Windows allows having multiple user accounts, including administrator accounts, with their own profiles on a computer. However, there are situations where you need to remove an admin account—the account may have served its purpose, or you may be encountering some issues due to a corrupt account profile.
Windows offers many methods to delete an account. Some methods also delete the account’s user profile folder (C:\Users\“username”) while some don’t. This is the folder that stores all user-specific data inside folders like Documents, Downloads, Pictures, and so on.
So, depending on the method, you’ll need todelete this folder manuallyto free up space on your disk.
Through Settings
The best way to delete an administrator account is through the Account Settings as it also removes the account’s entries from your system.
This method willdelete the user profile folderassociated with the account. So make sure to back up any necessary data beforehand.
Through Control Panel
You can also use the Control Panel, which is the traditional alternative of the Settings app, to delete a user account. It alsogives you the choice of whether you wish to retain the user profile folder or not.
Through Command-line Interfaces
You can also use the command-line interfaces such asCommand Prompt and PowerShellto delete the admin account. You will only need to use one command to check the user account list and another to delete an account.
However, this processwon’t remove the user profile folder, so you may need to remove it manually afterward.
On PowerShell
Using Local Users and Group
Another way you can remove the administrator account from Windowswithout deleting the user profile folder is through Local Users and Groups.
This is the only method that allows you to delete the currently logged in account as well. If you do so, you won’t see the account after you sign out.
However, verify that there is at least one other admin account on your system and that you know its password before deleting the current logged in admin account. Otherwise, you won’t be able to log in to Windows and will need to restore or reset the system.
Using Netplwiz Utility Tool
Netplwiz is another tool that you can use to specify advanced settings for your user accounts. It also allows removing an account, regardless of whether it is an admin account or not. However, similar to the last few methods, itdoesn’t affect the user profile folder.
Through the Registry Editor
Your registry stores the records of all available user accounts in your system. You can actually delete the relevant registry key for an admin account to remove it from your system.
While it does not remove all other records of the account, your system stops thinking that it contains such an account, so you won’t see it on the login screen or other utilities mentioned above.
You can even delete the hidden administrator using this method, but I don’t recommend doing so as it can bring some system issues.
You can also delete your Microsoft accounts fromComputer\HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\StoredIdentities
