How to uninstall the PTR client
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 13th 2008 at 9:50PM
A minor but important point: do not run the uninstaller to remove the Public Test Realm (PTR) client, just delete the PTR folder. Most people can find the PTR client inside the "WoWTest" folder, which resides in the "World of Warcraft" folder. More specifically, you should be able to locate the WoW Test folder in "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\". If you have MacOS X the "WoWTest" folder is stored in "Macintosh HD::Applications::World of Warcraft".Other people can find the PTR client inside of the folder "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft Public Test" in Windows Vista and "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft Public Test" in WindowsXP. MacOS X users can find the files in "MacintoshHD::Applications::World of Warcraft Public Test".
This important bit of information came from blue poster Maaven on the official forums today. With Patch 3.0.2 being released tomorrow, the PTR client is useless and came be safely removed. But be sure that you remove it the way Maaven suggests.
WoW Insider will have a lot of 3.0.2 coverage tomorrow. We'll also be keeping the light on tonight and will get you the patch notes as soon as they appear.
Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nathanyel Oct 13th 2008 9:58PM
uhm, the 3.0.X PTR client is in a separate folder, and maybe even have an entry in Windows' "Software" window in the control panel (too lazy to check though)
Adam Holisky Oct 13th 2008 10:06PM
There were two totally different locations for me. Kind of strange, but I updated the article to reflect each. Thanks =)
vlad Oct 13th 2008 10:07PM
dang adam, cant you credit me for this story?
as per my comments here several hours ago...
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/10/13/ptr-closed-with-a-thank-you-from-the-blues/
vlad Oct 13th 2008 10:09PM
also folks, copy any screenshots you want to save from PTR.
Horris Oct 13th 2008 11:32PM
The PTR client on my Mac was installed in /Applications/World of Warcraft Public Test/ this time around. I kind of appreciate it having its own install directory.
Zep Oct 13th 2008 10:05PM
So it tries to uninstall WoW when you click uninstall?
Adam Holisky Oct 13th 2008 10:07PM
I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions from this all or read between the lines. Maaven simply said "Don't run an uninstaller. Just delete your WoW PTR folder," in response to a question about how to remove it.
All the extra information I am providing are just pointers to where to find the WoW PTR folder.
Drakkenfyre Oct 13th 2008 10:22PM
If you installed it into a separate folder (as is the default) you can run the uninstaller just fine, I did, lol.
I think Maaven is warning people not to use it because alot of people just installed it into their regular World of WarCraft folder.
Amaxe Oct 13th 2008 11:18PM
I had used the uninstaller, but that was back when the PTR just started. No idea if it would work now
Juan Oct 13th 2008 10:17PM
Actually, once I heard the new the PTR was down, I went ahead and uninstalled the PTR as opposed to just deleting the folder and regular WoW works just fine.
Gazmik Fizzwidget Oct 13th 2008 10:44PM
Ugh.
Mac OS X doesn't use double colons as a path separator. Using single colons, and starting paths with the name of the volume (which may or may not be "Macintosh HD", as even many novice users have figured out how to rename it), still works, but is outdated and not in common usage... even the Finder shows paths as Unix-style now. (So you could say /Applications/World of Warcraft, but that's only the default path for installing the game and is easily changed.)
deathsteed Oct 13th 2008 11:12PM
Ung, you're a Mac snob. Get over it, he was trying to help.
Verit Oct 13th 2008 11:17PM
There is an uninstaller for the ptr - use it - it works like a top :).
That wowtest folder is probably the last ptr you didn't uninstall.
Timmeh Oct 13th 2008 11:52PM
what if i already uninstalled the client by running the uninstaller client?
Drakkenfyre Oct 14th 2008 12:05AM
Nothing, as long as it was in it's own folder, lol.
Guernia Oct 13th 2008 11:52PM
So what's in the "old shit" folder? Apart from the obvious.
selly Oct 14th 2008 12:40AM
LOL@old shit folder. I got a giggle from that one.
JD Schwarzenbach Oct 14th 2008 1:02AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIFk2WBsTlY
Sl0th Oct 14th 2008 2:13AM
I had no problem uninstalling the PTR software the other day. Just ran the uninstall program in the PTR folder in my programs and poof, 8 gigs of free space on my memory starved laptop.
Yada Oct 14th 2008 5:03AM
Minor correction: The test folder on a Mac OS X system is at:
/Applications/World of Warcraft Public Test
The first slash denotes your root hard drive, which may or not be called Macintosh HD depending if you've renamed it or not (note the space).
Just for the record, colons were the old pathname designators in the Mac OS prior to version 10.0 and were only single colons, not double.