diff --git a/source3/passdb/pdb_interface.c b/source3/passdb/pdb_interface.c
index 7a0a824..1067af0 100644
--- a/source3/passdb/pdb_interface.c
+++ b/source3/passdb/pdb_interface.c
@@ -584,6 +584,19 @@ static NTSTATUS pdb_default_delete_user(struct pdb_methods *methods,
 {
 	NTSTATUS status;
 	fstring username;
+	const struct dom_sid *user_sid;
+	uid_t uid = -1;
+
+	user_sid = pdb_get_user_sid(sam_acct);
+	if (user_sid == NULL) {
+		return NT_STATUS_NO_SUCH_USER;
+	}
+
+	/* sanity check to make sure we don't delete root */
+
+	if ( !sid_to_uid(user_sid, &uid ) ) {
+		return NT_STATUS_NO_SUCH_USER;
+	}
 
 	status = methods->delete_sam_account(methods, sam_acct);
 	if (!NT_STATUS_IS_OK(status)) {
@@ -597,6 +610,11 @@ static NTSTATUS pdb_default_delete_user(struct pdb_methods *methods,
 	 * the unix side
 	 */
 
+	if ( uid == 0 ) {
+		/* We don't want to delete root... */
+		return status;
+	}
+
 	/* always lower case the username before handing it off to 
 	   external scripts */
 
@@ -613,23 +631,12 @@ static NTSTATUS pdb_default_delete_user(struct pdb_methods *methods,
 NTSTATUS pdb_delete_user(TALLOC_CTX *mem_ctx, struct samu *sam_acct)
 {
 	struct pdb_methods *pdb = pdb_get_methods();
-	uid_t uid = -1;
 	NTSTATUS status;
 	const struct dom_sid *user_sid;
 	char *msg_data;
 
 	user_sid = pdb_get_user_sid(sam_acct);
 
-	/* sanity check to make sure we don't delete root */
-
-	if ( !sid_to_uid(user_sid, &uid ) ) {
-		return NT_STATUS_NO_SUCH_USER;
-	}
-
-	if ( uid == 0 ) {
-		return NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED;
-	}
-
 	memcache_delete(NULL,
 			PDB_GETPWSID_CACHE,
 			data_blob_const(user_sid, sizeof(*user_sid)));