Windows 7: How to Copy A Modified User Profile Over The Default Profile

source: http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/windows-7-copy-default-profile

After setting up the profile for one user, lets call the account "JOE", do the following:

0. Login as an admin user, but NOT JOE (you don't want the files in the profile to be locked).

1. Go to c: drive in Explorer (or whatever your system drive is), hit the ALT key, go to the Tools Menu-> Folder Options and start unchecking "Hides" so Explorer sees all files (system, hidden and what not).




2. Go to Users\ and rename "Default" to "Default Back" (we want to keep the old one around in case things go south and we need to but the original Default profile back).

3. Make a copy of "JOE", then rename the copy of "JOE" (not the original!!!) to "Default".



4. Right click on "Default" and set the permissions so that the "Everyone" and "Users" groups have "Read & Execute", "List Folder Content" and "Read" NTFS permissions (this was the default already when I tested). At this point, you can use the Right click Computer -> "Properties"-> "Advanced System Settings"->"User Profiles" tool to delete the JOE profile if you like.



5. Try to login as an account that does not already have a profile. If the new user's profile looks like the setting you did for "JOE", all is good in the hood.