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Manage User Profiles in XP

28/11/2010 by cicnavi
Before you start

Objectives: learn where to find user profile, how to create roaming or

mandatory profile and how to change target locations for specific folders.
Prerequisites: you should know what is user profile in general and how to
manage user accounts in XP.
Key terms: profile, user, account, documents, ntuser, roaming, mandatory

Profile Location

User profile contains all of our custom settings that we have made to our
computer. In Windows XP user profiles are stored inC:\Documents and
Settings\ folder. Inside this directory we will see a folder for each user which
has logged on to the computer.

Image 178.1 – Documents and Settings Folder

If we open a folder for some particular user we will see, among other things,
an NTUSER.dat file, which contains user settings. Specific user files are
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contained in folders like Desktop, My Documents etc. In the picture below we

can see Administrator profile. Note that hidden files have to be shown to see
NTUSER.dat file.

Image 178.2 – Administrator Profile

Types of Profiles

Along with local profile we can also have a Roaming user profile. We would
use Roaming profile if we often log on to multiple computers on the network,
and we want our settings to follow us around. Another type of profile that we
can create is theMandatory user profile. Mandatory profile is a read only
profile, so that any changes made by a user will be lost when they log off.
Create Roaming Profile

To create a roaming profile we have to create a shared folder on some server.

In this example, we have created shared folder called Profiles on a computer
named server. The UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path to this folder is
now \\server\profiles\. We will use this path when providing profile path for
particular user (\\server\profiles\%username% syntax).
The next step can be done in two ways. We can either copy existing profile to
the network share or we can simply define new profile path for particular user.
If we copy existing user profile to the shared folder, we have to ensure that the
proper permissions are set on that folder, so that only particular user has
access to it. In this case we would set the user profile path to that particular
directory. To do that we can go to the Computer Management, then Local
Users and Groups, Users folder, right-click on particular user and then select
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the Profile tab.  In our example we have copied existing user folder
for anderson user account. On the picture below, notice that we have
changed the profile path for that particular user.

Image 178.3 – Profile Path

Another option is that we only set the profile path (without copying user profile
to the shared folder). In this case system will automatically create new user
profile on a shared folder when a user logs on to the computer. That’s because
no user profile for that user account will exit on that location.

Create Mandatory Profile

The first step in specifying the mandatory profile is to create a profile that will
be shared by multiple users. In our case we will create a user account
named Students.
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Image 178.4 – Students User Account

Next thing we need to do is to log on to the system using the Students user
account and make the appropriate changes. After we configure all the settings
we want, we have to log off from the Students account and then log on using
some other account with administrative privileges (Administrator in our
case). The next step in configuring a mandatory profile is to save it to a central
location. Let’s go to the Start Menu, right-click My Computer and select
Properties to open system properties. Now, we will go to the Advanced tab,
and under User Profiles section we will click on the Settings button. In this
window we can see all profiles that are currently saved on the system.
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Image 178.5 – List of User Profiles

We are currently logged on as Administrator so we can not copy or delete this

particular user profile. This is why we have created different user account that
we will be using as a mandatory user account. Now, we want to copy Students
profile, so we will select that account, and then click Copy To button. We have
already created a folder in which we will save this profile, so we will click on
Browse button, navigate to the C:\MandatoryProfile folder, and click on the
OK button. Now , we have to change permissions for this user profile, so we
have to click on the Change button in ‘Permitted to use‘ section. Normally,
profile is used by a single user, but this profile is going to be used by multiple
users, so we will give the Everyone group permission to use this profile.
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Image 178.6 – Copy Profile

The next step is to make that profile a read-only profile. To do that, we will
browse to the C:\MandatoryProfile\ folder and rename the NTUSER.dat to
NTUSER.man. This makes it a mandatory profile. If you don’t see
NTUSER.dat file, it’s because it’s hidden by default. In that case, we have to
select ‘Show hidden files and folders‘ in Folder Options menu.

Image 178.7 – Renaming NTUSER file

The final step is to configure local user account to use the mandatory profile
(Students in our case). Let’s go back to Computer Management,
and Users folder under Local Users and Groups. We right-click on the
Students user, select Properties option, go to the Profile tab, and enter the
Profile path, which is in our case C:\MandatoryProfile.
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Image 178.8 – Students Profile Path

We can point any other user to use that same mandatory profile, at the same
time. We don’t have to create a separate mandatory profile for different user
accounts (but we can if we want to).

Create Custom Default Profile

The Default User profile is used to create a new profile for users who have
never logged on to the machine before. To create a custom default profile we
have to begin by logging in with some random user account (in our case we
will use IMadruga account), and make changes that we want to be available
for all new users. When we make changes to user profile, we will copy that
profile to the Default User location. Let’s go to the Start Menu, right-click My
Computer, select Properties to open System Properties, go to
the Advanced tab, and under User Profiles click on the Settings button. Now
we will copy the IMadruga user profile, so we will select it and click the Copy
To button. We have to select the new location for our user profile and in this
case, we will navigate to the C:\Documents and Settings\Default
User\ folder, because we want this profile to be used as the default user
profile.
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Image 178.9 – Copy to Default User Location

When we click the OK button, we have to change the permissions for default
user profile. We want everyone to be able to use this profile, so we will select
the Everyone group. We have to keep in mind that the old default profile is
now overwritten. If we wanted to save old settings, we should have backed it
up. Now, whenever a new user logs on to this particular machine, he will get
our newly defined default user settings.
Redirect Folders

XP creates My Documents folder for each user account. This folder is used to
store files saved by the user. Let’s take a look to the properties of My
Documents. We will right-click it and select the Properties option.
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Image 178.9 – Target Location for My Documents Folder

Notice the target location. This My Documents folder is located on the C drive,
in Administrator profile folder. If we want to, we can change or move the
location of My Documents folder, even to a network path. Moving My
Documents folder is useful for data protection or for easier backup.

End users can only redirect the following folders: My Documents, My Music,
My Pictures, and My Videos. Group Policy can only redirect the following
folders: Application Data, Desktop, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My
Videos, and Start Menu. We can use the %username% variable to redirect
folders to unique parent folders based on user name. When we redirect
folders, the default is to copy the existing folder contents to the new location.
Redirecting folders does not delete the existing folder or prevent data from
being stored in the folder. It only redirects the shortcut that points to the target
folder. By default, users are given the necessary permissions to manage their
redirected folders.

Remember

NTUSER.dat file is hidden by default. Roaming profile is saved on a network

share. To create a roaming profile we can simply change the path of the profile
to point to the network share, and the system will create new, roaming profile
for that particular user. To create a mandatory profile we have to rename the
NTUSER.dat file to NTUSER.man, which will make it a read-only profile.
Everyone must have permisions to access the Default profile. We can change
target location for specific folders like My Documents, Desktop etc.

Paths that are mentioned in this article

 C:\Documents and Settings\ – folder in which all user profiles are

located by default
 \\server\profiles\ – shared folder which was used to save roaming user
profile
 C:\MandatoryProfile – folder which we used to create mandatory
profile
 C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\ – path to the defualt user
profile