Creating a new default user profile

Changing the default user profile is not a particularly daunting task. In fact, my experiences show that in Windows 2000, XP and 2003, it’s a relatively painless experience.

  • Logged in as a local administrator, create a new user account.
  • Log out and log in as that user.
  • Log back in as an administrator.
  • Enable Show hidden files and folders
  • Go to the documents and settings folder on the system drive, and into the newly created user profile.
  • Copy the ntuser.dat file to the Default User folder, overwriting the existing profile.

That’s it! Of course, you can use the Microsoft friendly method instead if your OS supports it.