Devinco

Then if the programs were installed for "this user only", it would also appear in the Add/Remove Programs after the restore. That's what is nice about nLite, you can have as many different installations as there are users. Thank you.

The original reason for starting this thread has been resolved. The reason was to determine if the benefits of moving the Documents and Settings folder are greater than the risks and problems. I've learned that there are Operating System files within this folder (not just documents and settings) that malware can exploit to great advantage. So much so that with the folder moved to a different partition, a restore of a backup image will not wipe out a malware infection and will in fact become active automatically again after the restore. Moving the Documents and Settings folder with nLite (or any other means) is not worth the security risk. It removes the security benefit of making backup images. Much better to move the My Documents folder, Favorites, Program Files folder(if necessary), selected program profiles and data, and rename the Windows folder. Thanks for having this forum. Keep up the nLitenment!

Hi tijuana, The registry is composed of several files, see here (scroll down to the bottom under Windows NT platform). All of these registry hives are stored in %windir%\System32\config except NTUSER.DAT which corresponds to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. NTUSER.DAT is stored in Documents and Settings and will not be restored because it was not backed up. It is stored in the D: partition Documents and Settings where it was moved to. HKEY_CURRENT_USER may contain subkeys that control whether the program is still listed in Add/Remove Programs. For example... and Is the installed programs list stored in the NTUSER.DAT(HKEY_CURRENT_USER)? If not, where is it stored?

Hello, I have 2 hard drives, 1 main drive and an external hard drive for backup images. The main hard drive has 2 partitions C: for the OS and D: for Data. Let's say you move the "Documents and Settings" folder to D: with nLite and everything works well. Then you make a clean backup image of C: to the external backup drive. Now you install a program. The program gets installed to C:\Program Files\program folder. The program's settings are stored in D:\Documents and Settings\[CURRENT USER]\Application Data\program folder. The program is working normally and appears in the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs. Suddenly you discover that the program is MALWARE! You decide you no longer want the program and you don't trust the uninstall to completely remove the program. So you restore the clean backup image that you previously made. The program folder will be gone. Any changes to OS files and any extra components added to the windows folders will be gone. The program's settings will still be stored in D:\Documents and Settings\[CURRENT USER]\Application Data\program folder. You can manually delete the folder so that is not a major problem. Will the program still appear in the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs?