How to Remove User from Mac [Standard, Admin and Guest Users]

In Summary

Apple provides their users the ability to remove a user account if they use their Mac as a shared device.
While removing a user from Mac is easy for the most part, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
We will look at how you can remove user ̄from Mac comfortably. This includes general users, guest users, and admin users.

Have you stopped using your Mac as a shared device and want to remove/delete other user accounts? If so, do not worry, as Apple provides the flexibility to remove a user from the Mac conveniently.

Besides, you have the option to save user data before deleting the user account permanently.

However, before you get started, make sure you are an admin user, or the process will not work. With that out of the way, let us look at how you can easily remove a user from your Mac.

Table of Contents

How to Remove User from Mac

Drag the cursor towards the Apple logo in the taskbar and select System Preferences from the drop-down list.
A new window will pop up; click on the Users & Groups tab.
You will notice that you are unable to change the settings as you first need to enter your password to unlock the settings.
To unlock settings, click on the lock icon towards the bottom left corner of the active screen, enter your Mac password in the new window, and hit enter.
Now, you should be able to access all the settings in the Users & Groups tab. Once unlocked, choose the current user you wish to delete from Mac and click on the minus sign right below the list of users.
After clicking on the minus sign, a preference pane will pop up, and you will have three options for handling the data of the user you are about to delete from Mac.
Choose one based on your preference (We recommend choosing the first option – Save the home folder in disk image) and select Delete User in the preference pane.

How to Remove a Guest User on macOS

But what if you want to delete a guest user from the Mac? Do not worry because we will show you how to delete a guest user from Mac conveniently.

Steps to Remove a Guest User from Mac

Drag the cursor towards the Apple logo in the taskbar and select System Preferences from the drop-down list.
A new window will pop up; click on the Users & Groups tab.
You will notice that you are unable to change settings as you first need to enter your password to unlock the settings.
For doing that, click on the lock icon towards the bottom left corner of the active screen and enter your Mac password in the new window and hit enter.
Now, you should be able to access all the settings in the users and groups tab. Once unlocked, select the Guest User option from the list of users.
After that is done, simply uncheck the Allow guests to log in on this computer, and you are good to go.

How to Remove Admin User from Mac

Did you know that removing an admin user from the Mac is also possible? And do you know what the best part is? The process is pretty straightforward, so let us look at it.

The process only works if you have more than one administrator account. Also, you cannot delete the administrator account you are currently logged in to.

So before we start the process, log out of the administrator account you want to delete and switch to the other administrator account. Once this is done, you can proceed with the following steps.

Steps to Delete Admin User on macOS

Drag the cursor towards the Apple logo in the taskbar and select System Preferences from the drop-down list.
A new window will pop up; click on the Users & Groups tab.
You will notice that you are unable to change the settings as you first need to enter your password to unlock the settings.
To unlock settings, click on the lock icon towards the bottom left corner of the active screen, enter your Mac password in the new window, and hit enter.
Now, you should be able to access all settings on the Users & Groups tab. After unlocking, select the admin user you want to delete from Mac and click the minus sign on the right below the user list.
After clicking on the minus sign, a preference pane will pop up, and you will have three options for handling the data of the user you are about to delete from Mac.
Choose one based on your preference. (We recommend choosing the first option – Save the home folder in disk image) and select Delete User in the preference pane.

FAQs on Removing a User from macOS

1. How do I delete the guest user option permanently off my Mac?

There might be scenarios where you might want to completely disable the option for guest users to log in on your Macbook Air or Pro or iMac.

The easiest option is to disable the guest user in System Preferences by unchecking the checkbox for Allow guests to login in to this computer. You will find this under Users & Groups section.

But there are some situations when this won't work. For example, if you have enabled "Find My Mac", this option to permanently disable guest login won't work. The reason Apple has made it this way is in case your Mac gets lost, someone has to login to the Mac in order to connect to the WiFi and send its latest location

2. Does deleting a user account delete everything?

Deleting a user on Mac will delete all files inside that particular user folder. But if you are wondering if it deletes everything like the apps installed by that user, then no.

A macOS app bundle (.app file) can technically reside anywhere. A user's Home directory is also deleted when they delete their account. Thus, all the apps installed by the user in the root /Applications directory remain unaffected.

Simply put, since user files are hidden between each other, if you were able to use an app installed by another user, you will be able to access it even after their account has been deleted.

3. How do I delete a user on my Mac before selling it?

According to Apple, you should restore your Mac to factory settings before you hand over the device to a new owner. Simply deleting a user account might not suffice. You need to sign out of iCloud, iTunes, and iMessage. Then reset NVRAM, erase your Mac and reinstall the macOS. This way, you can be sure that your personal data can't be recovered by the new user.

4. How do I delete deleted user accounts on Mac?

There is a Deleted Users directory that contains the contents of deleted users' home folders, usually as a disk image. Therefore, you can delete those users' documents and pictures unless you want to keep them. It is impossible for your own programs to access data in other users' Home folders - you do not even have access to it unless you are an administrator.

5. Why can’t I delete a user on my Mac?

If you are deleting a user account, make sure it is not the only administrator account. You cannot delete an administrator account if there is only one on a computer; you can either make one of the other accounts an administrator account or create a new administrator account and delete the old one.