how to copy default profile during sccm sysprep

[skinnyzaz]

I need to copy my local admin profile to the default profile so all new users get the settings. I know how to do it using sysprep and the copy command in the answer file. But how can I work this into sccm so it will sysprep with my answer file then capture the image for me?

[Jimm]

I need to copy my local admin profile to the default profile so all new users get the settings. I know how to do it using sysprep and the copy command in the answer file. But how can I work this into sccm so it will sysprep with my answer file then capture the image for me?

 

 

I'm in the same boat. I can mofidy the defautl user profile and capture it with capture media. When i deploy the WIM back to the hardware, the custom profile is replaced with the windows default. I used copyprofile=true n unattend.xml during the capture by placing the file in the sysprep folder.

 

Does anyone now how to do this?

[Eswar Koneti]

I'm in the same boat. I can mofidy the defautl user profile and capture it with capture media. When i deploy the WIM back to the hardware, the custom profile is replaced with the windows default. I used copyprofile=true n unattend.xml during the capture by placing the file in the sysprep folder.

 

Does anyone now how to do this?

 

CopyProfile does need to be set in the unattend.xml file that is used to deploy the image, not the one used to capture it and it will use the profile that was modified last.

Look at the below posts havent tested though.

 

http://blogs.technet...er-2008-r2.aspx

There is also a KB article that talks about the "modified last" behavior: http://support.micro....com/kb/2101557

[Jimm]

CopyProfile does need to be set in the unattend.xml file that is used to deploy the image, not the one used to capture it and it will use the profile that was modified last.

Look at the below posts havent tested though.

 

http://blogs.technet...er-2008-r2.aspx

There is also a KB article that talks about the "modified last" behavior: http://support.micro....com/kb/2101557

 

 

I had previously read the first article http://blogs.technet...er-2008-r2.aspx and didn't see the answer in there. The second article explains exactly why this happens and the correct solution. Thanks for the assistance.

 

Jimm

[skinnyzaz]

I had previously read the first article http://blogs.technet...er-2008-r2.aspx and didn't see the answer in there. The second article explains exactly why this happens and the correct solution. Thanks for the assistance.

 

Jimm

 

Thanks guys I finally got this working. I was missing the step of deploying the image with the unattended answer file.

[boozecow]

Don't know what will be the impact yet but I'm doing this for now and it is working...

 

I'm building a windows 7 and create a regular account like HBUser.

 

I configure all the settings I want for my users.

 

At the end, I modify the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\microsoft\windows nt\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

I changed the value of the Default key to %SystemDrive%\Users\HBUser

 

Working like a charm.

 

But since I'm a noob, let's see what you are thinking about this !

 

Well, after few test, I had to say that something the profile service fail to create the profile, no good...

[Kingskawn]

I do have 2 reg values that need to be deleted from de current user so I have to copy the profile to the default one. I understand that I cannot do this in the capture stage but when I install machines with that image. But how can I copy the user to the default user and at what stage? Beginning or at the end?

[jamitupya]

have you tried to load another reg hive, delete the reg keys, then unload?

 

checkout http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2848-script-to-modify-default-user-profile/ see if this suits...

[CorradoGuy]

I fought this one for days and days and followed so many different posts and in the end I did not win. When I went to MMS 2011 this was one of the things that I wanted to get a handle on and what I found was not really what I wanted to hear.

 

There are different ways to create a default profile and it depends on the mechanism you use. First, using the Unattend.xml to create the default profile with SCCM doesn't work and this is a known issue. Unlike MDT SCCM uses the system account whereas MDT uses the local administrator account so according to Microsoft the proper way to do this is as follows. If you use SCCM you will not be able to properly capture a default account because of the way SCCM integrates MDT and the whole account thing. When I tried this in SCCM as soon as I used the 'copy profile' tag in the Unattend.xml I would get failures and error messages. I take this one line out and everything worked properly so I asked the people who created this and the ones who put a lot of time into it and this is what they said.

 

When you use SCCM to deploy operating systems you are supposed to develop your image (fat/thin and all of that stuff) and then capture it without the default image. When you deploy the image you push it out to your target machine and then you use GPO to set the default profile for the first logon and this is the approved way of creating a default profile. If this is not for you then you will need to find another way to do it and I have seen a lot of posts where people use the 'copy profile' feature and over-write the default profile with your custom profile. There are a number of issues related to this and I still see them even in Windows XP where you didn't have to fool the OS to allow you to do this. Without going into the details the copy profile didn't work 100% because you are also copying SID's from the original profile over the new default profile which can cause problems with redirection and so on.

 

Here's what the pro's had to say about this, in short SCCM is a mechanism used to push software and operating systems but it is not very flexible when it comes to modifying operating systems. MDT on the other hand is a supported technology through Microsoft and it is designed to manipulate operating systems. It is script driven (uses VB Script) and very configurable and this is what should be used to modify the operating system image. The supported way to modify operating systems is to use MDT to do all of your customizations and then capture your default profile which is what MDT is designed for. Once you have captured your basic operating system with your customizations you then use SCCM to push it out after the capture.

