How to Associate a Local Profile with More Than One User

• Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article describes how to associate more than one user account with a single local profile. This is especially useful for portable computer users that have a domain account they use while in the office, but use a local account when they are away from the office.

This article makes the following assumptions:

• You are a member of the Administrators group on the system.



• You already have a domain account with a local profile.



• You want to create a local account that will share that profile.

MORE INFORMATION

To associate more than one user account with a single local profile, follow these steps:

1. Create a local user. Your local user can have the same user name that your domain account has. There will not be aconflict because your workstation or member server maintains its own account database.
   
   NOTE: This is not the case with domain controllers.



2. Log on as the newly created user, and then log off. This will create a default local profile and add the path to ProfileList in the registry.



3. Log on with a local-administrator (or equivalent) account that is NOT the domain user or local user account that is being altered. Check the %SystemRoot%\Profiles folder to find the folder that the new user profile was created in. If your local account name is the same as your domain account name, that folder will take the form of <username>.000.
   
   WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
   
   For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).



4. Edit the permissions on the profile to allow your local account to access it. Start Regedt32 and go to HKEY_USERS. With HKEY_USERS selected, click the Load Hive option from the Registry menu. Select the file %SystemRoot%\Profiles\%username%\Ntuser.dat, where %username% is your domain account name.



5. When prompted to enter a key name, type in your user name and press ENTER. You will now see an entry for your user name under HKEY_USERS. Select it and click Permissions from the Security menu. Add your local account name to the list of permissions, granting the account full control. Click Ok when you are finished.



6. To save this change, select your username, and then click Unload Hive from the Registry menu.



7. Alter the path that points to this profile. In Regedt32, go to the following key:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList



8. Under this key, you will see a list of Security Identifiers (SIDs). To find the SID corresponding to your new local account, open each key and look at the value for the ProfileImagePath. When you find the value that matches what you found in step 3 above, modify the ProfileImagePath data so that it points to your domain account profile path.



9. Close Regedt32 and log on with your local account. You will see your familiar profile.

Additional query words:

Keywords          : NTSrvWkst 
Version           : winnt:4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbinfo 

Last Reviewed: March 9, 1999