> value. For example, run a command such as the following:
</p>

<pre>
$ go1.10.7 env GOROOT
</pre>

<p>
To uninstall a downloaded version, just remove the directory specified by its <code>GOROOT</code> environment variable and the goX.Y.Z binary.
</p>

<h2 id="uninstalling">Uninstalling Go</h2>

<p>
You can remove Go from your system using the steps described in this topic.
</p>

<h3 id="remove-config">Removing user config and data</h3>

<p>
Go stores user configuration in the <code>go</code> directory within the user configuration directory,
as returned by <a href="/pkg/os#UserConfigDir"><code>os.UserConfigDir</code></a>.
This can also be found as the directory containing the config file returned by <code>go env GOENV</code>.
</p>

<p>
Go stores intermediate build artifacts in the directory returned by <code>go env GOCACHE</code>.
These can be removed with <code>go clean -cache</code>.
</p>

<p>
Go stores downloaded dependencies in the directory returned by <code>go env GOMODCACHE</code>.
These can be removed with <code>go clean -modcache</code>.
</p>

<p>
Go stores binaries installed with <code>go install</code> in the Go bin directory,
as returned by <code>go env GOBIN</code> (which defaults to <code>$HOME/go/bin</code>).
These can be removed by deleting that directory. If you added this directory to your
<code>PATH</code> environment variable, you should also remove it.
</p>


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    <ol>
      <li>Remove <code>/usr/local/go</code>.
        <p>This is the default installation directory.</p>
      </li>
      <li>Remove <code>/usr/local/go</code> from your <code>PATH</code> environment variable.
        <p>Under Linux and FreeBSD, edit <code>/etc/profile</code> or <code>$HOME/.profile</code>.</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        If you manually added the Go bin directory (typically <code>$HOME/go/bin</code>) to your shell profile, for example by adding <code>export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"</code>, remove that entry.
        <p><!-- for consistent spacing --></p>
      </li>
      <li>
        Restart any open terminal sessions for the changes to take effect.
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      <li>Remove <code>/usr/local/go</code>.
        <p>This is the default installation directory.</p>
      </li>
      <li>Remove <code>/usr/local/go</code> from your <code>PATH</code> environment variable.
        <p>If you installed Go with the macOS package, do this by removing the <code>/etc/paths.d/go</code> file.</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        If you manually added the Go bin directory (typically <code>$HOME/go/bin</code>) to your shell profile, for example by adding <code>export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"</code>, remove that entry.
        <p><!-- for consistent spacing --></p>
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      <li>
        Restart any open terminal sessions for the changes to take effect.
        <p><!-- for consistent spacing --></p>
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    <p>You can remove Go from Windows using one of the following methods:</p>

    <div class="windows-uninstall-method">
      <h4>Method 1: Control Panel (Simplest)</h4>
      <ol>
        <li>Open Control Panel and double-click <strong>Add/Remove Programs</strong>.</li>
        <li>Select <strong>Go Programming Language</strong>, click Uninstall, then follow the prompts.</li>
      </ol>
    </div>

    <div class="windows-uninstall-method">
      <h4>Method 2: Command Line</h4>
      <p>Uninstall using the command line by running the following command:</p>
      <pre>msiexec /x go{{version}}.windows-{{cpu-arch}}.msi /q</pre>
      <p>
        <strong>Note:</strong> Using this process automatically removes Windows environment variables created by the original installation.
      </p>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

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