Creating a Custom Default User Profile in Windows XP
When creating a custom build of Windows XP using nlite , I needed some settings, which are usually stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, to apply to all future users.
It would be logical to assume that the registry branch HKEY_USERS \ .DEFAULT stores a copy of the registry for new users, but it turned out that this is far from the case. Googling a bit, I found out that it stores the Local System user profile.
Further study of the materiel led to the finding of two ways:
a) Run regedit, select the HKEY_USERS section, then click File-> Load hive (File-> Load Hive). Select the% systemdrive% \ Documents and Settings \ Default User \ ntuser.dat file. We give the "bush" any free name. Everything is in your hands a copy of HKEY_CURRENT_USER for future users. We set up everything we want, then we select our “bush”, after which we press File-> Unload bush. Voila - everything is ready.
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b) A different method has been published on the Microsoft website:
1. Log in using an administrator account and create a local user account.
2. Log out and log in using the account created in the previous step.
Attention! Creating a custom user profile as an administrator leads to incorrect assignment of access rights.
3. Make the necessary settings for the profile. For example, you can install printers and connect network drives.
4. Log out and log in using an administrator account.
5. Since some profile files that should be copied to the created custom Default User profile are hidden, you must enable the Show hidden files and folders option.
6. Replace the current Default User profile with the user profile you created.
To do this, follow these steps:
a. In Control Panel, double-click the System icon.
b. In the System Properties window open the Advanced tab.
c. In the User Profiles group, click the Options button.
d. In the User Profiles dialog box, select the newly created profile and click the Copy Profile button.
e. In the Copy Profile dialog box, in the Copy Profile options group, click Browse, select the \ Documents and Settings \ Default User folder, and click OK.
f. Under Allow use, click Edit, select All from the list, and then click OK. If the All group is unavailable, click the Advanced button, then the Find button, select the Everyone group and click OK.
After that, this profile will be used to create profiles for all new users.
Note. You can use the created and configured Default User profile on another computer running Windows XP. To do this, copy the profile saved in the C: \ Documents and Settings \ Default User folder to a similar folder on another computer.
For myself, I chose the first method, because I had to adjust only a few keys.
PS I wondered why the “bush” (“hive”). According to this note:
In the Russian translation, the word “hive” was translated as “bush,” although “Load a hive” in regedit would be much more exotic :-)
UPD: It was empirically found out that the changes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER during the installation of Windows XP (step “registration of components”) are saved exactly in% systemdrive% \ Documents and Settings \ Default User \ ntuser.dat
It would be logical to assume that the registry branch HKEY_USERS \ .DEFAULT stores a copy of the registry for new users, but it turned out that this is far from the case. Googling a bit, I found out that it stores the Local System user profile.
Further study of the materiel led to the finding of two ways:
a) Run regedit, select the HKEY_USERS section, then click File-> Load hive (File-> Load Hive). Select the% systemdrive% \ Documents and Settings \ Default User \ ntuser.dat file. We give the "bush" any free name. Everything is in your hands a copy of HKEY_CURRENT_USER for future users. We set up everything we want, then we select our “bush”, after which we press File-> Unload bush. Voila - everything is ready.
')
b) A different method has been published on the Microsoft website:
1. Log in using an administrator account and create a local user account.
2. Log out and log in using the account created in the previous step.
Attention! Creating a custom user profile as an administrator leads to incorrect assignment of access rights.
3. Make the necessary settings for the profile. For example, you can install printers and connect network drives.
4. Log out and log in using an administrator account.
5. Since some profile files that should be copied to the created custom Default User profile are hidden, you must enable the Show hidden files and folders option.
6. Replace the current Default User profile with the user profile you created.
To do this, follow these steps:
a. In Control Panel, double-click the System icon.
b. In the System Properties window open the Advanced tab.
c. In the User Profiles group, click the Options button.
d. In the User Profiles dialog box, select the newly created profile and click the Copy Profile button.
e. In the Copy Profile dialog box, in the Copy Profile options group, click Browse, select the \ Documents and Settings \ Default User folder, and click OK.
f. Under Allow use, click Edit, select All from the list, and then click OK. If the All group is unavailable, click the Advanced button, then the Find button, select the Everyone group and click OK.
After that, this profile will be used to create profiles for all new users.
Note. You can use the created and configured Default User profile on another computer running Windows XP. To do this, copy the profile saved in the C: \ Documents and Settings \ Default User folder to a similar folder on another computer.
For myself, I chose the first method, because I had to adjust only a few keys.
PS I wondered why the “bush” (“hive”). According to this note:
""? Windows NT . , , , . "" ("hive"), "" ("cells").In the Russian translation, the word “hive” was translated as “bush,” although “Load a hive” in regedit would be much more exotic :-)
UPD: It was empirically found out that the changes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER during the installation of Windows XP (step “registration of components”) are saved exactly in% systemdrive% \ Documents and Settings \ Default User \ ntuser.dat
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/44012/
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