Windows 7 - Default Profile. How can I edit it?

[NutsInAViceToo]

Omg it works!!!

This seems to be working for me (So Far) :shock:
Thanks M8 will test further and see how it goes.

 

[bc109]

ProfileTool - my command line tool to copy profiles as default

Hi,

After spending hours and hours trying to find an existing solution, I decided to write my own tool to duplicate profiles to default under Windows 7.

It can be found here : http://profiletool.sourceforge.net

It's written in Python, so that you can customize it easily.

For now, it's beta, and still needs work, but it has been tested succesfully during several Windows 7 deployments.

Hope this will be able to help you. Thank you in advance for your feedback (use SourceForge forum or TraceBack system).

Kind regards

 

[jovial73]

ProfileTool works great!

 

[rewerbe]

Thank you Midds for the PDF

Midds, thank you for taking the time to create the clear PDF instructions. Most helpful.

 

[Midds]

We have had an issue around profiles/sysprep where after deployment the system profile gets corrupt, the fonts look different, it takes AGES to login, and users can only get logged in with a temporary profile.

A couple of work-arounds are:

1. Delete the contents in %appdata%\Microsoft\Protect from all accounts before you sysprep your machine. Also make sure this is deleted when creating a custom Default profile. You can do this at step #8 in my guide.
2. Remove inheritable permissions on the Default profile folder and give Everyone and Users more than just Read & execute permissions. Make sure this is done before sysprep as well.

Cheers,
Midds.

 

[joshuaguptill]

After following the Guide provided by Midds I have one issue. I am trying to change the default location for some of the folders from "C:\users\SevenForums\" (desktop, downloads, favorites, my documents, my music, my pictures, my videos) to a second Partition D:\

I tried changing the location to "D:\users\Sevenforums\" which gets changed to "D:\users\Default" in the registry as outlined by the guide. I have also tried "D:\users\%username%\"
both resulted in the new accounts folders being directed to the D:\users\SevenForums\

the end goal being that i can reformat the c:\ and lay the image for C:\ back on that parition without moving the users files off the computer before doing it.

 

[Midds]

Ahh to do this you need to modify the ProfilesDirectory value in the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Simply change the value %SystemDrive%\Users to D:\Users

Then you will need to copy the contents of C:\Users to D:\Users

Some files will be locked so best you do the copying process in a PE environment like WinPE or BartPE.

 

[joshuaguptill]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly Midds.
the change you've suggested will do most of what I am trying to do but i want to aviod moving appdata since it seems to be a common place for viruses to end up. is there any way to specify a seperate location for appdata?

 

[fsfsci]

Requesting to be able to contact the author directly ... this is rather urgent.

Thanks,

fsfsci

 

[DavidLevine]

This thread is just what I needed as we are finally rolling out Win 7 Enterprise at our small college this summer after a decade of rock-solid XP Pro. Thanks to all of you for posting here. Most of the machines will be in lab/classroom environments where one machine, many users scenario prevails.

After much struggling with Microsoft's tools, from diskpart to WAIK, and finally getting the only "supported" method (How to customize the default local user profile when you prepare an image of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2) to actually work, the problem of a bloated profile (150M) still exists. I've done the minimalist unattended setup as in the Microsoft walk-through and used the built-in Administrator account temporarily enabled in sysprep's audit mode. Installed a small cluster of standard apps (Office 2010, Firefox, Chrome) and players, nothing fancy or heavy.

Maybe too much working as Administrator? Maybe I should create a temporary admin account in which to work and only use Admin for desired customizations? Think I'll try that.

 

[robmil]

Create default profile in Windows 7 x64

@Midds,
I cannot get your solution to work in 64 bit Windows 7.
It produces an error when attempting to merge PROFILE.reg that some files are in use by the system.
Am I doing something wrong or is this solution only for x32?

Edit-Does work for x64! My antivirus was not allowing registry modifications.
Thank you very much for detailed instructions.

 

[Midds]

Hi all.

I have revised my original documentation with 2 changes, 1 which can cause MAJOR issues (step #30) if this is not done correctly. The other minor change is renaming the Default folder to Default.bak rather than making a copy of it (step #11).

The updated pdf is attached.

 

[robmil]

Thanks for the update!
I use a modified version of your instructions-about 21 steps (to create Default profile based on full install under Administrator account).
Is Step 30 necessary if the Default profile is not created for SysPrep?

 

[Midds]

It is during sysprep and also deleting of profiles that you can run into issues if you have not completed step #30 in my guide. I have only tested this in a sysprep environment but I would highly recommend that you follow this step anyway as the consequences are dire :banghead:

 

[robmil]

Jeez, that was quick!
I've modified my version to include Step 30.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[carleykh]

I am gearing up to deploy Windows 7 professional out and have been reading through all these. I am guessing that nothing was actually found on copying the default profile over? We are current XP SP3 and live by copying the default profiles over. We cannot do roaming profiles, too much network traffic and the storage issue. Some users would have a huge profile, just not going to happen.
Any luck from anyone would be helpful, I have heard of people using Windows enabler, but haven't heard of any issues from that either. Thoughts?

thanks,

 

[jessefrase]

Windows Enabler is broken by some security change on W7 SP1.

Lately my method has been to copy the user registry hive (ntuser.dat) and the Appdata Roaming (C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming) folder from the profile I have configured as I want default to be. Then delete everything in C:\users\default and copy those 2 items in. Copying these 2 items allows you to have pinned shortcuts in your Default profile. The one place that breaks is the wall paper in the Default profile. You can edit this path manually (HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper) if you have a standard wall paper or just leave it and it will come up solid black.

The method defined by Midds in 'How to create a Default profile in Windows 7 v2.pdf' is superior but I have found that loading the hive to delete 'Shell Folders' is not really necessary and these values are updated correctly when winlogon occurs.