How to Completely Uninstall Podman from Ubuntu 22.04

In the previous article, I provided detailed step-by-step instructions on how to install Podman on Ubuntu. However, if you are looking to uninstall and remove Podman from Ubuntu, you can follow the steps below:

Step by step: Completely Uninstall Podman Ubuntu Linux

Important: Before proceeding, make sure you have backed up all important data and information, as removing Podman from Ubuntu and its related data is an irreversible process that could lead to catastrophic data loss or system damage if done carelessly.

Step 1: Stop all running containers by running the following command:

podman pod stop -a

Step 2: Delete all stopped containers by running the following command:

podman container rm -a

Step 3: Delete Podman using command apt:

sudo apt-get remove podman -y

Step 4: After removing Podman from Ubuntu/Linux, you may want to delete Podman’s data and configuration folders as well. The default directory for storing container data and images is /var/lib/containers, you can delete it if you want:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containers

By carefully following all the above steps and ensuring that you have backed up important data, you can safely and completely uninstall Podman from your Ubuntu system without any risk of data loss or system damage.