Is this the proper way to remove a user account?

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

TairikuOkami said:
Windows will not let you to remove stuff that is being used.

You can remove stuff from registry or folders, but face consequences upon restart.
If you remove the profile via the proper channels, Windows should respect it afterwards.

Ok, so its still unclear what youre trying to convey. I'm not touching the registry at all. My concern involves user accounts, not the registry. I just want to remove as many user accounts as is safe.

Then you provided a command prompt: "net user defaultuser1 /delete". What are you trying to recommend I do?

TairikuOkami · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
What are you trying to recommend I do?

"Net user" command will tell you, what user accounts exist, you can remove any other, not locked, like guest.

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
I suggest, as I did before, that you make use of the forum's tutorials as much as possible.
In this case

Delete User Account in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to delete a user account to remove it from your Windows 11 PC. Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and desktop...

www.elevenforum.com

and, if still required,

hey Denis, appreciate the response. So I reviewed the tuts as you suggested and entered a commend to being up the below. I want to delete user account marked in red in the screenshot.

Someone suggested I keep Administrator and Default. I want to just delete the account marked in red in the screenshot and Guest. II want to keep X. Let me know if its safe to proceed.

I dont know what WDAGUtilityAccount is. But looks like it has something to do with Defender. Let me know if I can delete this one too.

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
keep Administrator

xazs said:
keep ... Default

xazs said:
keep ... WDAGUtilityAccount ... it has something to do with Defender

xazs said:
I want to delete user account marked in red

Yes, while you are signed in to X you can use the tutorial procedure to delete the red one.
But first, please do check that X is an Admin account and at least consider my earlier suggestion about having two spare local Admin accounts as a hedge against potential future user account corruption.

Try3 said:
Create two spare local, password-protected Admin accounts [post #2] in Windows 10, 11 - TenForums

Denis

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Hey Denis. thanks dude. So I went into User Accounts from the control panel and found that X is indeed an admin account as you can see from the screenshot below.

And as to your suggestion to create a 2nd local account, would it be safe to create a local account AFTER I delete my desired account? Or should I create one BEFORE deleting it?

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
would it be safe to create a local account AFTER I delete my desired account?

Yes.
My habit has been to create the spares before deleting anything else.

Denis

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
Yes.
My habit has been to create the spares before deleting anything else.

Denis

Understood clearly sir! Will do.

Btw, would you please me with an issue here?

Settings window disappears when I go into the Power tab - Help!

Hi guys!! When I try to go into settings > system > power, the window disappears. How can I fix this?

www.elevenforum.com

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
Btw, would you please me with an issue here?

Settings window disappears when I go into the Power tab - Help!

Hi guys!! When I try to go into settings > system > power, the window disappears. How can I fix this?

www.elevenforum.com

Try3 said:
I suggest you search for other threads on the issue.

Search results for query: settings crashes

www.elevenforum.com

I found one thread that contained a claimed solution. See Settings app crashes when accessing Power-related options

It is not a subject I have any experience of.
I think Freebooter's suggestion relates to the tutorial
Reset and Re-register Settings App - ElevenForumTutorials

Denis

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
Denis

I finally deleted the other user account and created a local account as Denis suggested. Thanks for everything guys!!!

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
Yes.
My habit has been to create the spares before deleting anything else.

Hi Denis.. a bit of confusion here. As I said before, I deleted the user account. I tried to delete the Guest account but it gives an error. Must the Guest account be enabled first before I delete it?

2nd, After I deleted my account I found that I still have this microsoft account associate with 'X X' still around with my email account attached. I dont get it. Why is that and how do I remove it when my desired user account is 'X'?

3rd, I thought that be deleting the other account I'd be able to free up some space. But it didn't. I don't understand how I have 8GB of stuff when my Documents folder has 4.5GB and my Desktop folder has 1GB. How is this possible?

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
I tried to delete the Guest account

You can't. Windows owns it, just like Administrator, WDAGUtilityAccount & DefaultAccount.
Just leave Guest disabled.
Guest used to be regarded as a security loophole anyway.
If you ever have a guest and you want them to have a user account then I suggest you create a Standard, Local user account for them and then delete that user account afterwards.

xazs said:
I still have this microsoft account

Check you followed the tutorial procedure.
If you have then I suggest you ask in the tutorial thread itself.

xazs said:
don't understand how I have 8GB of stuff

Look in
C:\Users\%UserName%
[with File explorer set not to display hidden folders-files]
and in
C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData
[Apps, for example, get installed there and can store their own datafiles there.]
Paste what I've written into File explorer's Address bar to get straight to each of those locations.
I know nothing about cloud storage. I never use OneDrive.

