Hi Everyone this is Prem, I have worked as Microsoft 365 Support Ambassador. In this blog I am going to share How to Delete User Account Permanently in Office 365.
Permanently deleting an account deletes all its respective data as well.
When we delete a user account from the Admin Center > Users > Active Users, it goes into deleted users tab and stays there for 30 days before been completely deleted.
In the Admin Center > Users > Deleted Users tab, we don’t have any option to delete the user permanently.
To delete the user we usually use PowerShell and connect it to Microsoft Admin Center.
To delete user account using PowerShell follow the steps below:
To connect to Microsoft 365 admin center using PowerShell, please refer this ARTICLE.
Once connected successfully, run the below command after making the necessary change, to permanently delete the user account:
Remove-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName “adam@contoso.com” -RemoveFromRecycleBin
The above command removes adam@contoso.com from the Azure Active Directory recycle bin. The command prompts you to confirm the operation. This command permanently removes the user.
The above command will only work when the user is in the Deleted Users tab or have been soft deleted from the Admin Center > Users > Active Users page.
If you want to delete the user permanently by only using PowerShell then you will have to run the two commands, 1st to soft delete the user and then the other to permanently delete the user:
Remove-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName “david1@contoso.com” -Force
The above command removes david1@contoso.com from Azure Active Directory. If the user has any licenses, the cmdlet removes them. The user account should be found in the delete user tab in admin center.
After the above command, run the command:
Remove-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName “david1@contoso.com” -RemoveFromRecycleBin
The above command removes david1@contoso.com from recycle bin(Deleted users tab). The command should prompt you to confirm the operation. This command permanently deletes the user.
This was all on how to remove a user using the PowerShell.
If you are looking to delete a user account without using PowerShell then you can follow the steps below:
We will first delete the user from the Admin Center > Users > Active Users page:
Once the user is deleted from here it should appear in the deleted users tab:
To permanently delete the user account we will have to go to Azure Active Directory which is under Admin Centers:
In the Azure Active Directory, click on Users > Deleted users > and select the user account which we want to delete permanently and click on Delete Permanently > Yes:
In this way we can Permanently Delete User Account in Office 365.
If you have any question, please drop it in the comment section.
Date: 08/03/2022
Author: Prem
Tags: How to Delete User Account Permanently in Office 365