How "clean" are Chocolatey installs and uninstalls?

Question

I have installed Chocolatey and tested it by installing Docker Desktop.

All is well and good, but I wonder, if I uninstall Docker Desktop through Chocolatey, will the package manager delete everything it brought in during install?

Isn't the whole point of Chocolatey that it does not leave registry trash and other such leftover files when uninstalling?

My DevOps teacher said that Chocolatey should be used for installing our DevOps tools since it keeps the system cleaner than installing through regular installers.

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Also, since Chocolatey had to be installed with a script they offer at the Chocolatey website, does unistalling Chocolatey itself leave some config files and such stuff behind?

Answer 1

Couple of different things you're asking -- I'll try to address each one.

1. (as stated in the response from @Guy) some installs still need to be manually removed via Registry keys, etc. this is not the fault of chocolatey, but rather of the individual installers and how "clean" they are or are not.
2. Individual installers can do whatever they want, there is no police making sure installers really remove all the hooks, registry keys, files, viruses, etc... that they put on your computer during install, or during runtime. Only way to be sure computer is "clean" again is start over fresh with new cloned/re-formatted machine, new install of OS, etc.
3. Chocolatey just makes install/uninstall a scriptable operation, rather than a manual/gui one. This also means it can be scaled up to N installs or X sets of N installs for different machine configurations. Similar to package management on a linux box, this makes it more efficient to manage at scale.
4. Example1: 2x new Users added, please install new computers for them to be set up. (Normally this operation could take multiple hours, but with a scripted choco export and install, you can do it in 5-10 minutes)
5. Example2: Your company manages 1000 VMs, 500 of which are for users and 500 are servers. 60 programs now need updating on all 1000 Machines. If you know the key-combo RDP & clicking into "Programs & Features" in Windows takes approximately 1-2 minutes for each program to install and then click the next one. so approxiately 60000 minutes or 41 days minimum required. after that long of a time, by the time you finish there will be another set of 60 programs needing updates. Instead, if you have previously installed chocolatey on those boxes, you can kick off all updates in a matter of minutes, or even script it to update them all nightly.

Answer 2

There is a lot of information about the choco Uninstall command here:

Uninstall Command (choco uninstall)

Synchronizer and AutoUninstaller enhancements in licensed versions of Chocolatey ensure that Autouninstaller is up to 95% effective at removing software without an uninstall script. This is because synchronizer ensures the registry snapshot stays up to date and licensed enhancements have the ability to inspect more locations to determine how to automatically uninstall software.

Uninstalling Chocolatey Should you decide you don't like Chocolatey, you can uninstall it simply by removing the folder (and the environment variable(s) that it creates). Since it is not actually installed in Programs and Features, you don't have to worry that it cluttered up your registry (however that's a different story for the applications that you installed with Chocolatey or manually).

Uninstalling Chocolatey