Eliminate ALL other users than myself

AdvancedSetup · Jun 30, 2026

I get what you're trying to do and I've tried that too. However, trying to safely gut the infrastructure of the Registry to fully stop all programs from using these Library names is not safe and Microsoft will potentially re-enable this structure during certain updates.

I do store the majority of such items on Another Drive all under D:\MyData

I could rename the folders if wanted but to ease the pain of day to day file management it's probably best to simply move the folders where you want and live with it. Even changing the folders to another drive and location using the approved method still results in many programs that will not 100% function correctly as they do not honor the move folder redirection used by Windows.

Trying to 100% fully abandon what and how Microsoft stores document types can be done but speaking for myself I find it too annoying on the daily as most modern Windows Apps do expect it to 1. Be on the C: drive. 2. Be under your profile 3. Use the specific names Microsoft chose.

Try3 · Jun 30, 2026

cheaterslick said:
I was speaking more in terms of hide/unhide vs. enable/disable.

In other words, can the account stay unhidden while being disabled at the same time?

People can sometimes be loose in the way they refer to this account.
The account is either enabled or disabled.
Are you possibly referring to whether or not its user profile folder is visible or hidden in File explorer?

Denis

cheaterslick · Jun 30, 2026

Try3 said:
Are you possibly referring to whether or not its user profile folder is visible or hidden in File explorer?

Visible to a point that where if I want to quickly enable the admin account (or profile), I can get to it real fast and then switch. I don't want to dig around in menus or submenus to look for it.

Try3 · Jun 30, 2026

cheaterslick said:
if I want to quickly enable the admin account

The built-in Admin account is enabled using a command not a menu item.
Its profile folder can be seen in File explorer only after it has been logged into at least once.

I remain confused about what you are referring to in sentences containing both enabled/disabled & visible/hidden as it seems to me that you are referring to both the account and its profile folder as though they were the same thing.

Denis

Brink · Jun 30, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Thanks for the response.

I was speaking more in terms of hide/unhide vs. enable/disable.

In other words, can the account stay unhidden while being disabled at the same time?

Again, thanks

The account would be hidden while disabled. There's not a hide/unhide option. Only enable/disable. Its profile folder will always remain once enabled and signed in to the first time.

AdvancedSetup · Jun 30, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Visible to a point that where if I want to quickly enable the admin account (or profile), I can get to it real fast and then switch. I don't want to dig around in menus or submenus to look for it.

Why?

I've been using and supporting Windows now for decades. This security model has been in place now many years and I've never once had to enable and login as the local Administrator account.

I have used elevated account methods such as TrustedInstaller for very specific reasons but not the actual local administrator account. How it's called with security tokens works just fine.

cheaterslick · Jun 30, 2026

Brink said:
The account would be hidden while disabled. There's not a hide/unhide option. Only enable/disable. Its profile folder will always remain once enabled and signed in to the first time.

Ok, Brink just answered my question. That's what I was getting at.

And thanks to all for all your help.

Megahertz · Jun 30, 2026

Try3 said:
By default, the built-in Admin account has UAC challenges disabled [but they can easily be enabled if desired], whilst
By default, an Admin account created by a user has UAC challenges enabled [but they can easily be disabled if desired].

It's not the same. To make UAC really disabled you must go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ and set EnableLUA DWORD value to 0

Try3 said:
I don't know what that C:\Config.msi folder in your diagram is. I don't have one even with HS items unhidden.
What account are you signed into in that diagram? - a WhoAmI cmd would show that. Are you by any chance using utility that lets you emulate the System user?
My Windows 10 computer has a C:\Config.msi folder and an Admin user I created can open it in a cmd window but not in File explorer [File explorer does not run elevated so that was not a surprise].

Denis

To make the images I enabled and logged as the system administrator and as Luiz
I think C:\Config.msi folder was created when I installed MS Office. Now it's empty. Only the System administrator has access to it.

