Is there a way to copy a user profile to other client stations previously not logged into?

Question

I was wondering what would be the easiest way to copy a user profile to a station that user has not previoulsy signed on in an Active Directoy environment. This would include anything that appears under the user's user folder under C:\users and registry entries associated with the user. The stations being copied to are practically clones to each other.

Solution 1

Never tested, but you have to :
1 - copy the user's folder (with the same permissions, beware : they are not the same for some files) - often found in C:\users\ or C:\Documents and Settings\
2 - copy the user's profile key (with the same permissions again) - found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\

Already tested :
1 - ask the user to log on the new computer
2 - do the steps explained previously
3 - ask the user to log on, to be sure everything is okay

Solution 2

I've used Forensit's tools before with luck:

http://www.forensit.com/move-computer.html

Comments

[shrawani karpe]

oops, I let a unix slash slip in there.

[raja]

are you doing this to avoid shared storage?