6 Ways to Delete User Accounts in Windows 11

If you have lot of user accounts in your computer, it is good to check and delete all unused accounts. This will release the storage space occupied by unused accounts and helps to improve the overall performance of your system. In this article, we will 6 different ways to delete user accounts in Windows 11 PC. You can follow the method which is easier for you.

Deleting User Accounts

In Windows, you can temporarily disable an account and enable it back when needed. Disabling user account will not delete the data and hence the storage space will be still occupied in this case. However, deleting local user account will permanently delete all data associated with that account. There are no ways you can restore the deleted account. Therefore, make sure to understand what you are doing before deleting an account. If you are deleting a Microsoft account, then locally stored data will be deleted while online data linked to the account will be still available online.

1. Delete Account from Users Account Panel

The first option is to delete an account from the Windows user account control dialog.

• Right-click on the Start menu and select Run option.

• Type netplwiz.exe and press “OK” button to open User Accounts dialog.

• Make sure you are in “Users” tab, select the account and click on “Remove” button.

• You will see a warning message and click “Yes” to confirm the deletion.

2. Delete User Account from Windows Settings

The next option is to use the Settings app.

• Right-click on the Start menu and select “Settings” option.

• When you are in the Settings app, go to “Accounts” section.
• On the right pane, you will see the user account either under “Your family” section or under “Other users” section.
• Expand the user account that you want to delete and click on “Remove” button.

• Windows will show a warning that all associated data will be deleted from the account.
• Confirm the action by pressing “Delete account and data” button to permanently delete the user account.

You can delete any standard or administrator account using this method.

3. Delete Account from Local Users and Groups App

Windows Pro, Enterprise and Education editions comes with Local Users and Groups app. You can use this app for deleting an account. However, this app is not part of Windows Home edition, so try other options if you have Home edition.

• Right-click on the Start menu and select “Run” option.
• Type lusermgr.msc in the Run prompt and press “OK” button.

• This will open Local Users and Groups app and select “Users” folder from the first column.
• It will show all the user accounts available in your computer and select the account that you want to delete.
• Click on the “More Actions” under username from the last column and select “Delete” option. Alternatively, go to “Action > Delete” from the app’s menu.

• You will see a warning that a user account has unique identifier in Windows which will be deleted permanently. There are no ways to restore that identifier even you create an account with the same name later. Confirm the action by clicking on “Yes” button” to delete selected user account from the system.

4. Use Control Panel to Delete User Account

Microsoft is consolidating all Windows options under the Settings app and reducing the use of Control Panel. However, if you love to use Control Panel, then it is possible to delete account from there also.

• Use Windows Search to find and open Control Panel app.
• Change the view by category and click on “User Accounts” link.

• On the next screen, click on “Remove user accounts” link.

• You will see a list of user accounts available on your computer and click the account that you want to delete.

• Select “Delete the account” link.

• Windows will prompt to choose the action whether you want to delete or keep the account files. Click “Keep Files” button to retain the copy of files or select “Delete Files” to completely delete all files along with the account.

• Finally, confirm the action by clicking on “Delete Account” button.

If you have opted to keep the files, Windows will create a folder with the username in the desktop and backup the files in that folder.

5. Delete Account from Command Prompt

It is also possible to delete a user account from Command Prompt app. However, make sure you are opening the Command Prompt app in administrator mode.

• Click the search icon in taskbar and type cmd in the search box.
• Find Command Prompt app from the result and select “Run as administrator” option.

• When you are in Command Prompt, type powershell get-localuser and press enter.

• This will show a list of all user accounts available on your computer and note down the one you want to delete.
• Now, enter the following command by replacing the username and presenter key to delete that account.

net user "User_to_delte" /delete

6. Delete Account from Windows PowerShell

The last option is to delete an account from Windows PowerShell app.

• Find and open PowerShell app in administrator mode.
• Run the command get-localuser to find the list of user accounts on your system.

• For deleting an account, run the following command by replacing the correct user account.

remove-localuser -name "User_to_delete"

Final Words

Out of all the above explained methods, Control Panel is only option allows you to backup the account data before deleting a user account. All other methods will delete the user account and all associated files permanently.