Denis, I don't want to argue with you. You showed your point of view and so do I.
My intention was to show that, in order to log in as a second administrator to fix a corrupted profile, some can use the built in System Administrator instead of creating a new user.

pseymour · Jun 30, 2026

AdvancedSetup said:
I've been using and supporting Windows now for decades. This security model has been in place now many years and I've never once had to enable and login as the local Administrator account.

Aye. We’ve had the Administrator account disabled and the password randomized since Windows 2000. Never been a problem.

Machinehead · Jun 30, 2026

I don't think I'm explaining well what my gripe is:
First thing I want to do is delete all the windows 11 libraries for every user profile. I do not use windows libraries, I create my own folders and place them where it makes sense and works for me. When I open File Explorer I see several sets of libraries and I do not want them or use them, or see them.
Second, I understand that MS created and embedded several "users" in the OS for MS and other entities to use on my PC. While I have to accept MS's use on the misnamed "user" to download MS updates to my PC, I am the only one that ever uses this PC, I have security on it, and I do not want to see or use the "users" in black. These only get in my way and are distracting without providing any use to me. All I want to see in file explorer are the two red users not the other "users."

Third, I want to ensure that when I download anything it goes to the one and only folder I use for downloads and that I placed where I can easily see it and manipulate it and secure it.

There is NOBODY else that has access to this PC, so I do not need an "All Users", "Default", "Default User", "DefaultAppPool" or "Public" user. If these "users" have to be kept (which I will try to avoid) I at least want to hide them in file explorer, even when I click "show hidden files, so I do not have to search through more than 2 "users". And I want to get rid of all the worthless (to me) libraries. If "Public" has to be kept, at least name it something else and place it elsewhere.

Windows may be designed for a system with multiple users, but at home I would guess the vast majority of home users never have anyone else on their PC. I would suggest to MS that they design a Windows 11 version that is structured for only one user.

HeavyHemi · Jun 30, 2026

Machinehead said:
I don't think I'm explaining well what my gripe is:
First thing I want to do is delete all the windows 11 libraries for every user profile. I do not use windows libraries, I create my own folders and place them where it makes sense and works for me. When I open File Explorer I see several sets of libraries and I do not want them or use them, or see them.
Second, I understand that MS created and embedded several "users" in the OS for MS and other entities to use on my PC. While I have to accept MS's use on the misnamed "user" to download MS updates to my PC, I am the only one that ever uses this PC, I have security on it, and I do not want to see or use the "users" in black. These only get in my way and are distracting without providing any use to me. All I want to see in file explorer are the two red users not the other "users."
View attachment 175630
Third, I want to ensure that when I download anything it goes to the one and only folder I use for downloads and that I placed where I can easily see it and manipulate it and secure it.

There is NOBODY else that has access to this PC, so I do not need an "All Users", "Default", "Default User", "DefaultAppPool" or "Public" user. If these "users" have to be kept (which I will try to avoid) I at least want to hide them in file explorer, even when I click "show hidden files, so I do not have to search through more than 2 "users". And I want to get rid of all the worthless (to me) libraries. If "Public" has to be kept, at least name it something else and place it elsewhere.

Windows may be designed for a system with multiple users, but at home I would guess the vast majority of home users never have anyone else on their PC. I would suggest to MS that they design a Windows 11 version that is structured for only one user.

You may find post #21 useful. There are some things that are hard coded into the OS that will break other things if you change them. I doubt MS is going to change their methodology of the last three decades.

pseymour · Jun 30, 2026

I think it would be easiest to start by turning on the "Show all folders" option in Explorer's folder options. One of the things that does is add an entry to the left navigation pane for the current user's home directory. If you use that, you never need to go into the Users folder and see all these other folders with which you seem to take issue.

Then, if you want, you can hide some of the items in the left navigation pane: Music, Pictures, Home, etc. I only use a few of them and have the rest hidden.

Speaking of folder options, the reason you're seeing the "All Users" and "Default User" folders is because you have unhidden protected OS files. That's not the default for Explorer, and it's generally unnecessary. I can tell you that "All Users" and "Default User" don't really need to exist anymore; they're there for backward compatibility and are just pointers to other folders. But really, just hide protected OS folders and they'll go away.

Eliminate ALL other users than myself

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