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Can't delete NT user accounts

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11 replies

by vicki_costello

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NT 4 sp6a Servers. There are two user accounts that I can't delete. The error message is "The following error occured went trying to delete user "so and so". The user does not belong to this group." the title bar is User Manager for Domains. I've tried removing the user from Domain users and can't. I've tried adding them to Domain users so I can delete but get the message they are already members. They do not show in the group Domain users but Domain users group shows in their group memberships. I can rename, change passwords, change from global to local. But I can't seem to get rid of these accounts. I am on the PDC. Your help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Vicki

11 replies

by dmiles

If the user accounts were added using ADDUSERS.EXE,and they contain invalid characters,try using the Addusers.exe with /e switch
Hope this helps

by vicki_costello

There are no invalid characters, just letters and a number. As far as I know all accounts have been added using User Manager for Domains. I looked for the addusers.exe on the technet resource cd and didn't see it.

by vicki_costello

found the addusers.exe and created a txt file
[user]
delete1,,,,,,,
saved as kill.txt
ran addusers /e kill.txt
received the error 2237 couldn't delete the accounts

by joseph moore

I have seen this before. Each user is assigned a "Primary Group". What you need to do is make sure this Primary Group is Domain Users. It might be selected to another group. I had a user once that had their group set to Domain Admins, and I could not get rid of him until I changed him.
So, open the user in User Manager for Domains.
First, I would check the Account Disabled button, then click OK. Next, make sure the user is not logged on somewhere (use Server Manager for that).
Next open User Manager back up again and open the user account.
Click the Groups button.
Under the groups the user belongs to on the left there is a button with Set on it (the button is grayed out),and next to it it says Primary Group: followed by a group name.
If they are a member of Domain Users, then click the group name itself; that makes the Set button active. Click Set to set it to DU. Click on and close the user. Now try to delete them.
If it doesn't work, add a second group to the user, then highlight that group and click Set to make this new group their Primary Group. Then try and delete them.

Hope this helps.

by vicki_costello

Hi Joseph,
I have reset their primary group several times to try different groups as the primary group to see if I can delete them. I can't. I get the message they are not a member of this group. Thank you for the suggestion anyway. Any other ideas?

by timthetoolman

Hi,

This is a bit of a longshot, but is it possible that the two accounts you're trying to delete are in fact renamed Administrator and Guest accounts?

You cant delete these accounts...

Cheers,
Tim.

by vicki_costello

No, right now the names are delete1 and delete2. We have no problem renaming so we've actually renamed a couple of times but never admin or guest.
Thank you for the thought Tim.

by ggooge1

What group is your primary group? By default, members of the Account Operators group cannot manage user accounts that belong to any of the following groups:

Account Operators (local)
Administrators (local)
Backup Operators (local)
Print Operators (local)
Server Operators (local)
Domain Admins (global)

If you are a member of either the Domain or Administrator Group, remove all group from the two accounts except Domain User then try to delete them.

by vicki_costello

Hi ggooge,
Right now the primary group is domain users. I logging on as Domain Admin. I have changed their primary group to domain guests and that didn't help either. Thank you for the suggestion. Any other ideas?
vicki

by timthetoolman

Hi,

Actually I didn't think the usernames were named Administrator or Guest....but rather WERE the Administrator and Guest accounts that had been renamed to something else (and right now delete1 and delete2) for security reasons.

As I said it was a longshot.

Try the following

net localgroup "localgroupname" "NT4Domain\Username" /delete

This came from the following article...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q278693

(remove spaces from above URL)

Which refers to your problem on Win2K. I'm not sure whether it'll work for you on NT4 but it would be worth giving it a try.

Cheers,
Tim.

by vicki_costello

Hi Tim,
Thanks, but it didn't work. The message is "there is no such user or group DomainUsers". Domain users is their primary group now on their account and I think it would have been their original primary group. I think what has happened is these accounts are somehow corupt in the Domain Users group because that group shows on their account in group memberships but they are not listed as members in the group. If I try to add them to the group itself I get the message they are already members.
Any other ideas?
Vicki

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