But if there comes a point when you want to delete a user, either because they don't need it anymore or you want to block their access, deleting a user account from a Windows 10 PC is simple, as long as you're using an Administrator account.
How to delete a User Profile in Windows 10
Quick tip: Deleting a user from your Windows 10 machine will permanently delete all of their associated data, documents, and more. If needed, ensure the user has a backup of any important files they want to keep before you delete.
In this article, we will see how to delete a profile for a user account without deleting the account itself. This will allow you to reset all preferences and settings for all apps and Windows for a specific user.
A user profile is a set of files and folders to store all the personal preferences, app settings, documents and other data. Every user account has an associated user profile. Usually, it is stored in the folder C:\Users\Username and includes a number of subfolders like Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc along with hidden folders like AppData which store the settings for various Windows features and installed apps. The main purpose of the user profile is to create a personalized environment with individual options tailored to the end user.
If your user profile has got corrupted or if you need to reset it to default, then you can delete the profile without removing the account. The next time you sign-in, a new profile will automatically be created for your user account. Let's see how it can be done.
Before proceeding, ensure that your user account has administrative privileges. Also, you cannot delete the profile for the current (active) account. Ensure you have signed in with another user account and not with the one whose profile data you wish to delete.
In this article, we will see how to delete a profile for a user account without deleting the account itself. This will allow you to reset all preferences and settings for all apps and Windows for a specific user.
Open File Explorer. Go to the folder C:\Users and look for the user name which you want to delete. The appropriate folder contains everything related to the user profile, so you just need to delete this folder.
Sometimes you don't need to delete account. For example you only want to reset all preferences and settings for all apps and Windows for a specific user but you don't want to create account again and give any permissions or add user in groups. It can save your time.
If you are trying to keep the local data from the profile, doing this guide backwards will be the trick. Start by deleting the registry profile folder. Then rename the users profile to user.old like someone has suggested up above. Log into the account for the user folder to be recreated. Migrate any files from the user.old. I've found that if you start with step one, deleting the profile also deletes the users folder and all their data.
Steps 6-8 were still very useful to me.The user would take 60+ minutes to login after providing credentials. At first I was thinking some GPO was not applying, but all was good there.I tried navigating to the user the usual way, under advanced system settings, but even from a different account this would make the machine freeze up. So I couldn't remove them that way. The profile was corrupted in some way that I couldn't even bring up 'user profiles' under advanced system settings.Clearing the user out of the registry did the trick though, I had him login again and it didn't take 5 seconds.
In case you accidentally deleted a user profile, or if there are some files you\u2019d like to restore, there is a way to restore that user profile. That\u2019s why it\u2019s always important to have all your files backed up before you delete a user profile.Here\u2019s how you can restore a deleted user profile in Windows 10:1. Click on the magnifying glass in the bottom-left corner of your screen.2. Type in Command Prompt and click Open.3. Copy whoami \/user and paste it in Command Prompt.4. Press Enter.5. Under User Name SID, you\u2019ll be able to see the Security Identifier for your user profile.6. Press the Windows + R key.7. Type in regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry.8. Copy HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows NT>CurrentVersion>ProfileList and paste it into the Registry.9. Under ProfileList, find the same SID from the Command Prompt.10. Click on the right SID folder.11. Find ProfileImagePath on the right side of the Registry and double-click on it.12. Under Value data, type in C:\\Users\\ and the correct username of your user profile.13. Click on OK.14. Double-click on State; it\u2019s under ProfileImagePath on the right pane.15. Under Value data, write 0.16. Select OK.You\u2019ve successfully managed to restore your user profile. The next time you go to Local Disc (C:), you\u2019ll see your restored user profile there." } } ] } BODY .fancybox-containerz-index:200000BODY .fancybox-is-open .fancybox-bgopacity:0.87BODY .fancybox-bg background-color:#0f0f11BODY .fancybox-thumbs background-color:#ffffff "@context": " ", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": "@id": " -mobile/", "name": "PC & Mobile" , "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": "@id": " -mobile/pc-mobile-devices/", "name": "Devices" , "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": "@id": " -mobile/pc-mobile-devices/windows/", "name": "Windows" ] "@context": " ", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": "@type": "WebPage", "@id": " -user-profile-windows-10/" , "headline": "How to Delete a User Profile in", "image": [ " -content/uploads/2021/07/How-to-Delete-a-User-Profile-in-Windows-10.png?resize=1200%2C1200&ssl=1", " -content/uploads/2021/07/How-to-Delete-a-User-Profile-in-Windows-10.png?resize=1280%2C960&ssl=1", " -content/uploads/2021/07/How-to-Delete-a-User-Profile-in-Windows-10.png?resize=1280%2C720&ssl=1", " -content/uploads/2021/07/How-to-Delete-a-User-Profile-in-Windows-10.png?fit=4594%2C3063&ssl=1", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_1-13.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_2-8.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_3-9.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/image0-11.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/image1-9.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/k1.jpg", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_5-8.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_6-7.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_7-8.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_8-4.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_9-4.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_10-3.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_11-4.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_12-3.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_13-2.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_14-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/k1.jpg", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_15-2.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_16-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_17-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/image1-10.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/image0-12.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_2114.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_1-13.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_18-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_19-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_20-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_21-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot_22-1.png", " -content/uploads/2021/07/image7-2.png" ], "datePublished": "2021-07-19T00:00:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2022-08-16T07:32:28-06:00", "author": "@type": "Person", "name": "Lee Stanton" , "publisher": "@type": "Organization", "name": "Alphr", "logo": "@type": "ImageObject", "url": " -content/themes/alphr/images/logo_new.svg" , "description": "Sometimes deleting your user profile in Windows 10 can solve several issues. For example, if your user profile becomes corrupted, if certain apps don\u2019t work anymore, or if you want to reset your profile\u2019s settings back to default," var ajaxurl = ' -admin/admin-ajax.php'; window.adsLoaded = false; var freestar = freestar ; freestar.queue = freestar.queue []; freestar.config = freestar.config ; freestar.config.enabled_slots = []; freestar.initCallback = function () if (typeof window.initAds !== "undefined") window.initAds(); else window.adsLoaded = true; (freestar.config.enabled_slots.length === 0) ? freestar.initCallbackCalled = false : freestar.newAdSlots(freestar.config.enabled_slots) GamingXboxNintendoPlayStationTwitchDiscordMinecraftSteamPC & MobileAndroidiPhoneChromebookWindowsMacGoogle SheetsZoomGoogle MeetGoogle PhotosMicrosoft TeamsZohoSocial MediaFacebookInstagramTikTokTwitterSnapChatWhatsAppTelegramMessengerInternetVPNsAlexaGoogle DriveGoogle PhotosiCloudPaypalNotionEntertainmentChromecastFire TVsRokuNetflixSpotifyKodiDisney+GadgetsSmart HomeEchoGoogle HomeiPadKindle FireVizio TVsSamsung TVsVPNsKodiXboxOn a RouterAndroidFirestickSubscribe UsSubscribeGamingXboxNintendoPlayStationTwitchDiscordMinecraftSteamPC & MobileAndroidiPhoneChromebookWindowsMacGoogle SheetsZoomGoogle MeetGoogle PhotosMicrosoft TeamsZohoSocial MediaFacebookInstagramTikTokTwitterSnapChatWhatsAppTelegramMessengerInternetVPNsAlexaGoogle DriveGoogle PhotosiCloudPaypalNotionEntertainmentChromecastFire TVsRokuNetflixSpotifyKodiDisney+GadgetsSmart HomeEchoGoogle HomeiPadKindle FireVizio TVsSamsung TVsVPNsKodiXboxOn a RouterAndroidFirestickSearchHomePC & Mobile Devices Windows How to Delete a User Profile in Windows 10 Lee StantonRead moreAugust 16, 2022
Your user profile is comprised of all the settings and personalization you applied to the device. Even the slightest changes made to your device, such as backgrounds and screen savers, all fall into the category of a user profile.
As mentioned before, user profiles are a set of folders that help personalize your user account. If you want to delete your user profile, make sure you are doing it from another user account and not from the profile that will soon be deleted. 2ff7e9595c
Comments