Extension can help you customize the features of browsers and give you more possibilities when looking through pages. It should be facilitated to install and uninstall the extensions but turns out users cannot remove an extension. How to fix this issue? This post on MiniTool will tell you how to do it.

Extensions are welcomed because of their compact and portable, set at the right top corner, to provide facilitated services as users’ demand. When you don’t want it or find another better replacement, you can easily remove the extension.

Cannot Remove an Extension?

Some users received a “this extension is managed and cannot be removed” message to tell them cannot remove an extension.

Once you find some abnormal conditions happen, such as “cannot remove an extension”, the major culprit will be the virus infection. This extension may be disguised by some malware or virus and you just installed it via an unknown link.

Then this malware will be stuck in the browser to start its malicious activities without your knowledge. So, if you have noticed the traces that remind you of virus infiltration, the first thing you should do is to protect your data via data backup and recovery.

You can use MiniTool ShadowMaker – this free backup software – that allows you to backup files, folders, partitions, disks, and your system. This program provides multiple features and functions to improve the backup process, such as Schedule Settings, Backup Schemes, and Backup Options.

Furthermore, you can download and install this program to perform Clone Disk to perform a sector by sector cloning.

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How to Fix “Cannot Remove an Extension”?

If you have tried to remove an extension from the browser and it turns out to be useless, the following methods are worth trying.

Note:
The following methods will take Chrome as an example and other browser users can refer to the contents.

Fix 1: Use File Explorer

When you can’t uninstall an extension, you can use File Explorer to resolve this issue.

Step 1: Open Chrome and click the three-dot icon > Extensions > Manage Extensions.

Step 2: Locate the extension you want to remove and click Details. From the web address bar, you can record its id.

Step 3: Open File Explorer and go to this location – C:\Users\your username\Appdata\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions. Replace your username with the real one.

Step 4: Then you can match the folder name with the recorded ID. Find the right one and delete it.

find the right folder

Then you can go to the browser to check if the extension has been removed.

Fix 2: Reset Your Browser

Browser reset can remove all of your settings, including your saved passwords, history, home page, saved website-handling information, and extensions. To reset Chrome, you can do as follows.

Step 1: Open Chrome and click the three-dot icon to choose Settings.

Step 2: Click Reset settings from the left panel and choose Restore settings to their original defaults > Reset settings.

click Reset settings

Then you can check if the extension has been uninstalled.

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Fix 3: Use Antivirus

If you are still being plagued by being unable to remove extensions, you can use professional antivirus software to scan for the malware and uninstall the disguised extensions. Alternatively, you can run Microsoft Defender.

Step 1: Open Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.

Step 2: Click Scan options > Microsoft Defender Offline scan > Scan now.

click Scan now

Fix 4: Uninstall and Reinstall the Browser

Furthermore, you can directly uninstall the browser and then reinstall it to make sure all virus traces are erased from the browser.

Step 1: Open Settings > Apps > Apps & features.

Step 2: Locate the browser you want to remove and click Uninstall > Uninstall.

click Uninstall

Then you can download and install the browser from the official source. After that, the issue about “cannot remove an extension” has been resolved.

Bottom Line:

This post can help you resolve the issue of “cannot remove an extension”. This situation may be triggered by viruses or malware, so you can try your antivirus first and take immediate measures to back up your data.

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