User/SID doesn't appear in HKEY_USERS

[smittyuk]

Hi,

I'm looking to add a key to a the HKEY_USERS hive through the reg command but when I run it I get an "invalid parameter" error. When I got to the HKEY_USERS hive I don't see the SID concerned however when I go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > MICROSOFT > WINDOWS NT > CurrentVersion > Profile List I can see all the profiles and corresponding SIDS.

I'm not sure how this is supposed to work, what changes do I need to make to a user to have the SID populate in HKEY_USERS so that I can add the registry entries?

 

[pallesenw]

The user's hive is found here: c:\users\x\ntuser.dat

If it is not loaded, you can do it manually from the file menu > load hive

 

[smittyuk]

I'm aware this file exists in Windows XP but I've never been able to find it in Windows 7. So you think the hive exists but just isn't visible? I tried making changes on this profile such as mapping drives for the hive to appear but no joy so far!

 

[pallesenw]

The file is there. It is marked as a system and hidden file. To see it in explorer, both type of files must be enabled in folder options.

 

[smittyuk]

Sorry I missed the setting about viewing system files. I can see the NTUSER.DAT file now and open it in regedit but I don't think it's helping when I'm trying to run this script.

Here is what I'm trying to do, I've got a batch file that performs several registry modifications on the SID of a user account. I'm having to run the batch file to 'remotely' edit the users registry from an admin account due to system restrictions on the actual user. When I run it I get an error "invalid parameter", I can't see the SID under HKEY_USERS so I'm assuming that's why the command won't work; the key doesn't exist.

Is there a quick way for the system to create this SID entry in the registry? I thought mapping drives and printers would create personal information and so the SID would appear but no luck so far.

Here's an example of a command in the batch file:

reg.exe add "\\PCNAME\HKU\S-1-5-21-294320614-28697689200-2976616192-6280\SOFTWARE\Avaya\Supervisor\16.0\Automation" /f

Any ideas?