User Account - Delete

**Brink**

How to Delete a User Account in Vista

Information

This will show you how to delete a user account with the option to save the contents of the soon to be deleted users account's personal folders into a folder on the desktop of the Administrator account it is being deleted from.

WARNING

Make sure that you always have at least one administrator account to be able to make changes to the computer. If you want to save the user folder files from the user account you are deleting, then make sure you click on Keep Files in frame 6 of the video below.

Tip

If you accidentally deleted all of the administrator accounts on your computer, then you can boot into Safe Mode and create a new Administrator account from within it. See: How to Boot Up in and Use Advanced Boot Options in Vista

RELATED LINKS:

Here's How:

NOTE

After you have deleted the User account from the instructions in the video below, double check the C:\Users\(user name) folder to see if is now gone. If not, then you can now safely right click on it and click Delete.

1. Open the Control Panel. (Classic View)
2. Click on the Click to Play button in the video below.

That's it,
Shawn

chowyungfatso · 07-12-2008

Hi, I'm having problems with the default administrator account (the one that is normally hidden). what happens if I delete that?

**Brink** · 07-12-2008

Hi Chowyungfatso, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you mean the built-in Administrator account and not the one you set up while installing Vista, then I would not recommend deleting it, if it was possible. You can set it back to hide without any problems though, and enable it again as needed.

Deleting it will leave you with no way to repair your computer if something should happen to your only default administrator account that you set up durring the install of Vista.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

**Fmjc001** · 07-12-2008

	Quote:	chowyungfatso
	Hi, I'm having problems with the default administrator account (the one that is normally hidden). what happens if I delete that?

I don't think you can delete that account. I think MS have protected it so that it cannot be deleted, even by administrators.

chowyungfatso · 07-16-2008

Well, I don't know what I did, but I am able to log in using that Administrator again without it locking up. I was hoping that deleting that account would help, but I ended up uninstalling a lot of programs and "utilities" that I thought would cause issues (TeraCopy, Eraser, TrueCrypt). I also removed an older Adaptec SCSI card I installed right around the time when the adminstrator log-in problems occured (again, it was only the admin account that locked up a few minutes after I logged in--all other accounts were fine), which gave strange errors during POST but seemed to work. I also uninstalled the nVidia control panel (or bits of it, as it doesn't seem to be a way to completely uninstall it) as well.

Thanks for the tips, though. I enjoy reading through the forum, and especially when it's not me having the problem.

**Brink** · 07-16-2008

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out Chowyungfatso. Thank you for the feedback.

Shawn

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07-12-2008
chowyungfatso Newbie	Re: User Account - Delete Hi, I'm having problems with the default administrator account (the one that is normally hidden). what happens if I delete that?

07-12-2008
Brink Administrator	Re: User Account - Delete Hi Chowyungfatso, and welcome to Vista Forums. If you mean the built-in Administrator account and not the one you set up while installing Vista, then I would not recommend deleting it, if it was possible. You can set it back to hide without any problems though, and enable it again as needed. Deleting it will leave you with no way to repair your computer if something should happen to your only default administrator account that you set up durring the install of Vista. Hope this helps, Shawn

07-16-2008
chowyungfatso Newbie	Re: User Account - Delete Well, I don't know what I did, but I am able to log in using that Administrator again without it locking up. I was hoping that deleting that account would help, but I ended up uninstalling a lot of programs and "utilities" that I thought would cause issues (TeraCopy, Eraser, TrueCrypt). I also removed an older Adaptec SCSI card I installed right around the time when the adminstrator log-in problems occured (again, it was only the admin account that locked up a few minutes after I logged in--all other accounts were fine), which gave strange errors during POST but seemed to work. I also uninstalled the nVidia control panel (or bits of it, as it doesn't seem to be a way to completely uninstall it) as well. Thanks for the tips, though. I enjoy reading through the forum, and especially when it's not me having the problem.

07-16-2008
Brink Administrator	Re: User Account - Delete I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out Chowyungfatso. Thank you for the feedback. Shawn