Managing User accounts

[Guest]

As an administrator, how can I apply settings to User accounts globally,
without having to change each one individually, e.g. to set display options
etc?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Mike,

The "Default User" is a template for creating new users. When you create a
new user account and login the first time, all of the Start menu entries and
Document entries from the "Default User" are initially assigned to your new
user account.

Windows XP uses the built-in default user profile as a template to assign a
profile to each new user. Many users customize this built-in profile with a
custom default user profile so that each new user receives a custom version
of the profile. If you wish to customize the "Default User" profile, see
this MS-KB for more information:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=319974

If OTOH, you want to modify the settings for other user profiles, you can
load their NTUSER.DAT hive and then alter it via the Registry Editor. The
following links will help.

Load a hive into the registry:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_adv_reg_editing.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307016
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...elp/967e371b-40f8-4562-ac7c-91e8f251d65b.mspx

How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a
registration entries (.reg) file:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310516

P.S: Display setting is a per-machine setting, not per-user.

 

[Guest]

Thank-you, Ramesh. Forgive me for not having looked in detail at the second
option to 'modify settings for other user profiles' yet. But if this only
allows editing of one user's settings at a time, what is the advantage over
just going into their desktop and changing the settings that way (unless of
course their account is password protected)?

Mike

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Mike,

Nothing. If you have access to the other user accounts/ password, then you
can simply login and change the settings. Loading other users Hive doesn't
require you to know the password for that user account, but you need to be
an Admin (obviously)

 

[Scott Cooper]

I have been using the method for customizing default user profiles in
the following KB article for quite sometime:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=319974

Not that it's that big a deal, but it has always bugged me that when
you do this, and new user profiles are subsequently created , some of
the shell folders (notebly "My Documents"), somehow retain information
from the account name that was used in performing the customizations.
For example, I create a user named "temp", log onto it and customize
settings, use this profile to overwrite "Default User", then log onto a
different account (call it userX), thus creating a new profile. Now if
I remotely browse and view the profile, the My Documents folder for
userX displays "temp's Documents".

Does anyone know of a way around this? I read a posting from someone
at MS that this method of customizing the Default User profile is "not
recommended" although I can't find any information on doing another
way. Does anyone know if it's possible to load the ntuser.dat hive
from the Default User profile and customize the registry entries
directly? Are there any limitations in doing this?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Known issue, Scott. It's documented here:

The Desktop.ini File Does Not Work Correctly When You Create a Custom
Default Profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321281

 

[Scott Cooper]

Thanks Ramesh!

The article says that the supported method for customizing the profile
is by using sysprep. I've been using sysprep for a long time and have
no idea what they're talking about. Am I missing something obvious?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Scott,

I've never used Sysprep. But, I don't know what's wrong with the method in
Q305709 (apart from the Desktop.ini modification).

HOW TO: Create a Custom Default User Profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=305709

How to add customized user settings when you run Sysprep:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291586