chocolatey/choco · error · ApplicationException

Package name is required. Please pass at least one package n

Error message

Package name is required. Please pass at least one package name to uninstall.

What it means

Thrown by ChocolateyUninstallCommand.Validate when configuration.PackageNames is null or whitespace. The uninstall command requires at least one package name. Package names are populated in ParseAdditionalArguments by joining unparsed arguments that do not start with '-'; if no such arguments are provided, PackageNames remains empty.

Source

Thrown at src/chocolatey/infrastructure.app/commands/ChocolateyUninstallCommand.cs:168

                ;
        }

        public virtual void ParseAdditionalArguments(IList<string> unparsedArguments, ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            configuration.Input = string.Join(" ", unparsedArguments);
            configuration.PackageNames = string.Join(ApplicationParameters.PackageNamesSeparator.ToStringSafe(), unparsedArguments.Where(arg => !arg.StartsWith("-")));

            if (configuration.RegularOutput)
            {
                WarnForRemovedOptions(unparsedArguments.Where(arg => arg.StartsWith("-")), _removedOptions);
            }
        }

        public virtual void Validate(ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(configuration.PackageNames))
            {
                throw new ApplicationException("Package name is required. Please pass at least one package name to uninstall.");
            }
        }

        public override void HelpMessage(ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            this.Log().Info(ChocolateyLoggers.Important, "Uninstall Command");
            this.Log().Info(@"
Uninstalls a package or a list of packages.

Chocolatey automatically tracks registry changes for ""Programs and
 Features"" of the underlying software's native installers when
 installing packages. The ""Automatic Uninstaller"" (auto uninstaller)
 service is a feature that can use that information to automatically
 determine how to uninstall these natively installed applications. This
 means that a package may not need an explicit chocolateyUninstall.ps1
 to reverse the installation done in the install script.

Chocolatey tracks packages, which are the files in

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d5abdd10c)

Solutions

1. Provide at least one package name: 'choco uninstall <pkg1> [<pkg2> ...]'.
2. If uninstalling multiple packages, separate them with commas or spaces: 'choco uninstall pkg1,pkg2'.
3. Verify the package is installed first: 'choco list --local-only'.

Example fix

// before
choco uninstall
// after
choco uninstall googlechrome
// or multiple
choco uninstall googlechrome,firefox

// Ensure at least one package name is provided
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(packageNames))
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine("choco uninstall requires at least one package name.");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'choco uninstall' with no package names, or with only flags/options (all starting with '-') and no package names. The check is string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(configuration.PackageNumbers).

Common situations: User runs bare 'choco uninstall' expecting an interactive prompt. Script has a bug where the package name variable is empty. All arguments start with '-' so none are captured as package names.

Related errors

• When specifying the subcommand '{0}', you must also specify
• A Rule Name (-n|--name) is required when getting information
• When specifying the subcommand '{0}', you must also specify
• When specifying the subcommand '{0}', you must also specify
• No rule with the name {0} could be found.

AI-assisted analysis of chocolatey/choco@0d5abdd10c (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aa658081000c902a. Report an issue: GitHub.