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FreeCAD

Version documented: 0.21.2 Installer type: .exe (NSIS) Hives written: HKCU, HKLM, HKCR

📁 Registry Paths

Path Hive Purpose
SOFTWARE\FreeCAD HKCU User preferences
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\FreeCAD 0.21.2 HKLM Uninstall entry
HKCR\.FCStd HKCR FreeCAD project file association
HKCR\FreeCAD.FCStd HKCR ProgID for .FCStd

🔑 Keys

HKCU\SOFTWARE\FreeCAD

Value Name Type Example Data Description
InstallPath REG_SZ C:\Program Files\FreeCAD 0.21 Installation path
Version REG_SZ 0.21.2 Installed version

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\FreeCAD 0.21.2

Value Name Type Example Data Description
DisplayName REG_SZ FreeCAD 0.21.2 Display name
DisplayVersion REG_SZ 0.21.2 Version
Publisher REG_SZ FreeCAD Team Publisher
InstallLocation REG_SZ C:\Program Files\FreeCAD 0.21 Install path
UninstallString REG_SZ "...\uninstall.exe" Uninstaller

HKCR.FCStd

Value Name Type Example Data Description
(Default) REG_SZ FreeCAD.FCStd ProgID reference

HKCR\FreeCAD.FCStd

Value Name Type Example Data Description
(Default) REG_SZ FreeCAD Document Friendly type name
shell\open\command (Default) REG_SZ "FreeCAD.exe" "%1" Open command

📝 Notes

  • FreeCAD stores all workbench preferences in %APPDATA%\FreeCAD\ as .cfg files — the registry contains only install metadata and file associations.
  • Multiple versions can be installed side-by-side; each creates its own uninstall key with the version in the key name.
  • .FCStd files are ZIP archives containing XML geometry data.
# Check installed FreeCAD version and path
Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" |
  Where-Object { (Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath).DisplayName -like "FreeCAD*" } |
  ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath } |
  Select-Object DisplayName, InstallLocation

🗑️ Cleanup

# Remove FreeCAD user registry entries
Remove-Item -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\FreeCAD" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Remove .FCStd file association
Remove-Item -Path "HKCR:\FreeCAD.FCStd" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCR:\.FCStd" -Name "(Default)" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

📦 Package Managers

Manager ID / Command
winget winget install FreeCAD.FreeCAD
Chocolatey choco install freecad
Scoop scoop install extras/freecad