Denis

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

That diagram seems to be saying that you are logged into that account.
You have to log out of it to delete it.

Denis

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
Look in
C:\Users\%UserName%
[with File explorer set not to display hidden folders-files]
and in
C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData
[Apps, for example, get installed there and can store their own datafiles there.]
Paste what I've written into File explorer's Address bar to get straight to each of those locations.
I know nothing about cloud storage. I never use OneDrive.

I looked into C:\Users\%UserName% and found Onedrive in it had 2.5GB. But I thought all my files in Onedrive was backed up in the cloud.

In C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData, I found the Local folder had 5.5GB and that the Roaming folder has 2.6GB.

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
View attachment 159544
That diagram seems to be saying that you are logged into that account.
You have to log out of it to delete it.

Denis

When I sign out of X X and sign back it, I go back to my X account and I'm still back to where I started from. Should I sign into the spare account and delete the X X account from there?

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
When I sign out of X X

Are you signing out of it?
Or merely switching to another account [which does not close any account]?

If you are not sure then reboot & sign in to the X account then use the tutorial procedure to delete the XX account.
Use the command net user afterwards to confirm that XX has been deleted.

Denis

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
Onedrive in it had 2.5GB. But I thought all my files in Onedrive was backed up in the cloud.

I cannot advise about any aspects of OneDrive.

xazs said:
In C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData, I found the Local folder had 5.5GB and that the Roaming folder has 2.6GB

They are files created by the user's installed Apps.
The only signifiance of these files is that you might think all the user has done is create a single Word document yet the user's apps have created stacks of them without you noticing.
Just by way of example, I use MyPhoneExplorer, an app to sync with my smartphone. In its options I had left selected a setting to maintain a cache of synced files. It was only when most of my drive's space had been used up that I browsed around C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData and I found that that cache was not simply a set of the latest synced files, it was every copy of those files that existed at every sync [so cumulatively about an additional 1GB of files every single time I synced].

Denis

Spunk · Jan 10, 2026

Backup or Cut and Paste your User files in OneDrive to the Users folders under your Local User Name folder you are logging into, if you haven't already.

If you want to Stop OneDrive from syncing, Right-click the OneDrive icon in the taskbar, select "Settings," go to the "Account" tab, and click "Unlink this PC." This will prevent OneDrive from syncing files to your computer.

You can Disable OneDrive if you don't want to use it.

Enable or Disable OneDrive in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the OneDrive feature for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. OneDrive is built-in to Windows 11 by default. With OneDrive, you can sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere -...

www.elevenforum.com

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Try3 said:
Are you signing out of it?
Or merely switching to another account [which does not close any account]?

If you are not sure then reboot & sign in to the X account then use the tutorial procedure to delete the XX account.
Use the command net user afterwards to confirm that XX has been deleted.

Hi Denis.. yes I'm signing out of it. Btw I deleted my spare account just to fix this situation.

I checked with gpt and this is what is says:
Your admin account (x) and the Microsoft-linked account are the same thing.
There are not two accounts.

What you’re seeing is one Windows user:

Username: x
Account type: Administrator
Sign-in method: Microsoft account (email)

So Windows is not letting you “remove just the email” because the email is how that account is defined.

Is this true?? How can I unhook my email from the admin account?

xazs · Jan 10, 2026

Ok so I found out that after I deleted my old account that the files and folders still exist - check the screenshot with the folder associated with my account. Why does the folder still exist when I already deleted the account?? That makes 0 sense.

Whats worse is when I delete a file from that folder, the same file in onedrive is deleted too. Why are the files still linked to the onedrive AFTER I deleted the user account??

I dont want ANY files that I backed up to onedrive to be deleted. How can I delete that folder from the screenshot WITHOUT deleting any files from onedrive?

Try3 · Jan 10, 2026

xazs said:
after I deleted my old account that the files and folders still exist

Weren't you asked during the deletion whether or not you wanted to delete its folders & files?

xazs said:
the same file in onedrive is deleted too

You have OneDrive syncing set up but
- I do not know why that should happen after the online-linked user account has been deleted, if it really has been.
- If you have deleted the user account, surely you do not want its folders & files in OneDrive anymore?
Does Net user agree that the user account has been deleted?
I suggest you check the OneDrive tutorials.

Denis

Is this the proper way to remove a user account?

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