The Deployment Guys : Default User

Configuring Default User Settings – Full Update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

DeploymentGuys — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:36:00 GMT

I have written several posts on this topic before. However, changes were made to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that warrant a full revisit of this topic. This post can can also be also be found on the Windows Springboard Series blog here . Anyone...(read more)

Configuring Default Settings for Windows image deployment - KB Article Published

DeploymentGuys — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:33:00 GMT

Just a small update on this topic. Microsoft has now published a Knowledge Base article, KB959753, that documents the "automated profile copy" methods for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. The old "manual or scripted copy of a configured profile over the Default User profile" method will no longer be supported for these operating systems.

I had a hand in crafting KB959753, so I tried to make sure it was as clear as possible and contained information relevant to deploying with MDT and SCCM. If you have any feedback on the article, post a comment here and I'll make requests for changes if they are warranted.

There is currently an internal discussion going on as to whether the articles on the old method for Windows 2000 should be pulled from the Knowledge Base. Whatever is decided on these older articles, I still recommend that you not use the old method even with Windows 2000. Since there is no built-in automated profile copy for Windows 2000, if you are still creating images for Windows 2000 I recommend that you use Method C or higher from my previous post. (Actually is you are still creating images for Windows 2000 I recommend that you move off that platform as quickly as possible to an OS that was completed in this century. J )

Disclaimer: The information on this site is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, confers no rights, and is not supported by the authors or Microsoft Corporation. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified in the Terms of Use.

This post was contributed by Michael Murgolo, a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Services - U.S. East Region.

Useful Script Number 5 - Adjusting the Default User Registry Hive

DeploymentGuys — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Michael Murgolo did a great post on the different ways to adjust default settings when building an image (Configuring default settings for Windows image deployment) and one of the options presented was to targeted changes to the Default User Registry hive and profile folders. I had to do this recently and put together a script that can be launched from the MDT task sequence because I was finding my customised Administrator profile wasn't being copied over correctly to the Default User profile as part of SysPrep.

As Michael mentioned in his post - there are three main processes...you first need to load the default user hive (NTUser.dat) - make the changes you require - then unload the user hive. I have reproduced the core part of my script that does this process for discussion.

The first section sets the two variables that will be used - one to store the temp key (sTempHive) that we will load to, and the second to hold the profile file and location that we want to load (sDefaultUserHive)

For Windows Vista the entry """%USERPROFILE%\..\Default\NTUSER.DAT""" refers to C:\Users\Default\ntuser.dat

sTempHive = """HKEY_USERS\Test"""
sDefaultUserHive = """%USERPROFILE%\..\Default\NTUSER.DAT"""
sSName = oUtility.ScriptName
set oshell = WScript.CreateObject ("Wscript.Shell")

iZTIRetValue="1"

We then need to start logging - it's the law :-)

oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Actions Start - Updating Default Profile",LogTypeInfo
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Loading the Default User hive",LogTypeInfo

The next section runs reg load to load the NTUser.dat file from the default user directory to the temp key (HKEY_USERS\Test) set in the first section - if there is an error the script fails and quits with a specific failure number or we log success.

oShell.run "reg load " & sTempHive & " " & sDefaultUserHive
If Err<>0 Then
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Failed to load the registry hive " & sDefaultUserHive,LogTypeError
ZTIProcess=70
Exit Function
End If
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Default User Hive Loaded to " & sTempHive,LogTypeInfo
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Starting Registry Changes... ",LogTypeInfo

Now that the hive is loaded we can start changing stuff...as an example - I have set the code to change the wallpaper and the screen saver for the default user - again with error checking and specific failure codes

This codes sets the wallpaper (the file needs to be where you set the key to :-)

oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Setting Default User Wallpaper",LogTypeInfo
RegPath = "HKEY_USERS\Test\Control Panel\Desktop\"
oshell.RegWrite Regpath & "WallPaper", "C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\CorporateWallpaper.bmp", "REG_SZ"
If Err<>0 Then
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Failed to update wallpaper file setting",LogTypeError
ZTIProcess=60
Exit Function
End If

...and this codes sets the screen saver (again - the file needs to be where you set the key to :-)

oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Setting Default User Screensaver",LogTypeInfo
RegPath = "HKEY_USERS\Test\Control Panel\Desktop\"
oshell.RegWrite Regpath & "SCRNSAVE.EXE", "C:\Windows\CorporateScreensaver.scr", "REG_SZ"
If Err<>0 Then
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Failed to update Screensaver settings",LogTypeError
ZTIProcess=50
Exit Function
End If

Once all of the changes have been made - its time to unload the hive from its temp key - again with logging and error checking

oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Unloading the Default User hive",LogTypeInfo

oShell.run "reg unload " & sTempHive
If Err<>0 Then
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Failed to unload the default user registry hive",LogTypeError
ZTIProcess=40
Exit Function
End If
oLogging.CreateEntry sSName & ": Actions completed",LogTypeInfo

The completed script can be added to your MDT task sequence towards the end - so that it runs before the machine SysPreps and reboots for capture.

The complete script - in MDT format (to include logging and access to classes from ZTIUtility.wsf) with a number of other changes included is available on the Deployment Guys SkyDrive:

This post was contributed by Richard Smith a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Services, UK.

Configuring default settings for Windows image deployment - Update for Windows XP SP3

DeploymentGuys — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:14:00 GMT

In my previous post on this topic, I mentioned that Windows XP Service Pack 2 will copy the Administrators settings to Default User (see sections B & C). The new profile copy is the default behavior in SP2 with no built-in way to disable it. To disable it you had to request the hotfix from KB887816 from Microsoft Customer Support.

This has changed with Windows XP Service Pack 3. The fix from KB887816 is included in SP3. (See KB946480 for a list of fixes included in SP3.) Therefore, the behavior for SP3 is no profile copy by default. To enable the profile copy, you now have to add UpdateServerProfileDirectory=1 to the [Unattended] section of Sysprep.inf before running Sysprep. Unfortunately, due to an oversight you will not find this documented in the Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Reference (ref.chm) included with the SP3 Deployment Tools. KB887816 is currently one of the only references for this setting, as far as I know. (KB908784 also references this setting with respect to a problem that the profile copy can cause on Windows Server 2003)

8/3/2008 Update

In this post I orginally provided some instrutions about slipstreaming SP 3 into an installation source with the Tablet PC Edition CMPNENTS folder in it. Well it turns out that slipstreaming SP3 into the CMPNENTS will not be supported. See my August 3rd post for details.

This post was contributed by Michael Murgolo, a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Services - U.S. East Region.

Configuring default settings for Windows image deployment

DeploymentGuys — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:42:00 GMT

This post has been superseded by an updated post found here: http://blogs.technet.com/deploymentguys/archive/2009/10/29/configuring-default-user-settings-full-update-for-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx. Please update any links or favorites accordingly.

This post was contributed by Michael Murgolo a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Services, U.S. East Region.