SOLVED: Where Are NT SERVICE Profiles Stored

If you’ve ever needed to make space on a hard drive you should have looked at Advanced System Settings > User Profiles to see if they’re any accounts listed as unknown for people that you know are gone and no longer need their profiles. And if you have been into user profiles you’ve probably noticed that there are sometimes accounts labeled NT SERVICE\{NAME OF SERVICE} that do not appear in C:\USERS\.

As you can see in the screenshot above those NT SERVICE accounts usually have their profiles stored in C:Windows\ServiceProfiles .

Is It Safe To Delete Files From C:Windows\ServiceProfiles?

You can safely delete or move SOME temporary files from within the C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles directory, particularly those found in the Temp folders, but it is a dangerous game so be very careful.

Here are some guidelines:

1. Temporary Files: You can safely delete files in the Temp folders (e.g., C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp). These are usually safe to remove as they are meant to be temporary
2. Log Files: Large log files can often be deleted, but we generally like to .ZIP them up into a single file (as text compresses at a very high rate) and then delete the originals. For example, CBS.log files in C:\Windows\Logs can be deleted or zipped if they are not locked by the system
3. Disk Cleanup: Use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool (cleanmgr) to safely remove unnecessary files, including temporary files and system cache
4. Backup: Before deleting any files, it’s a good idea to back them up or ensure you have a recent system backup, just in case