How to Uninstall Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent

The Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud agent provides backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection for managed devices. You may need to uninstall it when decommissioning hardware, migrating to a different backup solution, or troubleshooting agent issues.

This guide covers how to remove the Cyber Protect Cloud agent from Windows, macOS, and Linux using standard, silent, and forced methods.

Prerequisites

• Administrator/root privileges on the target system
• Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud console access (to disable uninstall protection if enabled)
• Verify that no active backup jobs are running before proceeding

Step 1: Check for Uninstall Protection

Starting with agent version 24.11, Acronis enables agent uninstall protection by default on all new protection plans. If protection is active, the uninstall will be blocked.

1. Log into the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud management console
2. Navigate to the protection plan applied to the target device
3. Check if Agent uninstallation protection is enabled
4. If enabled, either:
   • Disable the protection option and save changes, or
   • Schedule the uninstall during a configured maintenance window

If your organization uses self-protection (which prevents changes to Acronis processes, registry entries, and config files), this must also be disabled before proceeding with manual cleanup methods.

Step 2: Uninstall on Windows

Method 1: Control Panel (GUI)

1. Log in as an administrator
2. Open Control Panel > Programs and Features
3. Double-click Cyber Protection Agent (may also appear as "Acronis Cyber Protect")
4. Optionally check Remove logs and configuration settings
   • Leave unchecked if you plan to reinstall (prevents the machine from appearing as a duplicate in the console)
5. Click Uninstall and wait for the process to complete
6. Restart the machine when prompted

Method 2: Silent Command Line

Run Command Prompt as administrator:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\Uninstaller.exe" --quiet --delete-all-settings

The --delete-all-settings flag removes all configuration and log data. Omit it if you plan to reinstall.

Method 3: Cleanup Utility (When Standard Methods Fail)

Use this only when the standard uninstaller fails or leaves the agent in a broken state:

1. Download the Acronis Cleanup Utility from Acronis KB article 40366
2. Back up the system before running the utility
3. Run the utility as administrator and follow the prompts
4. For silent mode, run with the --quiet parameter
5. Reboot when prompted

Windows Manual Cleanup

After uninstall, check for and remove residual files if needed:

Directories:

• C:\ProgramData\Acronis
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis
• C:\Program Files\Acronis
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis
• C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Acronis
• C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Acronis

Registry keys (open regedit as administrator):

• HKCU\Software\Acronis
• HKLM\Software\Acronis
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Acronis
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Acronis

Driver leftovers: Check C:\Windows\System32\Drivers for files starting with snap (e.g., snapxxxx.sys) and remove them.

Step 3: Uninstall on macOS

Method 1: Open the Uninstaller App

The uninstaller is already installed on the machine. Open it directly:

sudo open "/Library/Application Support/BackupClient/Acronis/Cyber Protect Agent Uninstall.app"

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the removal.

Method 2: Command Line (Silent)

Run the uninstaller binary directly from Terminal:

sudo "/Library/Application Support/BackupClient/Acronis/Cyber Protect Agent Uninstall.app/Contents/MacOS/AgentUninstall" --confirm

To also remove all settings and logs (purge):

sudo "/Library/Application Support/BackupClient/Acronis/Cyber Protect Agent Uninstall.app/Contents/MacOS/AgentUninstall" /confirm /purge

Tip: Make sure to copy and paste the full command on a single line. The path contains spaces, and line breaks will cause a command not found error.

Method 3: Reinstall the DMG

If the local uninstaller app is missing or damaged:

1. Download the agent installer .dmg from the Acronis Cloud console
2. Open the .dmg file
3. The installer will detect the existing installation and offer an uninstall option

macOS Manual Cleanup

If the standard uninstaller fails, first unload the launchd services:

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.acronis.*.plist

Then check for and remove residual files:

• /Library/Application Support/BackupClient/
• /Library/Application Support/Acronis/
• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.acronis.* (plist files)
• /Library/LaunchAgents/com.acronis.* (plist files)
• /Applications/Cyber Protect Monitor.app
• /Applications/Utilities/Cyber Protect Agent Assistant.app

Step 4: Uninstall on Linux

Standard Method

Run as root:

/usr/lib/Acronis/BackupAndRecovery/uninstall/uninstall -a

Forced Cleanup (When Standard Uninstall Fails)

Stop and disable services:

systemctl stop acronis_mms
systemctl disable acronis_mms

Force-remove RPM packages (RHEL/CentOS/Fedora):

rpm -e --noscripts snapapi26_modules
rpm -e --noscripts file_protector
rpm -e --noscripts BackupAndRecoveryBootableComponents
rpm -e --noscripts BackupAndRecoveryAgent

For Debian/Ubuntu, use dpkg --purge with the corresponding package names.

Remove residual directories:

rm -rf /usr/lib/Acronis/
rm -rf /var/lib/Acronis/
rm -rf /etc/Acronis/
rm -rf /opt/acronis/
rm -rf /var/log/Acronis/
rm -rf /usr/src/snapapi*

Reboot to detach any orphaned block devices or mounts.

Removing the Machine from the Console

After local uninstallation, the machine may still appear in the Cyber Protect Cloud console:

1. Navigate to Devices in the management console
2. Select the target workload
3. Click the gear icon or right-click the machine
4. Select Delete to unregister the agent and remove the workload

This step is required to clean up licensing and prevent stale entries in your device inventory.

Troubleshooting

Uninstall Blocked

The agent has uninstall protection enabled. Disable it in the protection plan or schedule the uninstall during a maintenance window. See Step 1.

PendingFileRenameOperations Blocking Other Installs (Windows)

Acronis uninstallation creates a record in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations. This can block installation of other software (SQL Server, Exchange) until a reboot clears it.

Agent Still Appears in Console After Uninstall

The local uninstall only removes the software. You must manually delete the workload from the Cyber Protect Cloud console (see above).

Machine Duplicated on Reinstall

If you checked Remove logs and configuration settings during uninstall, the machine will appear as a new device upon reinstall. Leave that option unchecked if you plan to reinstall on the same hardware.

Snap Driver Leftovers (Windows)

Check C:\Windows\System32\Drivers for snap*.sys files. These are kernel-level snapshot drivers that may persist after uninstall. Remove them manually and reboot.

Orphaned Mounts (Linux)

If you see orphaned block devices after uninstall, reboot the system before attempting to remove /usr/lib/Acronis/ directories.

Best Practices

• Disable uninstall protection first rather than attempting to bypass it
• Leave settings intact if you plan to reinstall on the same machine to avoid device duplication
• Back up the system before using the Cleanup Utility or forced removal methods
• Reboot after uninstall on all platforms to ensure complete removal
• Remove the device from the console after local uninstall to clean up licensing
• Use silent commands for bulk removal via RMM tools or deployment scripts