Windows 7 profile remote deletion.
The setup: Windows 7 RTM EnterpriseRunning in a lab environment of 200+ computers. Computers are members of a domain and are managed by group policy. No roaming profiles.Question:In the past with Windows XP i have used the delprof.exe utility to clean off old profiles. However I cannot seem to get this utility to work with Windows 7. I have tried disabling the Windows firewall and I have tried using the psexec program but no luck with either. So... is there a way to remotely clean off old profiles from a Windows 7 computer? These are not cached roaming profiles, because we do not use roaming profiles. Dantk
October 1st, 2009 7:39pm

I have applied a group policy like you mentioned above, but it only removes the account from the registry. The c:\users\<profile name> still remains. Is there another setting in the policy I need to set to have the accounts removed after a specified period of time? TIA
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September 24th, 2010 2:23pm

I applied this GPO setting to remove user profiles, but the profile modified dates for all profiles always stay the current day, so they aren't being deleted. I researched and found people having this issue were blaming windows defender/antivirus programs for modifying the user dat files making windows think the profile was modified. My machine has three local profiles, administrator and two AD accounts. The administrator account and one AD account shows 9/24 as last modified date and I have our antivirus solution installed on my system, so that leads me to believe it isn't that. Anyone have any idea what else could be keeping the profile modified date at the current day for every local profile on a lab computer used by multiple users?
September 28th, 2010 12:27pm

I am still having the issue as well. I have disabled Windows Defender months ago, otherwise McAfee wouldn't install. We also checked a few computers and this KB is already installed. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983544
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September 29th, 2010 11:57am

I've run into this as well, the profile is always accessed on the current day by our AV app so they never get deleted. I installed a hotfix that supposedly would fix this but it didn't help. Has anyone had any luck with a script? The GPO would be great if it worked!
November 15th, 2010 12:09am

Use REMPROF for Windows 7/2008/Vista. http://www.ctrl-alt-del.com.au/CAD_TSUtils.htm REMPROF is a command-line utility to delete local user profiles that are NOT in use when this command is executed. This utility was written to replace the command DELPROF.EXE currently found in the MS Windows Resource Kit. This utility offers extra features that will be of benefit to all admins. REMPROF has the ability to delete user profiles on the local machine based on age, username, or SID association. If a username has been deleted from a Domain or Workgroup, the profile often still exists with only a SID assigned to identify it. REMPROF can delete these profiles completely from the file system and registry regardless of the profile age, and without removing existing profiles of the same age. This tool could be simply run from the command line at any time, or added as a SCHEDULED TASK for regular cleaning of user profiles, reducing the overall disk space used for locally based profiles. REMPROF will only function when executed by a user with ADMIN rights to the profile directory. Usage: REMPROF [/LIST|username|/A|/D:days|/AD:days] [/EXCLUDE:usernames] [/?] /LIST - List all user profiles currently not in use (Default). username - Delete user profile based on username. /A - Delete all user profiles that have no username association including abandoned profile folders. i.e. The username has been deleted in Active Directory but a profile still exists in form of a SID or the profile did not unload correctly and a residue profile folder exists. /D:days - Delete all user profiles equal to or older than the number of days specified. NB: /D: without a number is equal to /D:0. /D:0 will remove CURRENT user profiles not in use. /AD:days - Delete all user profiles that have no username association and are equal to or older than the number of days specified. NB: /AD: without a number is equal to /AD:0. /EXCLUDE:username/s - Exclude particular users from being deleted. Can accept multiple entries, seperated by comma. Must be last command line argument. Unassociated profiles cannot be excluded. Do not include the Domain Name. /? - show this help file REMPROF without parameters will execute the /LIST switch by default. E.G. REMPROF /D:10 /EXCLUDE:bob,mary This command will delete any profile equal or older than 10 days, excluding any profile whose username is bob or mary. This utility is FREEWARE and was written by Warren Simondson of Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy, Australia. www.ctrl-alt-del.com.au Although written for Terminal Server and Citrix environments, this application will function on non-TS/Citrix workstations and servers. This application has been tested on the following platforms: Windows 7 Windows 2008 Server R2 Windows 2008 Server The freeware version is offered AS IS. Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy has made every effort possible to ensure that REMPROF is free of any bugs or errors, however in no way is REMPROF to be considered error or bug free. You assume all responsibility for any damages or lost data that may result from any errors or bugs in REMPROF. IN NO EVENT WILL CTRL-ALT-DEL IT CONSULTANCY BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS PRODUCT.
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May 24th, 2011 10:46pm

