Deactivate users and devices in bulk using the CrashPlan CLI

Updated February 12, 2026 21:35

Objective

This article guides you through the steps to perform bulk deactivations of users or devices using the CrashPlan command line interface (CLI) when you don't have an Identity Provider (IdP).

Prerequisites

Administrator access to the CrashPlan console with user and device management permissions.
Local authentication is required on the administrator account.
An IdP must not be in-use to manage users and devices.
Python version 3.11 or later is required.

Procedure

Use the CrashPlan CLI to deactivate users or devices.

Install the CrashPlan CLI using pip:
Alternative installation options can be found in the CrashPlan CLI documentation.
```
python3 -m pip install crashplancli
```

Create a User token authentication profile:
Replace the name, server, and username values with those for your environment.

crashplan profile create --name PROFILE_NAME --server example.authority.crashplan.com --username security.admin@example.com

Identify the users or devices you want to deactivate.
- Use the users list command to get information about the active users in your organizations.
```
crashplan users list [OPTIONS]
```
  Add the flag -h to view all the [OPTIONS] for filtering Users details to filter your list.
- Use the devices list command to get information about the active devices in your organizations.
```
crashplan devices list [OPTIONS]
```
  Add the flag -h to view all the [OPTIONS] for filtering device details to filter your list. These examples may help you filter your list and refine your search.
  - --last-connected-before DATE|TIMESTAMP|SHORT_TIME
    Only show devices that have not connected since a particular date. Use a timestamp or short time format, for example 30d.
  - --exclude-most-recently-connected INTEGER
    Exclude the most recently connected device, per user, from the results. Ensures that every user is left with at least that many devices, regardless of how recently they have connected.
  - --created-before DATE|TIMESTAMP|SHORT_TIME
    Only show devices created before a particular date.
To save your list of users or devices to a file, send the output to a CSV.
```
crashplan devices list --active -f CSV > /path/to/output.csv
```
Validate headers
CSVs with a single column do not require a valid header row, but headers are required with multiple columns.
Enter the bulk deactivate command in your terminal and include the CSV file.
- When deactivating users in bulk, all device backups belonging those users are removed in the CrashPlan console.
```
crashplan users bulk deactivate list_of_usernames.csv
```
- When deactivating devices in bulk, backups are removed in the CrashPlan console.
```
crashplan devices bulk deactivate list_of_devices.csv
```
- To save the results of your command to a CSV, redirect the output to a file.
```
crashplan devices bulk deactivate list_of_devices.csv > /path/to/deactivate_results.csv
```
Enter your password when prompted in the command line to run the command.

Verify results
To verify the changes in your console, open the Audit Log to view the details.

Purge cold storage to free up licenses
Deactivated archives consume a license while they remain in cold storage remain in cold storage, based your Org quota settings. An administrator can set a purge date when deactivating devices with the CLI, or purge cold storage afterwards to free up licenses sooner.

Additional resources

CrashPlan command-line interface (CLI) documentation