Instructions Nik CleanupTool (Windows only)

This information applies to all versions

Given Nik Collection's long history and the significant changes in technology introduced during the software's 25-year legacy, you may at some point have worked with an older version of Nik Collection which was installed in a custom location. Over time, these folders may have been moved, renamed, or had their permissions changed by other software or by background processes, and they might still hold data that may negatively affect the performance of more recent Nik Collection versions.

This can lead to various issues, such as seeing old versions of the Selective Tool, two Selective Tools, two Nik Collection menus in Adobe Lightroom, or missing plugins in Adobe Photoshop or the Start menu.  In these cases, we recommend uninstalling, then using our Nik cleaning tool.

It's possible to fix such issues by searching manually for these misplaced files and deleting them. However, this would be a time-consuming and potentially risky procedure with the danger of accidentally removing important files.

To simplify this procedure, we created a Cleaning Tool that will search for and delete these files for you and assist with Nik Collection installation and usage. This tool will be permanently updated.

NOTE: We do not delete any presets, images, or personal files: the tool searches only for the files with specific names that relate to old settings and former Nik Collection tools.

Please follow these steps to clean up the software installation:

1. To start using Cleaning Tool, please uninstall Nik Collection via uninstaller (Add or remove programs on Win).
2. Then download and unzip the Nik Cleanup Tool from this link.
3. Extract files of the just downloaded 'NIK-Cleanup-tool-Win.zip' to your computer, right-click the script file 'NikCleanup.ps1 ', and choose 'Run with PowerShell'. Confirm that you allow this app to make changes on your device.
4. You will see a Windows PowerShell window showing the script status. You can close this window when you see the message 'Nik Cleanup finished!'.
5. You will then receive a NikCleanup. Log file and NikCleanupBackup_* (contains removed Nik files/folders) on the desktop. Those files can be deleted after you've successfully reinstalled Nik Collection.
6. Install Nik Collection again from your customer account.

1. Click on the Search bar and type Windows PowerShell
2. When you see PowerShell in the list, right-click on it and select Run as Administrator
3. In the opened window type the following: Get-ExecutionPolicy. Then press Enter.
4. In the new line, this command should return the current status. You will see “Restricted”
5. Now type the following: Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted. Press Enter.
6. Then a new line will appear asking whether you confirm these changes. Type Y and press Enter.
7. Now let’s check if the changes were saved. Type Get-ExecutionPolicy and press Enter. You should see “Unrestricted”.
8. Then try running the NikCleanup script again.

If it doesn’t help, check if you have administrator rights under your current user account:

1. Open Settings - Accounts
2. On the top, you should see your account name, and account type below it, and (if you have admin rights) there should be “Administrator” as a third line.
3. If you do not have admin rights, click on “Family & other users” in the left panel.
4. Now select your account name and expand it by clicking on the chevron on the right.
5. Then click on “Change account type” and in the opened window select “Administrator” and click Ok.

To log in to your Customer Account directly from this article, please click on this link.