Backing Up User Settings

Backup Utility puts per-computer settings in system state data, but it doesn't back up per-user settings from users' profile folders. Those settings are in each profile folder's Ntuser.dat file. Don't forget the per-user class registrations that Windows XP stores in %USERPROFILE% \Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat. You have to pick these up manually either by selecting them in Backup or Restore Wizard or by using another means of backing up users' settings, such as backing up roaming user profiles. Windows XP does a great job of protecting per-computer settings and fixing them when they get out of whack, but it doesn't do as good of a job with per-user settings. My experience is that after users' settings are completely fouled, the support call lasts too long, and users don't always leave the experience as happy campers.

Backing up user profiles from each computer isn't practical on a large network. You can use System Restore to fix users' profiles because it backs up settings from the profiles in the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. You can take a more proactive stance, however. One solution is implementing roaming user profiles. Assuming they're compatible with your environment (roaming user profiles don't work well in mixed environments and when hardware configurations vary wildly from one computer to the next), the central storage of roaming user profiles makes it possible to back up users' settings as part of the server's normal backup routine. Even if users don't log on to multiple computers, roaming user profiles might be worth implementing just for this capability alone. Restoring a user's profile is a matter of logging the user off of Windows XP, restoring the user's profile folder to the server, and then logging the user back on to Windows XP.

Note 

Chapter 10, "Deploying User Profiles," gives this subject more attention. You learn how to deploy different types of user profiles, back them up, and so on. You also learn about the many improvements that Windows XP makes to roaming user profiles, which just might make them more feasible in your organization.



Microsoft Windows XP Registry Guide
Microsoft Windows XP Registry Guide (Bpg-Other)
ISBN: 0735617880
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 185

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