AMD Software won't uninstall cleanly? What the AMD Cleanup Utility removes

The official way: AMD Cleanup Utility, in Safe Mode

AMD documents the utility in its support article GPU-601, as a standalone application for systems running Windows 7 and later. These are its prompts, in the order AMD shows them.

1. 01

   Download and run the utility

   Download AMD Cleanup Utility for Windows from AMD's article, go to where it was saved and double-click amdcleanuputility.exe.

2. 02

   Choose Safe Mode

   The first prompt offers to reboot the system and run the utility in safe mode: Yes does that, No continues in normal mode. AMD recommends Safe Mode for best results.

3. 03

   Confirm the cleanup

   The next prompt gives a short description of the cleanup process. OK continues; Cancel terminates the process and exits the utility.

4. 04

   Wait while it works

   A banner is displayed while the cleanup runs in the background. AMD notes it is normal for the display to flicker or go blank momentarily, and that the process may take up to 15 to 20 minutes depending on how much there is to clean.

5. 05

   Read the report, then restart

   When the utility has completed, View Report shows the list of components that were uninstalled and Finish closes it. On the last prompt click Yes to reboot the computer: AMD says the reboot is required for the changes to take effect.

What it leaves on purpose, and what to check

AMD's article does not list leftover folders, services or scheduled tasks, so this guide does not name any; the utility's own View Report is the record of what it removed. These read-only PowerShell commands show which AMD programs, services and scheduled tasks are still registered and which display driver Windows is using now. A name match is a lead, not proof: AMD states that the utility does not remove or modify AMD chipset drivers, so entries with AMD in their name can be exactly what should stay.

Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*',
  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' |
  Where-Object DisplayName -match 'AMD' | Format-Table DisplayName, DisplayVersion
Get-Service -DisplayName '*AMD*' | Format-Table Name, DisplayName, Status
Get-ScheduledTask |
  Where-Object { $_.TaskName -match 'AMD' -or $_.TaskPath -match 'AMD' } |
  Format-Table TaskPath, TaskName, State
Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController | Format-Table Name, DriverVersion, DriverDate