Possible to clone or copy user?

[XB77]

Is it possible to clone or copy a user, except for the name of course? I
would like to create a "master" user and then make differently named copies
and edit/modify them from the original master setup. It seems to me that
this would be easier than creating each user from scratch. I have searched
the Help & Support, but don't seem to know how to refer to this as I can
find no mention of how to do this.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Copy a User Profile:

Open System in Control Panel. On the User Profiles tab, and under Profiles stored on this computer, click the user profile you want to copy, and then click Copy To.

In the Copy To dialog box, under Copy profile to, type the location for the new profile, or click Browse to select the path.
Click Change to open the Choose User dialog box, click a new user from the Names list, and then click Add. The new user name will appear in Add Name. Click OK to add the user as a new user profile on your computer.

Note: You must be logged on as an administrator to the local computer to copy user profiles. To open a Control Panel item, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the appropriate icon.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151
How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile

NOTE: You cannot copy to/from the account you are logged on to.

 

[XB77]

Thanks Doug--okay on the profile copying.

I am a new user of XP Pro and I am trying to set it up for best ease of use
and safe practice tradeoff. I want to create and configure my users
appropriately; however, XP Pro's User schema and permissions, rights, and
privileges for Users, Services, etc. is new to me. Fortunately I am only
administering a single (generally non-networked) machine (connected to the
internet and a VPN on occasion). Nonetheless I need a primer on this stuff
as poking about in the Help & Support isn't doing it. Can you recommend
something? Thanks again.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Not that I can personally recommend. You might try a Google search for "windows xp security tutorials"

 

[Roger Abell]

It takes some digging but the XP Resource Kit is a mine of info,
as is the article/whitepaper collection at the MS website (the ones
indicating they are for IT pros at least).
http://reskit.com

 

[XB77]

Thanks Doug and Roger. I will check those references. Response at this
Newsgroup has been excellent.

If only I could get a good (on point) answer to my dual boot question over
at microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment, "How to make XP drive
bootable?" at 1/26/2004 8:05PM.

Thanks again.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Can you provide more specifics on the situation?

 

[XB77]

Here is the setup, I have Me running on my C:drive. I installed a second HD
and then I installed XP Pro on it as a dual boot with the standard
XP-created OS toggle on the Me C:drive (where it asks which OS you want and
gives you 30 seconds to chose before defaulting to XP). XP assigns drive
letter D: to the second drive on which it resides. (No other partitions or
other complications.)

It occurs to me that D: is not independently bootable--it requires going
through the OS choice toggle on C: where XP's boot files (or some) are. So
what if C: becomes non-operational or non-bootable?

The first question was how to create the proper boot files on D: to make it
independently bootable. I believe that after booting XP one could just run
repair from the installation CD--right? However, there may be implications.

Questions: If D: is now independently bootable (having added and edited the
necessary boot files via the repair routine or otherwise if that assumption
is wrong), will it re-assign itself as C: upon its first independent boot or
during the repair? (If so, all the references on it to the D: directory
will be wrong.)

If not, assuming that the D:drive's XP installation can be fixed as
described, what would happen if one selected XP in the OS choice toggle on
the C:drive now that D: has the complete XP boot files. Would XP on the
D:drive boot properly or could one expect some sort of error? (If an error,
how bad--damage to the XP installation?) I suppose that if the toggle to XP
would no longer work, one would have to use the BIOS to chose which drive/OS
one wanted to boot to.

Whether or not the OS choice toggle on the C:drive works to get to XP
anymore, would there any ill consequence for instructing the BIOS to insert
the D:drive into the drive boot sequence (that is, which drives the BIOS
checks for bootable media and in what order), either in place of C: (say if
C: died), in front of it (one doesn't want to run Me very often), or behind
it (assumes that toggle still works and if C: doesn't, BIOS just goes to
D?

Given how ubiquitous this type of dual boot must be, I am surprised that I
can't find the answers to these questions, which I'm sure aren't very
interesting to anyone who knows about this stuff.

If you can educate me or point me in the right direction I will post the
response in the other thread, as this is fairly off topic or subject (that
this thread started on).

Thanks much.



Can you provide more specifics on the situation?

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows XP/ Windows Smart Display
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

The biggest issue that you run into, is that XP knows which physical drive/partition it was installed on, and expects to see them in that order. Changing the BIOS to boot from the desired drive, and then doing a repair install, may give you what you want. You can also look into 3rd party boot utilities like BootIt Next Generation, www.bootitng.com