Edit NTUSER.dat
In a network environment i was able to navigate to a users pc and amend the ntuser.dat file for one particluar user and make required changes. This worked fine on XP but on Vista i always get the error File in use. I know the user is logged on but with XP i was able to make any changes with the user logged on (when required the user would log off/on). I cant seem to do this with Vista and i dont want to create a GPO just for one user. Am i doing something wrong here or is there a way to edit the file whilst in use? Thanks
June 2nd, 2010 12:31pm

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. How did you edit the NTUSER.DAT file? Based on my research, you could modify the NTUSER.DAT file using scripts listed in the following page: Adjusting the Default User Registry Hive Targeted changes to the Default User Registry hive and profile folders Meanwhile, you may encounter a problem that the “modified time” file attribute of a registry hive is updated in Windows Vista. If you encounter this problem, please obtain the following hotfix: The "Modified time" file attribute of a registry hive file is updated when you load and then unload the registry hive files without making any changes to the files on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista Reference: Modifying Ntuser.dat Hive So New Users Get Defined Settings Best Regards Dale Qiao TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com
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June 3rd, 2010 5:02am

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Best Regards Dale
June 7th, 2010 4:07am

Ok, I did something rather stupid which has now permeated to hundreds of users, and I need to know how to fix those already affected. In my desire to "help" and preconfigure the Default User profile so that all a user has to do is log in and go to work, without having to run a bunch of first run installers, I used my profile as a template to overwrite the Default User profile. Then I sysprepped and made the universal image. Well...guess what... :-) As a result, when shared office documents are opened, and legitimately locked, people are seeing "file locked by MyName" and so I get called several times a week by people asking me to get out of whatever file I'm not in. Normally, when you launch word for the first time, an installer runs and eventually prompts the user to put in their name and initials. Well, I tried to do this for them and when prompted, I took my username and initial out (there is a value there by default). After finding out who actually had the file open, I visited their workstation, rebooted, logged in as administrator, then searched the registry for my username. I found, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders] and found C:\\Documents and Settings\\MyName\\Local Settings\\Application Data\\Microsoft\\OFFICE\\"="1" I Tried to remove MyName from this key, but the problem didn't go away. To resolve, I opened word, and corrected the "User Information" tab in the options menu. Is there a way to Edit the Office Configuration to Request the username/initials after it's already been created? Is there a way this can be automated and be updated remotely to multiple workstations?
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December 28th, 2010 6:42pm

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