How to delete Organizational Units (OUs) in Active Directory 2012?

Written by Mahidhar Adarsh, IT security team, ManageEngine Updated on July 2026

• Login to your domain controller with administrative privileges.
• Navigate to Start → Administrative tools → Active Directory Users and Computers.
• Click View on the menu bar, and then click Advanced Features.
• Navigate to the OU that you want to delete, right click on it and click on Properties.
• Click the Security tab → Advanced
• In Permission Entries, if the Deny entry option has been selected for everyone, remove it.
• Click OK to close the Advanced Security Settings.
• Navigate to the Object tab and uncheck the "Protect from accidental deletion" checkbox.

  

Now you can select the desired OU and delete it.