Remove Old User Profiles

This script removes user profiles older than a specified number of days from Windows machines.

Usage

.\Remove-OldProfiles.ps1 -DaysOld 90 -WhatIf

Parameters

• DaysOld: Number of days since last logon (default: 90)
• WhatIf: Preview what would be deleted without actually deleting
• Force: Skip confirmation prompts

Script

<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Remove old user profiles from Windows machines.
    
.DESCRIPTION
    This script removes user profiles that haven't been logged into for a specified number of days.
    Supports -WhatIf mode for safe testing.
    
.PARAMETER DaysOld
    Number of days since last logon (default: 90)
    
.PARAMETER WhatIf
    Preview what would be deleted without actually deleting
    
.PARAMETER Force
    Skip confirmation prompts
    
.EXAMPLE
    .\Remove-OldProfiles.ps1 -DaysOld 90 -WhatIf
    
.EXAMPLE
    .\Remove-OldProfiles.ps1 -DaysOld 60 -Force
#>

[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]
param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [int]$DaysOld = 90,
    
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [switch]$Force
)

$LogFile = "$env:TEMP\ProfileCleanup_$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd_HHmmss').log"

function Write-Log {
    param([string]$Message)
    $Timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss'
    $LogMessage = "[$Timestamp] $Message"
    Write-Host $LogMessage
    Add-Content -Path $LogFile -Value $LogMessage
}

Write-Log "Starting profile cleanup. DaysOld: $DaysOld"

# Get all user profiles
$Profiles = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_UserProfile | 
    Where-Object { $_.LocalPath -notmatch '^(C:|D:|E:|F:)\\Users\\(Public|Default|Administrator|System)' }

$CutoffDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(-$DaysOld)
$ToDelete = @()

foreach ($Profile in $Profiles) {
    $LastUse = $Profile.LastUseTime
    $Username = $Profile.LocalPath -replace '.*\\', ''
    
    if ($LastUse -and $LastUse -lt $CutoffDate) {
        $ToDelete += [PSCustomObject]@{
            Username = $Username
            LastUsed = $LastUse
            Path = $Profile.LocalPath
            DaysSince = ((Get-Date) - $LastUse).Days
        }
    }
}

if ($ToDelete.Count -eq 0) {
    Write-Log "No profiles older than $DaysOld days found."
    exit 0
}

Write-Log "Found $($ToDelete.Count) profiles to remove:"
$ToDelete | ForEach-Object { Write-Log "  - $($_.Username) (last used: $($_.LastUsed), $($_.DaysSince) days ago)" }

if ($WhatIfPreference -or $PSCmdlet.ShouldProcess("Delete $($ToDelete.Count) profiles")) {
    if ($Force -or $PSCmdlet.ShouldContinue("Delete $($ToDelete.Count) old profiles?", "Confirm Deletion")) {
        foreach ($Profile in $ToDelete) {
            try {
                # Remove the profile using WMI
                $Profile | Remove-CimInstance -ErrorAction Stop
                Write-Log "DELETED: $($Profile.Username)"
            }
            catch {
                Write-Log "ERROR deleting $($Profile.Username): $_"
            }
        }
    }
}

Write-Log "Profile cleanup complete. Log saved to: $LogFile"

Important Notes

1. Always run with -WhatIf first to see what will be deleted
2. Excluded accounts: Public, Default, Administrator, System profiles are always preserved
3. Requires admin rights to delete profiles
4. Logged actions are saved to a log file in TEMP

Automation

To run as a scheduled task:

$Action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'Powershell.exe' -Argument '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Scripts\Remove-OldProfiles.ps1 -DaysOld 90 -Force'
$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Weekly -DaysOfWeek Sunday -At 3AM
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'Cleanup Old Profiles' -Action $Action -Trigger $Trigger -RunLevel Highest