| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| dibbkd |
Posted - 10/30/2009 : 06:53:06 AM
I'm very familiar with how to make a "good" default profile in XP and Vista.
So it's not working in Windows 7, what am I doing wrong?
o I create a profile the way I want it
o I logon as another user (w/admin priv)
o Go to Advanced tab of System Properties
o Click on User Profiles Settings
o Click on the profile I want to copy
o Now the "copy to" is grayed out
In XP and Vista, the "copy to" wasn't grayed out, and I could browse to the "users\default user" folder and copy over it, creating the default profile for when anyone else logs on the way I want it.
Any suggestions? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| myfree |
Posted - 02/17/2012 : 11:47:05 PM
After spending a month coming up with a solution for this issue I thought I would post it in the places where I picked up clues.
The methods listed below have been verified in a non AD domain, so if you use Domain level GPOs you may need to do further testing to make sure that the local gpo settings listed below are not over written by the domain policies. Also, if there is a Default User.v2 share in your netlogon shares you may need to set the permissions to that folder to "deny all" so that the windows 7 client won't pull whatever profile is there.
Non sysprep method (sysprep method follows)
Make group policy changes (these are what causes win 7 to not look toward the server for a default profile)
• Computer Config > Administrative Templates > System > User Profiles >
o Only Allow User Profiles = Enabled
o Set Roaming Profile Path for all users logging onto this computer = Disabled
o Prevent Roaming Profile changes from propagating to the server = Enabled
• Customize the Test or Setup account
• Enable built-in Administrator account
• Log on as Administrator
• Install RichCopy from Technet
• Use Explorer to unhide system files and folders
• Use RichCopy to copy the profile from the account used to implement customizations to "Default User"
• Join machine to the domain
• Reboot
• Log on domain user and all customizations that can be transferred should be applied to the users' profile
•
Sysprep Method - You may want to use this method because this method should be fully supported by MS
• Login as the setup account
• Enable Administrator Account - log off
• Log on as Administrator
• Go to Manage Users
• Delete Setup account and any other accounts that have a profile folder and choose "delete files"
• Make group policy changes
• Computer Config > Administrative Templates > System > User Profiles >
• Only Allow User Profiles = Enabled
• Set Roaming Profile Path for all users logging onto this computer = Disabled
• Prevent Roaming Profile changes from propagating to the server = Enabled
• Complete all customizations
• Copy validated answer file to C: root
• Go to windows\system32\sysprep
• Right click while holding shift and choose "open command window here"
• run "sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /unattend:c:\yourunattendfile.xml
• Once the system reboots go through whatever portion of mini-setup your answer file dictates
• Join machine to the domain
• Log on as a domain user
• Basic look and feel customizations should have been applied from the local Defaul User profile
And as long as the local policies that we set above remain intact, any domain user that logs onto the machine will receive the look and feel that you want for your organization.
Because MS has not published a comprehensive list of items/settings that cannot be applied to a default profile, you will have to experiment with that. I did find a doc that made it clear that the quick launch as well as the area of the start menu where you "pin" shortcuts do not persist when copying customizations to the default profile. |
| aed |
Posted - 09/28/2011 : 09:26:36 AM
Registry is showing that when User 'holts' logs in they have a profile stored at "C:\Users\holts" but it fails to find it. Fix would be to copy default and name it 'holts' but why it disappeared, I can't say. |
| Notthatgoodwithcomputers |
Posted - 09/28/2011 : 03:45:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by aed
Check in the registery for the path of the profile, HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList ? Is it set on the profile to point to C:\Users\Holts? Is one of them listed as .bak?
Hello aed,
This is what is at the root of ..\windowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Default REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemDrive%\users\Default
Profilesdirectory REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemDrive%\users
ProgramData REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemDrive%\ProgramData
Public REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemDrive%\Public
There are also a number of subfolders named : S-1-5-xx and S-1-5-xx-xxxxxxxx
One of these lists ProfileImagePath as C:\Users\holts
Thank you |
| aed |
Posted - 09/27/2011 : 2:29:19 PM
Check in the registery for the path of the profile, HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList ? Is it set on the profile to point to C:\Users\Holts? Is one of them listed as .bak? |
| Notthatgoodwithcomputers |
Posted - 09/27/2011 : 10:41:07 AM
Hello,
Going to be rolling out Win7 Enterprise Sp1 at work at some point soon. I've been following various examples on how to create a default profile and so far I've got close, but not earned the preverbial cigar ;)
I work for a big company who sends out the image on DVD format, so I can't use the offical sysprep method.
Work is a call centre where users could be using a different computer each day, so setting a default profile is very desirable.
So far I have tried this,
-logon with a user account holts (with admin permissions).
-setup all profile desirables etc
-reboot
-logon with admin account
-rename 'default' to 'default back'
-copy 'holts', paste it to folder, rename it 'Default'
-Set permissions for 'Default' so that 'Everyone' and 'Users' not only have read/read-write/list permissions, but also have Modify perms
-log back on with user account holts
Results
I get the all the settings and desirables as set in the intitial profile,
But ...
Shortly after logon, a mesage pops up saying "you have been logged on with a temp profile...this will not be saved..."
