@Dahi

I'm calling a .cmd file that then calls any reg files it finds.

@jbm

I have that setting at the top of one of my reg files (Visual Effects.reg).

Thanks for trying though.

@all

Any ideas welcome.

Your using a bunch of different reg files right?

Are you sure some of the tweaks aren't duplicated only

with different settings?

@jbm

Quite sure. I have reg files for different things like services, visual effects, Taskbar & Start Menu etc. Still, I did a search though all the files for one of the settings that didn't work just to make sure, and it only appears in one file. I just don't understand it.

Thanks again.

Edited July 26, 200521 yr by royalbox

Am on the same boat Royalbox... Anyone has a solution for this? (I can't crack this one! and it's driving me insane")

I've even thought about setting a script that copies the Administrator's profile to the default users's profile, but because of security reasons, I don't know if this is safe!

ANYONE HELP!

@locobox

You know, I thought I'd be flooded with replies pointing to something quite obvious. I still haven't got it to work -- glad I'm not the only one.

EDIT:

Perhaps it only happens to forum members with 'box' in their names

Edited August 12, 200521 yr by royalbox

A BRAKE IN THE CASE!

Ok, where do I start from... well, we're 1/2 ways there!

1) New users DO NOT get their stuff from the "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT" (This was what I thought at first... they get it from the NTUSER.DAT at "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\NTUSER.DAT".

2) In order to modify this file... you need to go to REGEDIT to "HKEY_USERS", go file/"Load Hive" and browse to the above file NTUSER.DAT - next it will ask you to name the Hive, give it any name (ie: testuser). It creates a user hive in "HKEY_USERS" with the name ".testuser"

3) Open your registry.reg file (with your custom settings) and find|replace the "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\" with "[HKEY_USERS\.testuser\" and save. Now go back to Regedit, click on your "[HKEY_USERS\.testuser\" key, check your customizations first though... now click on the Hive user ".testuser", go to "File"\"Unload Hive".

4) Now new users should get the new .DAT from the default profile with the right customized reigstry keys.

NOW, WE NEED HELP TO GET THIS SCRIPTED SO IT DOES ALL OF THE ABOVE AUTOMATICALLY..... SOMEHOW

Edited August 12, 200521 yr by locobox

**Update**

Wow.. this is easier than what I expected, writting one right now. (Using REG LOAD, UNLOAD)...YAY!

Like I said, easy fix:

::Loading NTUSER "Default" Hive to Registry
REG LOAD HKU\testing "C:\Documents and Settings\Default user\NTUSER.DAT"

::Import Registry - Custum reg file - 
::This reg file contains the path to the above command "HKU\testing"
REGEDIT /S C:\registry.reg

::Unload NTUSeR "Default" Hive from Registry
REG UNLOAD HKU\testing

"C:\registry.reg" if doing unattended install is going to actually be ""%systemdrive%\Install\registry.reg"

@locobox

Sorry I didn't reply to this, I got sidelined and I haven't tried it yet.

@all

Is there any problem loading the default registry hive and adding settings from the cmdlines.txt stage of setup?

Many thanks.

EDIT:

I suppose there is no way to load the hive then. Maybe the answer is to edit the HIVEDEF.INF file directly beforehand. any problems doing this?

Edited August 25, 200521 yr by royalbox

There shouldn't be any problem. I edit hivesft.inf without any problems.

jbm,

Thanks a lot, I'll give it a go then.

At the moment I've got a more critical problem where I get an error during setup: "can't load a file needed for setup" or something similar. I'ts driving me nuts at the moment.

Thanks again.

@royalbox: The default hive (e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\NTUSER.DAT) IS loaded at T-12, and any attempt to load it will result in an error, as it is "locked" (in use). You could load it when the administrator logs on (GUIRunOnce), using REG LOAD, etc, but there is really no reason that you cannot simply import your settings (REGEDIT): most import fine from there, unless there is some initialization going on afterwards (which could be the case)

@GreenMachine

OK thanks. Most settings work when imported except the visual effects which I disable most of. Things like animated windows, shadows, fades and slides... that sort of thing.

I tried changing some settings in the HIVEDEF.INF before building the CD. I changed some shell folder locations and again, some worked, some didn't.

If "Default User" is the profile template used to create new users, what is

"C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile"?

Also, is HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT the "default User" NTUSER.DAT?

Many thanks for any help.

EDIT:

Re my previous post: I think some settings didn't work because the inf file data type entry was 0x00020002, which I believe has the "no clobber" bit flag set so that it will not change the value if it exists. I changed it to 0x00020000 and it worked this time. However, a lot of folders were created in the original locations as well.

Edited August 27, 200520 yr by royalbox