How To Delete User Profiles by Using the User Profile Deletion Utility (Delprof.exe)

This website provides a short overview of the free Microsoft "Delprof" tool and the commercial "Remote Profile Cleaner" tool. Besides general information also links for product downloads and more detailed product information are provided for both products.

Profile Deletion Tools:

Delprof Scripts:

Delete Local Account:

Delete Local Profile:

Delprof is a command-line tool that can be used to remove (delete) user profiles on a local or remote Windows NT, 2000, 2003 and XP based computers. Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 is unavailable at this moment. This free tool can be found as part of the Microsoft Windows Resource Kit and downloaded from the Microsoft download center. User profiles can grow large and may take up considerable disk space, especially if there are multiple users using one computer (for example at schools, offices, libraries, etc) resulting in a huge waste of disk space.. Because of this, you may want to use Delprof.exe and free this disk space by deleting profiles that are no longer in use (and therefore no longer required to maintain).

For usage of the Delprof.exe tool administrator credentials are required and therefore you must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group to successfully delete user profiles on local or remote computers.

Provided below are two links you can use to download Delprof.exe from the Microsoft Download Center. The first link will open the Microsoft Download Center download page for Delprof. From this page you can download Delprof yourself. The second link is a direct link to the Delprof installer ("Delprof.msi") at the Microsoft Download Center. Notice that both links download this tool from the Microsoft Download Center, the files are not hosted on this website.

Open the Microsoft download center webpage.

Download "delprof.msi" directly from the Microsoft Download Center.

Please click on any of the below images to view a Delprof screenshot in full size.

Delprof.exe can be used with this syntax: delprof /q /i /p /c:\\computer name /d:days /r. You can configure Delprof with the following parameters:

WARNING: Delprof.exe deletes all data that is stored in a user profile. This also includes desktop settings, favorites, program-specific data that is contained in the Application Data folder, and all the contents of the My Documents folder. Please be aware of any user documents that may be deleted before you use this tool. We recommend that you test Delprof in an isolated environment (test-lab / virtual computer) before using it on life data. When in doubt backup your data first.

For more information and examples on how to use the Delprof.exe utility please visit the Microsoft Help and Support website. Delprof.exe can be downloaded from the Microsoft download center.

Professional solution

Delprof is a great tool for removing user profiles; however, when more configuration options are required or when specific profiles or computers need to be cleaned and scripting is not an option you will probably choose for Remote Profile Cleaner. Remote Profile Cleaner is highly configurable though it's Graphical User Interface, has build-in test functionality, keeps record of all activities in a detailed log file and supports the usage of templates, it simply fills in all the needs left wanting by Microsofts Delprof.exe.

Remote Profile Cleaner is both a GUI and a command-line tool that can be used to remove (delete) user profiles on a local or remote Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista or Windows 7 based computer. This commercial tool can be downloaded as a free trial version from the No-Nonsens inc. website. User profiles can grow large and may take up considerable disk space, especially if there are multiple users using one computer (for example schools, offices. libraries, etc). Because of this, you may want to use this tool to free disk space by deleting profiles that are no longer in use (and therefore no longer required).

Provided below are two links you can use to download Remote Profile Cleaner from the No-Nonsens inc. website. The first link will open the No-Nonsens inc. download page for Remote Profile Cleaner. From this page you can download Remote Profile Cleaner yourself. The second link is a direct link to the Remote Profile Cleaner installer ("proclean30.exe") at the No-Nonsens inc. website www.remoteprofilecleaner.com. Notice that both links download this tool from the No-Nonsens inc. site, the files are not hosted on this website.

Open the No-Nonsens inc. download page.

Download the "Remote Profile Cleaner" installer directly from the No-Nonsens inc. website.

Please click on any of the below images to view a Remote Profile Cleaner screenshot in full size.

Cleanup in Progress.	Log File Information.	Profiles to Preserve.
Workstations to Batch Process.	Folders to Process.	Files to Remove.
Profile Rules.	Backup Options.	Drive and Folder Settings.

WARNING: Remote Profile Cleaner deletes all data that is stored in a user profile. This also includes desktop settings, favorites, program-specific data that is contained in the Application Data folder, and all the contents of the My Documents folder. Please be aware of any user documents that may be deleted before you use this tool. We recommend that you test Remote Profile Cleaner in an isolated environment (test-lab / virtual computer) before using the product on life data. When in doubt backup your data first.

For more information and examples on how to use Remote Profile Cleaner please visit the No-Nonsens inc. website. A trial version of Remote Profile Cleaner can be downloaded from the No-Nonsens inc. website. For additional questions contact No-Nonsens inc. by using this contact form at the Remote Profile Cleaner website.