Default user profile settings

[Firestrider]

Is there an easy way to have a profile for every user than logs on to a machine with the desktop, pinned programs, theme, wallpaper, and favorites already set?

In Windows XP all I did was set up a profile how I wanted it under Administrator, logged on to another administrator account, and copied the NTUSER.DAT file from the Administrator to override the one in Default User. After that I logged back into Administrator to delete all the other user accounts. This doesn't seem to work with Windows 7, and there is both "Default" and "Default User" profiles.

 

[adamdaviddoyle]

I'd like to figure this out as well. I have this tutorial I haven't been able to try yet.

"I got this to work, but it's no where near as elegant as with XP and Vista via the User Profile "copy to" method above:

Customize a user profile as needed
Go to Control Panel and create a new dummy admininstrator
Reboot, log in as the dummy admin
Browse to C: and go into the Folder settings and Show all hidden/system files
Browse to C:\Users and CTRL-drag the Default folder to make a second (backup) copy of it
Browse to C:\Users and CTRL-drag the customized user profile to make a second copy of it
SHIFT-DEL the original Default folder
Rename the customized folder copy to Default
Create a new dummy admin and reboot/log in to test it

I've not tested this extensively yet but this seemed to work with the exception that the desktop background pic was gone leaving a black background. I fixed this easily by re-selecting the correct background pic.

I really hope that MS restores the previous method as this seems very sketchy to me and I'd hate to have to use this in a production environment"

Windows 7 RC1 Default User Profile

 

[mikinho]

As mentioned it works user the Default folder if you re-ACL the folder properly but even on XP you should never do this method. Various registry keys will be pointing to the wrong location and cause oddities. Minor ones but still not a best practices. Everything can be configured via gpedit.msc and WAIK can do the rest. It is also trivial to create an INF that runs once per user that configures these settings. That is all applications like IEAK does. I can give an example if you'd like.

 

[xarden]

windows enabler program.
works for me