Each person in our network has a user account (NT 4.0 server domain) and we are going to be installing some XP clients soon. We need to have our users log on and all get the same settings (apps, shortcuts, desktop, etc.). We have figured out that if we create a profile, copy it to Documents and Settings\Default User, each person will log on with these settings. However, everytime we install new software, we are going to have to update the default user profile and then delete the other users' profiles that are there. Is there any way to create a mandatory profile that no user can change and that keeps every user from creating their own profile when they log on? It would be ideal, if we could have two profiles...one for administrator and one for default users that can be updated by the administrator when needed. (No...it is not an option for everyone to log on as the same user on the network.)

Create a test User on your XP machinen. Log on as the test User and make all changes you want every User to have. Then reboot you machine and log on to XP as the local Administrator. Go to the test User profile and copy the ntuser.dat to the default User profile. This however will not affect the adiministrator profile. If you want to make the profile mandatory you will need to rename the User's profile NTUSER.dat to NTUSER.man. The User can make changes while logged on, however once logged off all changes will be lost.