Delprof2 – User Profile Deletion Tool
Delprof2 is the inofficial successor to Microsoft’s Delprof which does not work with operating systems newer than Windows XP. Here are the main facts:
- Delprof2 is syntax compatible to the original Delprof, but more powerful
- Delprof2 lets you explicitly specify which profiles to delete
- Delprof2 bypasses security to delete profiles regardless of current permissions/owner
- Delprof2 supports very long paths
- Delprof2 works on nearly all versions of Windows
- Delprof2 is free for private use, for educational and non-profit organizations
What Does it Do?
Delprof2 deletes inactive user profiles. If you want to reclaim disk space just run it without parameters and it will delete all profiles except your own and some special profiles needed by the operating system (like “Default”).
Delprof2 has additional filtering options: you might want to delete locally cached copies of roaming profiles only or delete only those profiles that have not been used in a specified number of days. Delprof2 does it all, both on the local system and remotely.
Special Features
Exclusions and Inclusions with Wildcards
It is a frequent requirement to delete all profiles except one or two which should be left unchanged. With version 1.5 of Delprof2 that is easily possible: profiles can be excluded from deletion using a wildcard notation. If, on the other hand, only a few known profiles are to be deleted, use the inclusion feature and Delprof2 ignores everything else. Combining excludes and includes is possible, too, of course.
Bypassing Security
User profiles often have permissions set on them in such a way that not even administrators have access without prior ACL manipulation. Delprof2 circumvents this requirement by making use of backup and restore privileges to analyze and delete even the most tightly secured profiles.
Long Paths
Some programs store files in paths with more than 260 characters. Most tools cannot deal with such paths that are longer than the value of MAX_PATH (260). Windows Explorer is a prominent example. Delprof2, on the other hand, makes use of special APIs to be able to delete files in the remotest areas of your hard drive.
Here is an example of Delprof2 in action, deleting user profiles remotely on a Windows XP computer (Windows 7 / 2008 R2 work just as well):
D:\>DelProf2.exe -c:192.168.175.130 -p DelProf2 by Helge Klein (http://helgeklein.com) Delete inactive profiles on '192.168.175.130'? (Yes/No) y Ignoring profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users' (reason: special profile) Ignoring profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Default User' (reason: special profile) Ignoring profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\LocalService' (reason: special profile) Ignoring profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\NetworkService' (reason: special profile) Ignoring profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Administrator.WINXP' (reason: in use) The following user profiles match the deletion criteria: \\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\administrator.HK \\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Helge \\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\test01 \\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\testlocal \\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\testlocal2 Delete profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\administrator.HK'? (Yes/No) y Deleting profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\administrator.HK' ... ... done. Delete profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Helge'? (Yes/No) n Delete profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\test01'? (Yes/No) n Delete profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\testlocal'? (Yes/No) n Delete profile '\\192.168.175.130\C$\Dokumente und Einstellungen\testlocal2'? (Yes/No) n |
