How to Delete an Xbox Profile
By Seth Amery
Updated September 22, 2017
Deleting an Xbox profile from your console removes any local data associated with it. This action would remove a saved password, saved financial information and all other sensitive information stored with your account. Any information that you have on your console when connecting to Xbox Live synchronizes with your account, meaning you can download your profile again at another time. However, you can never recover a deleted offline profile. Removing your profile won't affect stored online data; you can only remove this by using the Xbox website.
Xbox One
Push the "Menu" button on your Xbox One controller while on the Home screen.
Press "A" on "Settings." This opens the three columns of Xbox One settings.
Select "Remove accounts," listed under the third column: Other People.
Navigate to the profile you want to delete. Press "A" on "Choose this person" and confirm when prompted.
Xbox 360
Select "System" under "Settings" on your dashboard.
Press "A" on "Storage," followed by either "Hard Drive" or "All Devices" if you use external storage.
Select "Profiles." This provides a list of all profiles stored on the Xbox 360 console.
Press "A" on the profile to delete, followed by "Delete."
Select either "Delete Profile Only" or "Delete Profile and Items." The second option includes saved games and achievements in addition to the profile itself.
Tips
Instead of deleting a profile, you can also transfer it to an external storage device.
If your intent is to sell the console, perform a total system restore as an added measure of security. This option will restore the Xbox to factory settings and remove all personal data.
Kinect users can say "Xbox, go to Settings" to bypass the initial step, but you'll still need a controller for the rest.
Warnings
If you earn any achievements while offline and delete the profile before syncing with Xbox Live, you will lose them.
Writer Bio
Seth Amery is a long-time writer whose specialties extend to all areas of video games, having written thousands of tutorials, fully-featured strategy guides and reviews across all platforms. His experience also includes one-on-one relationships with major gaming publishers to write previews on upcoming games, establish interviews with game designers and hold early game giveaways.