Checking the Users folder, the user name I've logged on with is not listed and there is indeed a 'Temp' profile.
Anyone know why this is happening?
Cheers,
Steve
Update.
Seems as though it's only my account that has this problem...
When I logon again with holts, I get the temp profile error
(Event log states: "Cannot find profile - creating temp profile")
Just had another user logon and the error does not appear!
So the method works, but anyone got an idea why my login throws this error up!
Cheers
|
| whitfieldrd |
Posted - 06/16/2011 : 6:09:58 PM
I do not see a Default Profile. See user and administrator profiles. In XP all I had to do was copy the icons from a folder on a network drive and paste to the desktop in the default profile. Are you creating the default profile? |
| HenryMA |
Posted - 04/20/2011 : 8:46:46 PM
Hi,
here is what I posted to technet forum;
Re: creating Mandatory profile;
Windows 7 32-bit professional
-As a user with administrator right logon, e.g AdminUser
-Control Panel -> Add /remove user -> Create User00x ( standard user)
-logout AdminUser
-Logon as user00x
-Do the changes you want
-logout user00x
-logon as AdminUser
-go to c:\users
-copy user00x to a folder e.g c:\pro. When copying (it will ask to provide administrative permissions, just click on continue)
-rename it to User00xMand ((((not user00xMand.v2 and do not ask me why!)
-go inside it and rename ntuser.dat to ntuser.man ( it will prompt you twice if you really want to do this, accept both prompts)
-copy this User00xMand folder back to c:\users (it will ask to provide administrative permissions, just click on continue)
-now rename User00xMand folder to User00xMand.v2 this time proper rights are applied
-go to Compter( right click, Manage and in local User... and point the profile of User00x to be c:\users\User00xMand
-logout
-logon as useroox. You have a mandatory profile!
I welcome any feedback with negative content where it proves it does not work.
Regards,
Henry
|
| Mark Minasi |
Posted - 03/31/2011 : 07:43:34 AM
Sorry I've been away...
It's not that it RARELY shows up, it's that the Fortune 500 with their 1200 home-grown apps ran into trouble a lot, and hey, they're big-customer-focused. |
| Pesos |
Posted - 03/30/2011 : 10:57:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by rinzwind
It works perfectly (quick test);) Even on a TS
At last... custom settings including pinned items and background again!
And may I enter into problems... I have copied the original Default folder. So really.. no problems MS. Some people know what they do and know the risks. This is a tried and tested practice with no valid practical alternatives.
Amazing how you were able to thoroughly test a multitude of application scenarios and real-world user interactions in less than 24 hours - kudos! |
| rinzwind |
Posted - 03/30/2011 : 05:12:45 AM
It works perfectly (quick test);) Even on a TS
At last... custom settings including pinned items and background again!
And may I enter into problems... I have copied the original Default folder. So really.. no problems MS. Some people know what they do and know the risks. This is a tried and tested practice with no valid practical alternatives. |
| dibbkd |
Posted - 03/29/2011 : 3:38:10 PM
quote:
Originally posted by rinzwind
I am going to test the profile copy :) Since all MS did was disable the button... enabling it in the gui makes it work again.
https://www.evilfingers.com/tools/enabler.php
On page 1 of this thread I commented that I made a quick procedure to do this with the "enabler" as well:
http://dibbsolutions.com/support-training/windows-7-default-profile/
|
| rinzwind |
Posted - 03/29/2011 : 3:28:13 PM
I am going to test the profile copy :) Since all MS did was disable the button... enabling it in the gui makes it work again.
https://www.evilfingers.com/tools/enabler.php
|
| rinzwind |
Posted - 03/29/2011 : 2:51:05 PM
MS does read into problems its customers have?
See http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2009/10/29/configuring-default-user-settings-full-update-for-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx
All comments are furious about this missing function and have just like us.. valid arguments which are completely ignored.
The profile is a mess (see the registry with all its keys, values, binaries, not self documenting (a config file is!). I always created a local user account with limited rights, edited things to my liking including business apps and copied this to the default profile. No problems ever (at least not visible).
Latest addition: pinned taskbar items... completely unmanageble. It consists of some hacked combo of a standard lnk and some binary info in the registry... And the latest arghhh moment was that 2008r2 ts server decided to give every user a server manager pinned item!
Keep laughing
I am not attacking Mark or anybode... I ask questions about some strange software-designs from MS. O and about the TS scenario... it also decided to make the desktop background black no matter what is in the default user profile.
|
| dibbkd |
Posted - 03/26/2011 : 1:17:40 PM
quote:
Originally posted by rinzwind
I'm curious why you are feeling attacked... Or are you personaly responseble for disabling this button ;)
Dude, Mark is only trying to help with how Microsoft does it now. He is a respected author who is I'm sure a lot more familiar with how Windows works than just about anybody.
Don't get me wrong, I miss the way it worked before in Vista, XP, and 2000, but I guess things change.