Whenever I use RemProf.exe I get a message on the profile I want to delete that says Criteria not met. This happens even when I type in the specific username of the profile I want to delete.
June 30th, 2011 3:04pm

Are you running RemProf.exe as Administrator? "REMPROF will only function when executed by a user with ADMIN rights to the profile directory."
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July 13th, 2011 11:03am

I have written an "inofficial successor" to Delprof, creatively called Delprof2. It is syntax-compatible to the original but much more powerful and runs on any version of Windows (XP/Vista/7/2003/2008/2008R2) locally and remotely. Here are some more facts: 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. Delprof2 is free to use, commercially or otherwise Delprof2 is syntax compatible to the original Delprof, but more powerful Delprof2 bypasses file system security to delete profiles regardless of current permissions/owner (requires backup/restore privileges) Delprof2 supports very long paths (longer than 260 characters) Delprof2 can be downloaded here: http://helgeklein.com/free-tools/delprof2-user-profile-deletion-tool/ Author of SetACL | web: http://helgeklein.com | Twitter: @HelgeKlein
July 22nd, 2011 4:43am

Just found this thread and I've been testing out delprof2. Pretty nifty util, with one problem I've been having.... I can use your delprof2 on any XP workstation in my domain any any server, but as soon as I hit a Windows7 machine that isn't the one I'm currently locally logged into I get this: (I'm showing the error I receive, but yet I'm able to ping the machine just fine) I AM always running this utility from my workstation under a command prompt with Run as Administrator. Any suggestions? C:\Users\pmaryan\Desktop>delprof2 /c:\\hs-lab-photo-ts /l DelProf2 by Helge Klein (http://helgeklein.com) Delete inactive profiles on 'hs-lab-photo-ts'? (Yes/No) y Reading the profile base directory failed with: The network path was not found. C:\Users\pmaryan\Desktop>ping hs-lab-photo-ts Pinging hs-lab-photo-ts.bcsd.org [10.150.20.194] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 10.150.20.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127 Reply from 10.150.20.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127 Reply from 10.150.20.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127 Reply from 10.150.20.194: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=127 Ping statistics for 10.150.20.194: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms C:\Users\pmaryan\Desktop>delprof2 /c:\\10.150.20.194 /l DelProf2 by Helge Klein (http://helgeklein.com) Delete inactive profiles on '10.150.20.194'? (Yes/No) y Reading the profile base directory failed with: The network path was not found. C:\Users\pmaryan\Desktop>
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September 14th, 2011 12:26pm

"Remote Registry" Service should be started on Target Machines.
December 15th, 2011 5:30am

Tool works fine, thank you HelgeKlein
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September 10th, 2012 10:04am

I would like to evaluate / test this tool, but when I click the download link, I get a server not available message. Is tehre another server / place to download this utility?
October 9th, 2012 8:50pm

Please try again, it works now. There was a little problem with the web server.Author of SetACL | web: http://helgeklein.com | Twitter: @HelgeKlein
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October 10th, 2012 5:09am

I really need a solution that works. This is basically my situation. I work for a school, and we have hundreds of computers. I'm only having problems with a handful of them, so I really don't care whether the solution is a remote solution or not. All the systems are part of a domain. All systems in a certain room or floor are set to automatically map to the network printer in that area. I noticed lately newer users are getting onto the systems and the printers are not available to them. I also noticed on one that it happened to me, but I logged off and logged back in and it worked fine. I checked two systems and they were almost running out of space. The one that worked for me the second time, I noticed it was creating multiple temporary user profile folders. I also noticed that when people login their user profile folder is no longer showing a change in the modified date. It's almost like people are logging in but not really getting access to their profile. I want to delete user profiles and clear up disk space. I have no problem using Group Policy, but I don't want the Public profile deleted. I've also seen many people who say profiles are not being deleted when they use " delete profiles older than X days." I'm considering REMPROF or DELPROF2, but I see that others are having issues. I fixed this problem on another system by simply re-imaging it, but I'm not ready to do that on these systems is there is some data I want to pull of them.
October 23rd, 2012 10:50am

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