Share this article

Latest news

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Windows 10 Anniversary Update is creating “defaultuser0” profiles

3 min. read

Updated onOctober 12, 2016

updated onOctober 12, 2016

Share this article

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial teamRead more

After upgrading to theAnniversary Update, many users have noticed that apart from their regular user accounts, the OS also creates a new Defaultuser0 account. The most interesting part is that this unusual profile cannot be deleted even after performing aclean install.

TheDefaultuser0 accountbug has been haunting Windows users for a long time. Nobody knows exactly why this account is being created or how users can prevent its creation. The commonly accepted hypothesis suggests the Defaultuser0 profile is created whensomething goes wrongduring the profile creation phase of the main account, and it should be harmless.

According to user reports, it appears that not even Microsoft’s Level Two Technical Support team can offer a clear answer to these questions, let alone a solution.

The Anniversary Update automatically creates the Defaultuser0 profile

Yesterday I performed a clean install of my Windows 10 laptop (64-bit, Pro version) to get the Anniversary Update (#1607). […] But when I logged in with my local user account I noticed something very strange: Under C:/ Users/ there is now an additional user profile called “defaultuser0.” I tried doing another format followed by a clean install, and again it was there.

[…] I decided to go back to the previous version of Windows 10 (#1511) and again did a full format with clean install, using the Windows Media Creation tool I made a few months ago. It installs fine, but when I log in, guess what I see? This darn “defaultuser0” account! […] Now today I have gone back and once again formatted the partitions of my laptop and have clean installed the Anniversary Update (#1607). STILL THERE…

How to get rid of the Defaultuser0 profile

Solution 1 – simply delete the Defaultusers0 account

Go to Control Panel > User accounts > Delete the profile

Solution 2 – Enable the hidden admin account

The second solution removes most of the traces left behind by the Defaultusers0 profile, but it can’t delete every trace the account has created. For the time being, Microsoft hasn’t officially acknowledged this bug, but we’ll update this article as soon as new information is available.

RELATED STORIES YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT:

More about the topics:user accounts,windows 10 fix

Madalina Dinita

Networking & Security Specialist

Madalina has been a Windows fan ever since she got her hands on her first Windows XP computer.

She is interested in all things technology, especially emerging technologies – AI and DNA computing in particular.

Prior to joining the WindowsReport team, she worked in the corporate world for a number of years.

User forum

5 messages

Sort by:LatestOldestMost Votes

Comment*

Name*

Email*

Commenting as.Not you?

Save information for future comments

Comment

Δ

Madalina Dinita

Networking & Security Specialist

Madalina is a Windows fan since forever, especially interested in AI, emerging technologies, privacy, and security.