Clear Inactive User Mapped Drive History in Regedit

Clearing the history of mapped network drives for an inactive or offline Windows user profile requires modifying that specific user’s offline registry hive (NTUSER.DAT). This guide outlines the exact steps to open the Windows Registry Editor, temporarily load the target user’s hive, delete the Most Recently Used (MRU) mapped drive records and persistent connections, and safely unload the hive to apply the changes without logging into the target account.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor as Administrator

  1. Press Windows Key + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control (UAC).

Step 2: Load the Inactive User’s Registry Hive

Because the user is not actively logged in, their specific registry data (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) is stored inside an offline file.

  1. In the left navigation pane of the Registry Editor, select the HKEY_USERS key.
  2. Click File in the top menu bar, then select Load Hive.
  3. Navigate to the inactive user’s profile folder, typically located at: C:\Users\<Username>\
  4. Select the file named NTUSER.DAT and click Open. (Note: If you do not see NTUSER.DAT, ensure that hidden and protected operating system files are visible in Windows Explorer options.)
  5. When prompted for a Key Name, enter a temporary name (for example: TempUser) and click OK.

Step 3: Delete the Mapped Drive History and Connections

Now that the inactive profile is loaded under HKEY_USERS\TempUser, you can remove the drive history.

1. Clear the “Map Network Drive” Dropdown History (MRU List)

  1. In the left pane, navigate to: HKEY_USERS\TempUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Map Network Drive MRU
  2. In the right pane, select all the individual string values (such as a, b, c, and MRUList), right-click them, and choose Delete.
  3. Leave only the (Default) value in place.

2. Remove Persistent Mapped Drive Connections (Optional)

If you also want to remove previously connected, persistent drive letters: 1. In the left pane, navigate to: HKEY_USERS\TempUser\Network 2. Under the Network key, locate the subkeys corresponding to the mapped drive letters (e.g., Z, Y, X). 3. Right-click each drive letter subkey and select Delete.

Step 4: Unload the Inactive User Hive

You must unload the hive for the changes to save back to the NTUSER.DAT file properly.

  1. In the left navigation pane, click to highlight the root temporary key you created (e.g., TempUser under HKEY_USERS).
  2. Click File in the top menu bar.
  3. Select Unload Hive.
  4. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
  5. Close the Registry Editor.

The mapped network drive history and connections for the inactive user profile are now cleared and will no longer appear the next time that user logs in.