What Is the WDAGUtilityAccount in Windows 11 and Windows 10 and Can I Delete It?

If you check the list of Windows 11 or Windows 10 users using the net user command or other methods, you will notice a WDAGUtilityAccount in the list of user accounts of the local computer.

What is this account, is WDAGUtilityAccount safe or not, are there methods to delete it from my computer? Here are the answers.

What Is the WDAGUtilityAccount

WDAGUtilityAccount is one of the Windows system accounts, like the hidden “Administrator” account you may heard of.

The WDAGUtilityAccount is used to run the optional “Windows Defender Application Guard” feature present in Pro and Enterprise editions. This optional feature is disabled by default, but you can turn it on using “Turn Windows features on or off” in “Programs and Features” item of Windows Control Panel.

The feature provides capabilities for hardware isolation/virtualization when using Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Office. More details on how Windows Defender Application Guard can be found on Microsoft’s website

If you open the properties of the WDAGUtilityAccount user in the “Local Users and Groups” window (press Win+R keys, type lusrmgr.msc, hit Enter) you can see the following description “A user account managed and used by the system for Windows Defender Application Guard scenarios”.

We’re already learning a few things here: Windows uses WDAGUtilityAccount for process isolation for Windows Defender Application Guard feature. It is safe and is not some type of malware.

Can I Delete WDAGUtilityAccount

Built-in system accounts including WDAGUtilityAccount cannot be deleted. If you would try to delete it using command prompt, you will get the “System error 1371 has occurred. Cannot perform this operation on built-in accounts” message.

Finally, there’s no reason you should delete it. Account is disabled by default and does not slow down the PC, takes up significant space or interfere with your work anyhow.