New user preferences and settings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jonathan Finney
  • Start date Start date
J

Jonathan Finney

I've just finished building a new PC and got everything looking the way I
want it, but when I add a new user account, it gets created with default
settings/appearance, etc.

How can I copy these so that all new users appear like the original
administrator account?

I don't want new users to have administrator privileges, so I'd like to use
this as a start point, then apply the restrictions before saving these as
'new account' defaults.

I'm sure this must be a well-documented procedure, but I don't know where to
find it.
 
Thanks for the help, John.

Maybe I'm being a bit dense here, but when I get to the Copy To stage, I'm
not sure what to do. Do I simply browse to the new user's folder within
Documents and Settings?

Can I copy to the All Users folder, or is this a bad idea? (I suspect that
this may cause problems even though I don't fully understand what's going
on)

What I want to do is set it so that when I add a new user, the account has
all the settings and preferences I've changed under the default
Administrator account, except I'd prefer the new account to be a member of
the Users group only. Individual users could then be made members of other
groups as and when required.

Is this possible or am I barking up the wrong tree?
 
Jonathan said:
Thanks for the help, John.

Maybe I'm being a bit dense here, but when I get to the Copy To stage,
I'm
not sure what to do. Do I simply browse to the new user's folder
within Documents and Settings?

Can I copy to the All Users folder, or is this a bad idea? (I suspect
that
this may cause problems even though I don't fully understand what's
going on)

What I want to do is set it so that when I add a new user, the account
has all the settings and preferences I've changed under the default
Administrator account, except I'd prefer the new account to be a
member of
the Users group only. Individual users could then be made members of
other groups as and when required.

Is this possible or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Click to expand...
Copy a User Account -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Lockergnome article about copying user account -
http://tinyurl.com/74atm

And to do exactly what you want:

How To Create a Custom Default User Profile -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319974

Create an XP Pro Mandatory User Profile on the Local Machine -
http://www.tweakxp.com/article139898.aspx

How To Assign a Mandatory User Profile in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307800&sd=tech

Malke
 
Malke said:
Copy a User Account -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Lockergnome article about copying user account -
http://tinyurl.com/74atm

And to do exactly what you want:

How To Create a Custom Default User Profile -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319974

Create an XP Pro Mandatory User Profile on the Local Machine -
http://www.tweakxp.com/article139898.aspx

How To Assign a Mandatory User Profile in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307800&sd=tech

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...

Thanks Malke. Lots of interesting stuff here, but I didn't know that a user
account and a user profile were not the same thing and I'm still not sure
what the distinction is.

Can you clear this up for me?
 
Jonathan said:
Thanks Malke. Lots of interesting stuff here, but I didn't know that
a user account and a user profile were not the same thing and I'm
still not sure what the distinction is.

Can you clear this up for me?
Click to expand...
Read this to understand accounts, etc.:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/luawinxp.mspx

See here for a clear explanation of profiles (ignore the part about
roaming profiles if like):
http://tinyurl.com/4fdon

Think of the account as defining the user's identity (name, password)
and the profile as defining the whole of the user - name, password,
environment, etc.

Malke
 
Thanks Malke.

This is pretty involved stuff. ..and I though that what I wanted to do
wasn't going to be that difficult.

I'll review this when I have some more time.
 
It doesn't need to be complicated and you don't need to know all the
underlying details and inner workings to make this happen. Going back
to the first link that I supplied you and to the question that you asked
in the following post "Do I simply browse to the new user's folder
within Documents and Settings?", basically yes, that's all you need to
do. Browse to and Highlight the new userfolder and click ok. That is
all there is to it. For example if you created a new user and called
him John Doe, then when you get to the copy stage browse to the folder
named John Doe, highlight it and click on OK, then click OK again in the
copy to dialogue box.

Tip: When you copy a profile to a new user and when that new user logs
on for the first time, the desktop may be blank and it may take a bit of
time for the desktop to appear. Sometimes the computer may appear to be
not responding. If after a few minutes the desktop has not appeared log
off the user and log on again.

Try it with one user and see how it goes.

John
 
John John said:
It doesn't need to be complicated and you don't need to know all the
underlying details and inner workings to make this happen. Going back to
the first link that I supplied you and to the question that you asked in
the following post "Do I simply browse to the new user's folder within
Documents and Settings?", basically yes, that's all you need to do.
Browse to and Highlight the new userfolder and click ok. That is all
there is to it. For example if you created a new user and called him
John Doe, then when you get to the copy stage browse to the folder named
John Doe, highlight it and click on OK, then click OK again in the copy to
dialogue box.

