Windows 10: Cannot delete user folders for users that dont exist

I have several folders under the USERS folder, but yet only have 2 user accounts set up. I have successfully been able to delete a few but some are refusing to delete saying they are in use, when they are not. The user account does not exist anymore on the PC and when I try to add the user account again hoping to then delete it says the user account already exists on the PC. Each of these user accounts have 5 - 10Gb of space I am desperate to clear. What do I do? I have tried to take ownership but am getting errors there too. Please help.Running 64 Win10

:)

 

Removing a "hidden" user and user files

Thanks for your patience. I was able with "Net User" to remove the left over user. It no longer appears when I invoke Net User.

Now for the user's folder which remains behind. After performing the series of steps that you suggested, I attempted to delete this folder. The result again was an error message about permission


"Administrators" appears on the list in the list of advanced security.

 

Current active users that are friends

The other reason I suggested this is that users can add characters to their username that are not alphanumeric (e.g. user*). This confuses things somewhat when looking at the list.

 

Trouble deleting a folder

Thanks for the suggestion but it says "delete folder failed for E:\....." for each folder I try.

*Confused

Will I be forever stuck with these unnecessary folders? *Oh Well hwell: