How to Delete a User Profile From Windows 10 [Fixed]

Sometimes, a user might want to delete a user profile from Windows 10 for various reasons. How to delete a user profile from Windows 10? This article will help you with two authentic ways to delete a profile from Windows 10.

Sometimes, a user might want to delete a user profile from Windows 10 for various reasons. These reasons may include file corruption inside the user profile, specific apps misbehaving, or a complete reset from the user to get a fresh start. 

Windows 10 lets you delete a user profile without deleting a user account. Before getting into the details, we will start by defining the user profiles, so you can better distinguish between a user profile and a user account.

What is a User Profile on Windows

A user profile is a directory of stored user settings and information for the related user account. To understand it better, perform the following actions.

Step 1. Power on your PC/laptop with Windows 10 operating system and click on the "This PC" icon. 

Step 2. Here, you will probably see a drive with the name Local Disk (C:), click on it.

Step 3. Now, click on "users" to check all user profiles on your system.

You can see the content inside a user profile. It contains different files and folders where information is stored. 

On the other hand, a user account is your entry point to get into Windows 10. It is created while setting up your Windows after installation, and you can sign in to your PC/laptop with a user account and create multiple user profiles inside.

How to Delete a User Profile From Windows 10

There are three ways to delete a user profile in Windows 10: 

1. Method 1. Manually delete a user profile
2. Method 2. Delete a user profile through system properties
3. Method 3. Delete a user profile from the settings app

Step-by-step process to manually delete a user profile

Step 1. Power on your PC/laptop with Windows 10 operating system and click on the "This PC" icon.

Step 2. Here, you'll see one or multiple hard drives in the "Devices and Drive" section. Click on Local Disk (C:) or the drive which has the Windows icon.

Step 3. Now, click on "Users" to check all user profiles on your system.

Step 4. Right-click on the user profile you want to delete

Step 5. Click on the delete option in the drop-down menu.

Step 6. Right after this, press the Windows + R key to open the run command window.

Step 7. Now, type "regedit" and click on the "Ok" button.

Step 8. Copy and paste the following Registry Key into the registry editor.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Step 9. Find and open the "FileList" folder and go to the "ProfileImagePath."

Step 10. Right-click on this file and click on the delete option. You'll get a warning message, but you can proceed by clicking on the "Yes" option.

Step 11. Close the registry editor and restart your PC. Upon restarting, you won't see the deleted profile in the "Users" folder anymore.

Step-by-step process to delete a user profile through system properties

Step 1. Open the run command by pressing Windows+R.

Step 2. Type "systempropertiesadvanced" and click "Ok."

Step 3. Now, open the "Advanced" tab from the top menu.

Step 4. Click on the Settings button inside the "User profile" option.

Step 5. A new User Profiles window will appear. Now, select the profile you want to delete and hit the "Delete button". Click "Yes" when a new window appears for final confirmation. Upon restraining the PC, the deleted profile will no longer appear.

Step-by-step process to delete a user profile from the settings app

Step 1. Type "Settings" in the search bar to open the application.

Step 2. Click on "Accounts" and then open "Family & other users."

Step 3. Now select the profile you want to delete and remove it.

Besides, you may as well choose to copy and transfer user profile.

Bottom Line

A user profile is a great way to keep your data safe and separate from unauthorized access if you share your PC with your family or colleagues. Sometimes, you wish to delete a user profile you have created due to any reason. This article has presented two authentic ways of deleting a user profile from Windows 10.