What is the NTUSER.DAT file on your computer? Is it a virus that threats your computer? Can you delete it to free up disk space? In this post, you can find all the answers that are offered by MiniTool.
What Is the NTUSER.DAT File?
Is NTUSER.DAT a virus? The answer is NO. Therefore, please take it easy.
The NTUSER.DAT file is created by Windows operating system. Why does Windows OS create this file?
Sometimes, we need to make changes on our computer, like customizing the Start menu and the installed programs, and then Windows OS will create the NTUSER.DAT file to save these changes and load them from this file when you log in to the computer next time. In other words, the file contains your personalized settings.
Where Is the NTUSER.DAT File?
You can find the NTUSER.DAT file via the following two ways.
Way 1: Press Windows + R to call out the Run window and then type %userprofile% on the Run window and click OK.
Way 2: Follow the path: C: > Users >*YourUserName*.
If you do not see the file after following each way, it means that Microsoft has hidden it. But you can make this file visible by enabling the Show Hidden Files option.
To enable the Show Hidden Files option, please refer to the tutorial below.
- Double-click the This PC icon on your computer screen to open File Explorer.
- On the new window, click the View
- Under the View tab, check the Hidden items option in the Show/hide
When you finish the above steps, you should see the NTUSER.DAT file. Then you can check its size. Right-click the file, select Properties and you will see the size under the General tab of the new window.
Can NTUSER.DAT Files Be Deleted?
After seeing the above content, do you have the answer to the question ‘it is safe to delete the NTUSER.DAT file’?
If you want to remove this file from your computer, please stop this dangerous idea. You should know that Windows depends on the NTUSER.DAT file to load your settings and preferences when you boot your computer. Once it is removed, you will see receive the message ‘We can’t sign in to your account’ as the following picture shows.
Therefore, deleting the NTUSER.DAT file is not safe and you should never do that. The size of the file is small, ranging between 3 MB to 17GB.
If you want to delete this file just to free up your disk space, this is not helpful and lead to irritating issues. To free up disk space, please read the post.
Apart from not deleting the NTUSER.DAT file, you should also not to edit this file. Any improper editing of this file can cause some problems that are hard to fix.
Bottom Line
After reading, you may have no doubt of the NTUSER.DAT file. Absolutely, if you still have some questions about this file, please feel free to let us know by leaving your doubts in the following comment zone.
Here we would like to emphasize again: DO NOT DELETE OR EDITE THE NTUSER.DAT FILE.