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How to fully uninstall Razer Synapse 2 on OS X (10.11-10.13) (El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra) without using Razer's official uninstall tool
# How to uninstall Razer Synapse 2 ( https://www.razerzone.com/synapse-2 )
# on OS X (10.11-10.13) (El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra)
# without using Razer's official uninstall tool.
# Tested on OS X 10.11.5 in July 2016.
# Edited with additional steps for later OS X versions,
# contributed by commenters on this gist.
# Step 1: In your terminal: stop and remove launch agents
launchctl remove com.razer.rzupdater
launchctl remove com.razerzone.rzdeviceengine
sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.razer.rzupdater.plist
sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.razerzone.rzdeviceengine.plist
# Step 2: Remove HID kernel extension.
sudo rm -Rf /System/Library/Extensions/RazerHid.kext
# OS X High Sierra: (Thanks to @DanThomson)
sudo rm -Rf /Library/Extensions/RazerHid.kext
# Step 3: Manually delete Razer Synapse app from Applications in Finder
# Step 4: Delete Razer files from "Application Support" folders:
sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/Razer/
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Razer/
# Step 5: Synapse sometimes leaves a certificate installed in your Keychain.
# To remove it, open Keychain Access and click on My Certificates.
# The certificate will be called Razer USA Ltd, delete it. (Thanks to @MTCoster)
# There might an item called RAZER_KEYCHAIN_ACCESS. No certificate,
# but I suppose if you want to get rid of EVERYTHING Razer,
# you may as well go ahead and delete that too. (Thanks to @blueExcess)
# Step 6: Remove additional Razer-related files in /Library/FrameWorks
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzAudioSettings.framework/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzSkinToolkit.framework/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzStorageSDK.framework/
# Step 7: Restart your Mac.
# Expected results:
# - The Razer icon should be gone from the OS X menu bar now, and also not pop up sporadically either
# - The two processes "RzDeviceEngine" and "RzUpdater" should not be running when you check ActivityMonitor
@tyuno123
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Thanks for this! Worked like a charm on macOS High Sierra 10.13.1

@zavan
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zavan commented Feb 12, 2018

Thanks worked here for High Sierra.
Synapse kept crashing and restarting, consuming a lot o CPU time.

@DanThomson
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On High Sierra I found the kernel extension in a different location.

sudo find / -name 'RazerHid.*'
/Library/Extensions/RazerHid.kext

@timotgl
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timotgl commented Mar 17, 2018

Updated gist with second location for kernel extension and certificate removal step.

@FranciscoocsicnarF
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Thanks!!

@rogueai
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rogueai commented Jul 31, 2018

Cheers!

@levillanova
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well done! thanks!

@timotgl
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timotgl commented Oct 28, 2018

Found some more Razer-related files in /Library/Frameworks/ and updated the gist. Not quite sure if they appeared on my system because of Synapse 2.

@InsomniacSoftware
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Thank you so much for this! Here are some minor corrections I've encountered in cleaning out Synapse v1.85 (from osx 10.13.6)
In Keychain Access, easiest way is to select the "login" keychain and below that select the All Items category, then in the upper right corner, search for "razer". I had 2 results returned.

  • RAZER_KEYCHAIN_SERVICE ; application password
    This is your RazerID (email address and password) which is used to log into their website. If you are just uninstalling to reinstall and are going to continue to use Synapse, you don't need to remove this item.

  • *.razer.com ; web certificate
    This is their web server security certificate so that the app can securely connect to their web services. This is an updated wildcard certificate that replaces the "Razer USA Ltd" certificate mentioned in the gist. It is located in the "login" keychain in the "Certificates" category, not the "My Certificates" category as mentioned in the gist.

Hope this helps, and again thanks

@tanyanghan
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Thank you, timotgl!

I just installed Razer Synapse Mac Driver v1.85 on Mojave 10.14.1 and it kept scrolling up indefinitely. I could not select anything in a drop down list or even scroll down to read a webpage.

On Terminal, it kept going up my bash history. I had to delete the ~/.bash_history file in order to execute the launchctl commands.

I could not enter the password for Sudo because it kept issuing the scroll up key, whatever that is and that meant I could not enter a correct password! I manually followed your script and had to use Finder to delete the folders and kext file.

Luckily I had finger print verification on or would have been stuffed if i had to enter my password to delete the files on Finder!

I rebooted but it kept on scrolling up until I followed your three lines to remove the folders in /Library/Frameworks:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzAudioSettings.framework/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzSkinToolkit.framework/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/RzStorageSDK.framework/ 

@AsyaKarapetyan
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Remove the following service files from ~/Library

  • com.razer.rzupdater.plist file
  • com.razerzone.rzdeviceengine.plist
  • Application Support/Razer
  • Cache/com.razerzone.RzUpdater
  • Cache/fsCachedData

@fmeehan
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fmeehan commented Feb 21, 2019

Thanks a million! @magiconair

@shanerk
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shanerk commented Jul 9, 2019

One less spyware on my box, thanks!

@zeamp
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zeamp commented Dec 12, 2019

Excellent little script! I was very underwhelmed with Synapse v2 (Mac) compared to v3 on Windows. I immediately uninstalled it and then realized it leaves quite the trail. Kept popping up with "PROFILE" on my screen, would not fully quit even after emptying trash.

This did the trick.

@dora-gt
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dora-gt commented Aug 31, 2020

Maybe we need sudo kextcache --clear-staging for 10.15 becasue there is /Library/StagedExtensions/Library/Extensions/RazerHid.kext.

@Gauhar
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Gauhar commented Jan 28, 2021

OMG!! Such a life saver, I was having so many issues with this and this just saved the day!!

@jaronschulz
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thanks

@FernandoBoza
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Awesome sauce

@timotgl
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timotgl commented Aug 22, 2021

Found some more remnants of this software even today (sorry I don't have time to update the original gist):

~/Library/Preferences/com.razerzone.RazerSynapse.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.razerzone.RzUpdater.plist

@gaethug
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gaethug commented Sep 18, 2021

thank you!!!

@MON0RION
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Thank you! Worked on BigSur.

@superunnecessary
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Thank you for this!
I am using a mac for the first time in years, synapse was truly awful and put me off using any razer products on this device.
This guide solved my issue of random green text saying "profile" appearing on my screen constantly.

@superunnecessary
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Also I am using monterey and this worked, for all its worth.

@OriCzer
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OriCzer commented Aug 21, 2022

Thank you, I was struggling to get rid of it for some time. Worked first try!

@anymos
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anymos commented Apr 15, 2023

thank you, very usefull !

@ericn441
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ericn441 commented Jun 1, 2023

GOAT

@Sollll
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Sollll commented Jun 26, 2023

++++

@habibi9325
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What a cancer from an application - I have a feeling that it was ported somehow and not made for mac... You SAVED me from a trully terrible piece of software. People talk about malware and stuff like they are some kind of a mythical thing - RAZER SYNAPSE IS A MALWARE - don't ever install it on a mac.

Thank you.

@davidleiti
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This finally did the trick for me, it was really annoying at this point to always have the icon in the status bar left over even after uninstalling. Thanks a lot!

@Kelementz916
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Thank you, this helped me out even to this day. Will never uninstall a no longer managed app. Seems razer pretty much left Mac devices in their own realm

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