Question : regarding ntuser.dat file

hi,

1.  what exactly does the ntuser.dat file?
  i was trying to copy a profile of a user to a new machine and I got unexpected behavior from the machine. I heard from sources that when you copy a user profile avoid ntuser.dat and copy everything else? Is that tru even when copying the profile to a new machine?

2. What are the files that I wold need to copy (both from profile and other system files), so that I can give a user another replica machine on the network.

thx

Answer : regarding ntuser.dat file

>>does the ntuser.dat also contain configuration settings for 3rd party applications that were installed using this profile?

Yes, if they are stored in the HKey_Current_User  registry hive, which many are.  For instance, I have a couple of startup items that launch on login for my profile that do not occur for all users.  This gets stored in my ntuser.dat file.

The process is safe even on the same machine.  It can cause a few problems on machines with radically different hardware, but usually they are corrected automatically after a reboot or something.

If you want to retain the same AD account, all you have to do is set up your default user account the way I suggested, make sure the computer has been added to the domain, and then log in with the account you desire.  any and all accounts that sign into the computer will recieve that same copy of ntuser.dat.  The trick is that it HAS to be copied to c:\documents and settings\default user\ntuser.dat

Your account name will be the same, user settings will be the same, etc.  Once you've done that, just go back and copy the rest of the folders and files from your profile on the old machine to your new one.  Everything should line up neatly.

If you had software that was highly specific to hardware that is not loaded on your new machine, you might need to clean house in your registry a little bit, but I rarely have those problems.