How do I delete a user profile on a Windows 7 machine that is part of a domain?

Question

How can I delete the local user profile on a Windows 7 machine that is connected to a Windows Server 2008 domain?

DelProf doesn't seem to exist on Windows 7.

score 137 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 07 '13 at 09:02

137

You can do it with the User Profiles dialog in System Properties:

Log in as different user (with admin privileges) than you want to delete
Open Properties for Computer
Advanced system settings (on the left side)
Settings for User Profiles (in the middle)
Select the profile you want to delete and click the delete button

Deleting local user profiles

edited Jun 07 '13 at 09:02

Martijn Heemels

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answered Oct 30 '09 at 11:12

Markus

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Does the command delete only preferences or it also deletes documents? – Paulo Avelar Sep 21 '15 at 16:46
@PauloAvelar I second this – audiFanatic Apr 13 '16 at 13:43
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I am following the steps above, but for the specific profile that I am trying to delete - the delete button is disable. What could be the reason for this? I have logged into an account different from the one that I want to delete. – Moiz Tankiwala Oct 13 '18 at 04:53

score 36 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 26 '16 at 17:14

36

To clear user local profile via registry:

Click Start → Run → Regedit
Navigate to the following registry key :HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Under ProfileList navigate to binary key’s like this: S-1-5-21-3656904587-1668747452-4095529-500
On the right side under ProfileImagePath you'll see the profile path.
Chose the one with the desired user and delete the long registry key like: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

You will then need to either rename (preferable), or delete the user profile on disk under C:\Users\%username%

edited Apr 26 '16 at 17:14

clhy

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answered May 13 '10 at 17:49

Cyrus

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This official Microsoft [KB156826](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/156826/how-to-disable-and-delete-user-profiles) confirms what you're saying, but goes further saying you can remove `ProfileList` key in regedit to delete ALL profiles if you desire which is a little surprising to me! – gregg Aug 20 '19 at 20:47

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 09 '15 at 21:09

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I have developed an unofficial successor to Microsoft's Delprof called Delprof2. It is syntax compatible to the original but more powerful.

edited Sep 09 '15 at 21:09

user66001

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answered Dec 13 '11 at 16:46

Helge Klein

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Great piece of software! – Zac B May 30 '12 at 14:57
Fantastic! Have been looking for a delprof replacement. – pelms Jul 05 '12 at 09:18
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Hi Helge, I tested your tool but there is a problem about "not old enough" user thing. The antivirus scan make 1 year old users seems that is active. Is something I'm missing or we can't do anything about it? – emirjonb Jul 30 '15 at 08:17

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 13 '15 at 11:15

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GPO: Computer Configuration \ Policies \ Administrative Templates \ System \ User Profiles This seems the perfect answer for deleting old domain users enter image description here

answered Mar 13 '15 at 11:15

emirjonb

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there was a bug that has been fixed by microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/983544 – emirjonb Mar 13 '15 at 11:56

How do I delete a user profile on a Windows 7 machine that is part of a domain?

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