Portable Profile

  • Thread starter Thread starter R. McCarty
  • Start date Start date
R

R. McCarty

Thought I'd pass along a process for "Portable Profiles". I have a
customer who has a second home. They wanted to use an older PC
but not have personal data resident on it. What I came up with was
a "Portable Profile". I purchased them a 1.0 Gigabyte Flash drive.
For each user, I added a local variable "UserProfile" to point to the
Flash Drive (P:). I copied their existing Profile tree from the fixed
drive to the Flash. Now whenever they use the 2nd PC, all their
personal data and settings exists only on the Flash Drive. If this works
as planned, all they'll have to do is make their Primary home PC the
master and copy My Docs and Favorites to the flash and then do a
sort of reverse copy when returning. Synching may be an issue, and
must be done carefully. However, redirecting Shell folders didn't
stick (Reboot), but changing the UserProfile variable seems to be a
solution.
 
Interesting. Thanks for letting us know.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Thought I'd pass along a process for "Portable Profiles". I have a
| customer who has a second home. They wanted to use an older PC
| but not have personal data resident on it. What I came up with was
| a "Portable Profile". I purchased them a 1.0 Gigabyte Flash drive.
| For each user, I added a local variable "UserProfile" to point to the
| Flash Drive (P:). I copied their existing Profile tree from the fixed
| drive to the Flash. Now whenever they use the 2nd PC, all their
| personal data and settings exists only on the Flash Drive. If this works
| as planned, all they'll have to do is make their Primary home PC the
| master and copy My Docs and Favorites to the flash and then do a
| sort of reverse copy when returning. Synching may be an issue, and
| must be done carefully. However, redirecting Shell folders didn't
| stick (Reboot), but changing the UserProfile variable seems to be a
| solution.
|
|
 
Just a follow-up, as with all things Windows - there's always
something that doesn't line up 100%. The profile will run from
the flash drive, including the User Hives. However, there are a
few profile folders that won't redirect. You can get close, but
the following won't/can't move or stay moved.
1.) Desktop
2.) Local Settings
3.) NetHood
4.) PrintHood
5.) Send To
6.) Start Menu
7.) Templates
8.) User data
Still it will work for the circumstances the customer wants. The
items left behind in the %SystemDrive%\D&S tree aren't show
stoppers.
 
Thought I'd pass along a process for "Portable Profiles". I have a
customer who has a second home. They wanted to use an older PC
but not have personal data resident on it. What I came up with was
a "Portable Profile". I purchased them a 1.0 Gigabyte Flash drive.
For each user, I added a local variable "UserProfile" to point to the
Flash Drive (P:). I copied their existing Profile tree from the fixed
drive to the Flash. Now whenever they use the 2nd PC, all their
personal data and settings exists only on the Flash Drive. If this works
as planned, all they'll have to do is make their Primary home PC the
master and copy My Docs and Favorites to the flash and then do a
sort of reverse copy when returning. Synching may be an issue, and
must be done carefully. However, redirecting Shell folders didn't
stick (Reboot), but changing the UserProfile variable seems to be a
solution.
Click to expand...


Wouldn't an external hard drive (usb) with a 80 or 100 Gb or
higher capacity accomplish the same? (what I have)

You're not talking about booting from it, but just
"restoring" system settings from it, correct?

You might also be kind enough to mention BRIEFLY how one
goes about archiving "Favorites".

I know you can archive system settings, though I have only
succeeded in doing that a couple of times.

What I GENERALLY get is a routine that tries to copy my
entire 80 Gb C drive, and I don't have space anywhere else
for EVERYTHING.

A pet peeve of mine is that I am VERY anal about my
computer, and consequently, I format/reinstall roughly every
3 months MAX.

I HATE to have to start my Favorites /browser urls/settings
from scratch every time.

TIA


Tallahassee
 
IE|File|Import and Export, follow the prompts and save it to file, then
you'll be able to Import them in the same manner.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
<snip>
| I HATE to have to start my Favorites /browser urls/settings
| from scratch every time.
|
| TIA
|
|
| Tallahassee
 
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