Stop, uninstall, and what stays behind#
You will end up with an app removed from the router's configuration, and its files still on the router.
Before you start#
- The operator role and a licence.
- A list of what depends on the app. A router that forwards DNS to an app that is no longer there leaves the network without DNS.
Step 1 — Find what depends on it#
A change added from one of the app's offers with Add this change is a setting on another page, and uninstalling the app does not remove it. The usual ones:
| App | What may point at it |
|---|---|
| AdGuard Home, Pi-hole, Blocky, Unbound | The app's address as a DNS server the router forwards to (DNS page) |
| dnsmasq | The router's domain forwarded to the app's address (DNS page) |
| netboot.xyz | The app's address as a subnet's TFTP server (DHCP page) |
| Any app with a web interface | A port forward to the app's address (NAT page), if you added one |
The app's address is on its card on the Installed tab.
Step 2 — Stop it first, if you are not sure#
On the app's page, press Stop, then Apply changes. The app stops and keeps all of its settings. If something breaks, press Start and apply that to bring it back.
Step 3 — Uninstall#
- On the app's page, press Uninstall, then Uninstall AdGuard Home? (with the app's name) within five seconds to confirm.
- The notice says "Uninstall saved — Its files on the router are kept. It is removed when you apply pending changes." The pending change reads "Remove app “adguard”". For the last app on the app network, "Remove app network “apps”" is added with it.
- Remove what you found in step 1 as well, so that both are applied together.
- Press Apply changes.
Applying them together leaves no moment in which, for example, the router forwards DNS to an app that has gone.
Uninstalling a built-in feature (WireGuard, Suricata IDS, UPnP / NAT-PMP) is done from its card on the Catalogue tab, and takes its page out of the menu at once. If the feature still has settings on the router, its page stays, and the removal of all of those settings is added to the pending changes. To keep them, remove that change from the pending changes before applying.
What stays behind#
The app's image stays on the router too. On the Images tab of the Apps page, press Remove on its row, then Remove image? to confirm. An image an installed app still uses cannot be removed, so apply the uninstall first. See Apps — images.
Check it worked#
- The app is gone from the Installed tab, and from the menu.
- The service the app provided still works without it. If the router forwarded DNS to the app, check that names still resolve: on the Tools tab of Diagnostics, enter a name under DNS lookup and press Look up.
Undoing it#
Install the app again from the catalogue. Its folders are still there, so it comes back with its data, including whatever settings the app keeps in them. Changes made with Edit settings are not kept: a new install starts from the catalogue's settings.
An uninstall is also a revision in the history: restoring the revision before it restores the app's settings. It does not bring back an image that was removed since. See Roll back a change.