32 Microsoft Windows NT Server White Paper
If a profile has permissions that differ from those needed by the user (for
example, if the profile was created for a user on a different domain), the profile
permissions must be changed to function correctly. As an example, suppose
you have a Windows NT-based workstation that you would like to have join the
domain, but you want the user to be able to retain his or her profile settings.
The Windows NT-based workstation is currently a part of the WORKER work-
group and will be joining the domain BIGDOMAIN.
To change the profile:
1. Log on to the computer as an administrator, and create a local account
that will be used only temporarily to house the profile during the conver-
sion process.
2. Log on as a temporary user and immediately log off. This will create a
subdirectory underneath the %systemroot%\Profiles directory with the
name of the account that logged on.
3. Log back on as an administrator, and configure the workstation to join the
domain.
4. After the workstation has joined the domain, reboot the computer.
5. After the machine restarts, log on as the user from the domain that will
need the converted profile, and then log off. This sets up the directory
structure needed to complete the conversion process.
6. Log back on as an administrator, and copy the profile structure, including
the NTuser.xxx file and all subdirectories, from the directory that stored the
workgroup user’s profile to the subdirectory created for the temporary user
in Step 2.
7. From the Control Panel, click System.
8. On the User Profiles property page, select the temporary user profile, and
click Copy To. Browse under %systemroot%\Profiles to locate the subdi-
rectory that contains the profile for the domain user that logged on in Step
5. Click OK and then click the Change button for the permissions.
9. Select the domain user who will use the profile. Click OK to copy the profile.
10. Log off and log on as the domain user. The profile settings should now be
available to that user.
NOTE: Alternatively, you can copy the profile and use the instructions from the section “Encoding Per-
missions in the User Profile” to change the permissions. However, this requires that you manually edit the
registry.
Creating Profiles Without User-Specific Connections
In some cases, you may want to create profiles that include preconfigured per-
sistent connections. However, if you need to supply alternate credentials when
you create the template profile, this can cause problems for users later when
the profile is used.
Information about persistent connections is stored in the registry location
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network. This key has subkeys that list the persis-
tent drive connections by drive letter. For each of these subkeys, there is a
value of UserName. If alternate credentials must be supplied to make the con-
