diff --git a/apps/beeswax/src/beeswax/server/hive_server2_lib.py b/apps/beeswax/src/beeswax/server/hive_server2_lib.py
index b780da5b9506117f2fe75a6ab2ba14a23811926f..fc5338d85e48feb177a7b9fbe68251ed64044e8e 100644
--- a/apps/beeswax/src/beeswax/server/hive_server2_lib.py
+++ b/apps/beeswax/src/beeswax/server/hive_server2_lib.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ from operator import itemgetter
 
 from desktop.lib import thrift_util
 from desktop.conf import LDAP_PASSWORD, LDAP_USERNAME
-from desktop.conf import DEFAULT_USER
 from hadoop import cluster
 
 from TCLIService import TCLIService
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ from impala import conf as impala_conf
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 IMPALA_RESULTSET_CACHE_SIZE = 'impala.resultset.cache.size'
-DEFAULT_USER = DEFAULT_USER.get()
+
 
 class HiveServerTable(Table):
   """
@@ -376,7 +375,7 @@ class HiveServerClient:
     }
 
     if self.impersonation_enabled:
-      kwargs.update({'username': DEFAULT_USER})
+      kwargs.update({'username': 'hue'})
 
       if self.query_server['server_name'] == 'impala': # Only when Impala accepts it
         kwargs['configuration'].update({'impala.doas.user': user.username})
diff --git a/desktop/conf.dist/hue.ini b/desktop/conf.dist/hue.ini
index 8f4c9c6d449f9ab5385e7626dcf2756e1773aae5..05d53930547f50e281b95981aaca421b335a04f0 100644
--- a/desktop/conf.dist/hue.ini
+++ b/desktop/conf.dist/hue.ini
@@ -46,12 +46,6 @@
   ## server_user=hue
   ## server_group=hue
 
-  # This should be the Hue admin and proxy user
-  ## default_user=hue
-
-  # This should be the hadoop cluster admin
-  ## default_hdfs_superuser=hdfs
-
   # If set to false, runcpserver will not actually start the web server.
   # Used if Apache is being used as a WSGI container.
   ## enable_server=yes
diff --git a/desktop/conf/pseudo-distributed.ini.tmpl b/desktop/conf/pseudo-distributed.ini.tmpl
index ab757681bc24fc919fce52cf6a769feb68b8dab9..a42d0609adfd34ad4797bd3b730d825e192f76a2 100644
--- a/desktop/conf/pseudo-distributed.ini.tmpl
+++ b/desktop/conf/pseudo-distributed.ini.tmpl
@@ -55,12 +55,6 @@
   ## server_user=hue
   ## server_group=hue
 
-  # This should be the Hue admin and proxy user
-  ## default_user=hue
-
-  # This should be the hadoop cluster admin
-  ## default_hdfs_superuser=hdfs
-
   # If set to false, runcpserver will not actually start the web server.
   # Used if Apache is being used as a WSGI container.
   ## enable_server=yes
diff --git a/desktop/core/src/desktop/conf.py b/desktop/core/src/desktop/conf.py
index d1ef060f940c22de32b11185329c83552be93003..1385712221f1b60068d904c96147cd05bcfb8954 100644
--- a/desktop/core/src/desktop/conf.py
+++ b/desktop/core/src/desktop/conf.py
@@ -392,18 +392,6 @@ SERVER_GROUP = Config(
   type=str,
   default="hue")
 
-DEFAULT_USER = Config(
-  key="default_user",
-  help=_("This should be the user running hue webserver"),
-  type=str,
-  default="hue")
-
-DEFAULT_HDFS_SUPERUSER = Config(
-  key="default_hdfs_superuser",
-  help=_("This should be the hdfs super user"),
-  type=str,
-  default="hdfs")
-
 CUSTOM = ConfigSection(
   key="custom",
   help=_("Customizations to the UI."),
diff --git a/desktop/libs/hadoop/src/hadoop/fs/webhdfs.py b/desktop/libs/hadoop/src/hadoop/fs/webhdfs.py
index eb45d7837ee95cd5a5e9f9ea710fabfb83ad765f..11444975ca8747580776c9861b2743fce49ef9a9 100644
--- a/desktop/libs/hadoop/src/hadoop/fs/webhdfs.py
+++ b/desktop/libs/hadoop/src/hadoop/fs/webhdfs.py
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@ from hadoop.fs.webhdfs_types import WebHdfsStat, WebHdfsContentSummary
 from hadoop.conf import UPLOAD_CHUNK_SIZE
 
 import hadoop.conf
-import desktop.conf
 
-DEFAULT_HDFS_SUPERUSER = desktop.conf.DEFAULT_HDFS_SUPERUSER.get()
+
+DEFAULT_HDFS_SUPERUSER = 'hdfs'
 
 # The number of bytes to read if not specified
 DEFAULT_READ_SIZE = 1024*1024 # 1MB
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class WebHdfs(Hdfs):
   """
   WebHdfs implements the filesystem interface via the WebHDFS rest protocol.
   """
-  DEFAULT_USER = desktop.conf.DEFAULT_USER.get()        # This should be the user running Hue
+  DEFAULT_USER = 'hue'        # This should be the user running Hue
   TRASH_CURRENT = 'Current'
 
   def __init__(self, url,
diff --git a/desktop/libs/liboozie/src/liboozie/oozie_api.py b/desktop/libs/liboozie/src/liboozie/oozie_api.py
index 6bde1453d1336882d4cb5aafa9c8ba2e29db7bff..189b4f62de1d65a5702db971c045172d82e8c3f2 100644
--- a/desktop/libs/liboozie/src/liboozie/oozie_api.py
+++ b/desktop/libs/liboozie/src/liboozie/oozie_api.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import threading
 
 
 from desktop.conf import TIME_ZONE
-from desktop.conf import DEFAULT_USER
 from desktop.lib.rest.http_client import HttpClient
 from desktop.lib.rest.resource import Resource
 
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ from liboozie.utils import config_gen
 
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-DEFAULT_USER = DEFAULT_USER.get()
+DEFAULT_USER = 'hue'
 API_VERSION = 'v1' # Overridden to v2 for SLA
 
 _XML_CONTENT_TYPE = 'application/xml;charset=UTF-8'