Tip: When you copy a profile to a new user and when that new user logs on
for the first time, the desktop may be blank and it may take a bit of time
for the desktop to appear. Sometimes the computer may appear to be not
responding. If after a few minutes the desktop has not appeared log off
the user and log on again.

Try it with one user and see how it goes.

John
Click to expand...
Thanks John.

I tried copying the files within the folders as per the article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

but this didn't work, so I just did as you've now confirmed and it worked
seems to have worked fine. I was a bit worried that copying from the
default Administrator account to a new User account might cause problems, so
I made the new User an administrator account before copying. I figured I
could then change it back to a user account after I'd verified it was OK.
Is this an unnecessary step?

I assume that if I want to have new accounts appear with the same settings,
I'll need to proceed as per

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

What would happen if I copied settings too the All Users folder?
 
In-line:

Jonathan said:
I tried copying the files within the folders as per the article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

but this didn't work,
Click to expand...

The procedure explained in that article is for a different purpose and
used to salvage a user profile when his or her profile has been
corrupted and is no longer usable, it is not used for a simple profile
copy.

so I just did as you've now confirmed and it worked
seems to have worked fine. I was a bit worried that copying from the
default Administrator account to a new User account might cause problems, so
I made the new User an administrator account before copying. I figured I
could then change it back to a user account after I'd verified it was OK.
Is this an unnecessary step?
Click to expand...

There is no need for the accounts to belong to the same group(s) or have
the same security level or permissions. So yes, that was an unnecessary
step. Copying a profile does not elevate or lower or otherwise change
the security and permissions of the account being copied to or from, non
administrators will not become administrators and vice-versa. There is
another procedure to accomplish that.
I assume that if I want to have new accounts appear with the same settings,
I'll need to proceed as per

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319974
Click to expand...

Yes. But there would be nothing stopping you from copying another
profile to the account then following the instructions in the article.
What would happen if I copied settings too the All Users folder?
Click to expand...

Don't confuse the "All Users" with the "Default User" account. When you
create a new user the account template/settings comes from the "Default
Account" (as implied in article 319974), not the "All User" account.
The All Users is used to make changes without having to change each
individual account. For example:

When John Doe logs on to the computer you want a program to start
automatically, so you put a shortcut to the program in John Doe's
Startup Folder. John Doe logs on and the program starts, other users
log on and the program isn't started. If you want the program to start
for anyone who logs on to the computer then instead of putting the
program shortcut in each user's Startup Folder you put it in the "All
Users" Startup folder. Another example, Mary Ann wants a shortcut to a
program only she uses, you put the shortcut in her Desktop Folder. The
other users in the office see her working with her new nifty program and
they all want a shortcut on their desktop, so you put the shortcut in
the "All Users" Desktop folder. You can easily see that by going to the
All Users desktop folder and create a unique shortcut in the desktop
folder and you will see that the shortcut will be on other users desktop
even though no such shortcut is in their particular Desktop folder.

Regards;

John
 
John John said:
In-line:



The procedure explained in that article is for a different purpose and
used to salvage a user profile when his or her profile has been corrupted
and is no longer usable, it is not used for a simple profile copy.

so I just did as you've now confirmed and it worked

There is no need for the accounts to belong to the same group(s) or have
the same security level or permissions. So yes, that was an unnecessary
step. Copying a profile does not elevate or lower or otherwise change the
security and permissions of the account being copied to or from, non
administrators will not become administrators and vice-versa. There is
another procedure to accomplish that.


Yes. But there would be nothing stopping you from copying another profile
to the account then following the instructions in the article.


Don't confuse the "All Users" with the "Default User" account. When you
create a new user the account template/settings comes from the "Default
Account" (as implied in article 319974), not the "All User" account. The
All Users is used to make changes without having to change each individual
account. For example:

When John Doe logs on to the computer you want a program to start
automatically, so you put a shortcut to the program in John Doe's Startup
Folder. John Doe logs on and the program starts, other users log on and
the program isn't started. If you want the program to start for anyone
who logs on to the computer then instead of putting the program shortcut
in each user's Startup Folder you put it in the "All Users" Startup
folder. Another example, Mary Ann wants a shortcut to a program only she
uses, you put the shortcut in her Desktop Folder. The other users in the
office see her working with her new nifty program and they all want a
shortcut on their desktop, so you put the shortcut in the "All Users"
Desktop folder. You can easily see that by going to the All Users desktop
folder and create a unique shortcut in the desktop folder and you will see
that the shortcut will be on other users desktop even though no such
shortcut is in their particular Desktop folder.

Regards;

John
Click to expand...

Thanks again for all your help, John.
 
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