Don't shoot the messenger (Mark) for trying to explain the way things are now. And no, I'm sure he is not the one "personaly responseble for disabling this button".
|
| rinzwind |
Posted - 03/26/2011 : 11:35:15 AM
So really MS saw a problem that rarely showed up, and so disabled it entirely... but didn't provide a feasable solution... I'm curious why you are feeling attacked... Or are you personaly responseble for disabling this button ;)
How would you setup a profile? Yes, create a temporary one, set it up including all application settings and copy it over to the template for new users. This is an administrative task that MS should support.. and it did... until recently |
| rinzwind |
Posted - 03/26/2011 : 11:31:07 AM
The netlogon method has the same problems as a local Default User profile copy... since it's the same action... with the same problems... Does MS still do this? Or have they stopped using the netlogon? If they do support it then why not support creating it...
And how about Terminal Servers? It's practice to create a custom default profile. In server 2008 this is impossible... Nice! |
| Mark Minasi |
Posted - 02/18/2011 : 6:15:37 PM
Again, anonymous rinzwind, it is APP-SPECIFIC. Count your blessings that you've not run into trouble with settings and default profiles before!
As to copying to Netlogon, it's fairly simple, as it's a straightforward copy, right? The only painful part is trying to copy a profile of a currently-logged-on account. |
| rinzwind |
Posted - 02/17/2011 : 10:14:26 AM
Well. copying to netlogon isn't a problem.
But I see a problem that Vista and 7 both use Default User.v2 regarding task bar configuration.
And why can't that dialog do the same what sysprep appearently can do with some limitations?
Rather silly. |
| rinzwind |
Posted - 02/17/2011 : 09:59:03 AM
Never had a problem with XP that way.
If some app malfunctions, well we see then.
And how about copying to netlogon or updating this location? netlogon.v3? :P
Or updating the local profile?
There isn't a solution I see?
Way to go. I'm irritated about the way MS does things sometimes. The internet is full with this problem ;)
Google default profile Windows 7... |
| Mark Minasi |
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 4:00:27 PM
Reason: it never worked reliably for systems of any complexity, so why lead people down a garden path? And the root of the problem's not the OS, it's the way applications store user preferences.
And... example #4,000 about why we ask in large type and boldface for people to tell us their name and country. Amazing how much more polite they are when they can't hide behind anonymity. |
| rinzwind |
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 08:30:11 AM
'A reason' for disabling simple functionality my ass... (the only reason the copy profile dialog exists!). Then MS should have fixed the problems instead of a complex workarond for an simple issue... And what if we want to update the default profile on a current running machine?
|
| Mark Minasi |
Posted - 01/14/2011 : 11:52:15 AM
Kevin, I know the Windows Enabler route works for simple systems but it is a VERY BAD IDEA for setups of nontrivial complexity.
There is a REASON that they disabled the old method, honest! Please don't recommend Windows Enabler to people as a route to change the default profile. |
| dibbkd |
Posted - 01/14/2011 : 09:40:03 AM
I made a little easy procedure for me to follow here:
http://dibbsolutions.com/support-training/windows-7-default-profile/ |
| Mark Minasi |
Posted - 01/14/2011 : 09:05:05 AM
BTW, more info on default profiles here:
http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws1005.htm |
| JSCLMEDAVE |
Posted - 05/03/2010 : 11:22:55 AM
GREAT link! Thanks!
Not to hijack your post but Aidan put together are really good PDF on MDT 2010 that may be of interest as well.
http://www.aidanfinn.com/?page_id=10027
Edit - forgot link. |
| carefree |
Posted - 05/03/2010 : 11:19:22 AM
This guy's step-by-step (with pictures) sure helped me. In fact, on the very first run through using his steps, I got a good Win7 Enterprise image with a default profile that's pretty close to what I wanted.
http://blog.brianleejackson.com/sysprep-a-windows-7-machine-%E2%80%93-start-to-finish-v2
HTH |
| TBailey |
Posted - 04/21/2010 : 7:30:15 PM
Maybe I'm just not making the unattend file correctly.
I've followed the instructions in the technet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799285%28WS.10%29.aspx
Could someone post a step-by-step, with maybe some pretty pictures that someone with a slightly lower intelligence could understand?
You know, like something you would show to a manager?
Thanks!
|
| mr_strat |
Posted - 04/14/2010 : 11:34:30 AM
I've been fighting this issue for weeks. We'll be deploying Win 7 on campus this summer and need the default profile customized our way. I can't get CopyProfile to work, copying it the old way using the Enabler program sort of works, but people logging into the domain get black wallpaper. The whole process seems to revolve around selling computers at retail and making it as difficult as possible to deviate from that model. You have to glean pieces of the puzzle from various sources - there's no one definitive set of documentation. This whole thing sucks. |
| DavidJ |
Posted - 03/17/2010 : 4:31:14 PM
Thats intresting, I've just syspreped a Vista SP2 system and following the reboot get exactly the same error. I've not attempted to do anything with the default profile though. |
| TBailey |
Posted - 03/16/2010 : 8:05:17 PM
I just tried again after carefully re-reading all the information and following along.
I got the unattend.xml file to the target computer, ran the sysprep command like Vic has above, and upon a reboot, I get this error:
"Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer."
I restart, but it just does the same thing over and over.
|