 

I have configured SCCM to install my drivers and any machine specific software with zero-touch and currently I have two images, one 32 bit and one 64 bit. I use WMI queries to see what machine it is and then add different drivers or software as the machine is being imaged and this has worked out really well. We currently have a mix of Dell and Lenovo machines and still I am able to push out just two images (which I could reduce to one with some scripting or customizations to the task sequence) for these machines. With Dell they have Driver CAB packages which makes life really easy and for Lenovo I use the Update Retriever and Thininstaller to get the drivers on the machines. The Lenovo Thininstaller isn't working with SCCM at this time but it is a fault of our security settings and Lenovo as such but I haven't had the time to work on this part yet.

 

I don't know if this really helps with this question but this is what I found through first-hand tests and just asking those in the know. SCCM is great for pushing software and MDT is great for OS manipulation. Currently I am doing a build and capture of Windows 7 with all of my default software being installed during the build using SCCM packages and then capturing the results. Once this is complete I am pushing the image out to the machines using SCCM and it is working great other than no customizations to the default profile. At this point I don't know if I will use GPO to create a default profile or if I will use MDT to create the default profile. I have a number of offices that will be using slightly different profiles so I wanted to automate this as much as possible but the default profile is the one that stumped me.

[edudez]

To create an unattend.xml file for sysprep, use Windows System Image Manager:

• Click File / New Answer File...
  

• Open the Components box in the "Windows Image" lower left-hand pane of the WSIM window.
  
• Locate and right-click on the blue box labeled "amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral" if you're running 64-bit Windows 7, or "x86_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral" if you're using 32-bit Windows 7.
  

• In the drop-down menu that results, choose "Add Setting to Pass 4 Specialize."
  

• To the right and up, under the "Properties" section, click "CopyProfile."
  

• In the small down-facing triangle that appears just to the right of CopyProfile, choose "true."
  

The CopyProfile setting will tell Windows to copy Testuser's profile to the Default User profile when the prototype image (which we're about to create) gets deployed to a system, which is how to change the default Windows profile.

[DMobley232]

So I have created my image and configured the local Administrator Account. I want the settings from the local admin account to be the default users settings as well. I was going to try the Copyprofile=True, but does anyone know if the following settings will come across?

Really all I want is Desktop Shortcuts (IE, Control Panel, Network, Computer, Users Files, Snipping Tool)

Pinned Items to Task Bar (Snipping Tool, IE)

Pinned Items to Start Menu (IE, Snipping Tool)

Always show systray.

 

Does anyone know if these setting will come across?

[DMobley232]

So I tested it out and seems that it does everything but PIN Snipping tool to task bar. I belive IE is there by default.

It also does not keep the systray setting to always show.

[narcoticmind]

Just do the following during the Build And Capture TS:

1. Run A Commandline: reg.exe LOAD HKU\Default %windir%\..\Users\Default\NTuser.dat
   
2. Run A Commandline: reg.exe ADD HKU\Default\Somekey /v SomeValueName /t REG_DWORD /d SomeValue /f
   
3. Run A Commandline: reg.exe UNLOAD HKU\Default
   

This has worked for me, basicly every user setting is stored somewhere in the registry, you just need to find them. Googling helps.

[groen]

What I did which works perfectly, was install windows 7, but before it logs in to windows do the ctlr+shift+f3 on the welcome screen to reboot in to audit mode. Then install all your applications and prep the profile for user context configuration. Then before you capture the image with sccm. I made a clonezilla image to usb hard drive so that i could go back to it again without having to reinstall all the applications etc. Then i capture the image.

 

Once you have added the wim to the sccm and created the task sequence. I followed the information on this url to inject a copyprofile.xml file on to the task sequence. This then copied the profile that i made to the default profile location.

 

Go in to audit mode as per this forum post.

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/138686-sysprep-basic-possible.html#post1192774

 

To enter Audit mode, press CTRL + SHIFT + F3 when this screen appears during the installation:




When Windows has rebooted to Audit Mode, close Sysprep GUI by clicking Cancel here:

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2010/09/16/how-to-create-a-custom-default-user-profile-in-windows-vista-or-newer-os-when-using-configmgr-2007-osd.aspx

 

Create copyprofile.xml package and add to the task sequence.

    x86

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
        <settings pass="specialize">
            <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
            </component>
        </settings>
    </unattend>

 

The only things that get reset is the taskbar pinned items. I just used a VB login script that removes the pinned items and adds new ones.

[midiman]

What I did which works perfectly, was install windows 7, but before it logs in to windows do the ctlr+shift+f3 on the welcome screen to reboot in to audit mode. Then install all your applications and prep the profile for user context configuration. Then before you capture the image with sccm. I made a clonezilla image to usb hard drive so that i could go back to it again without having to reinstall all the applications etc. Then i capture the image.

 

Once you have added the wim to the sccm and created the task sequence. I followed the information on this url to inject a copyprofile.xml file on to the task sequence. This then copied the profile that i made to the default profile location.

 

Go in to audit mode as per this forum post.

 

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/138686-sysprep-basic-possible.html#post1192774

 

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2010/09/16/how-to-create-a-custom-default-user-profile-in-windows-vista-or-newer-os-when-using-configmgr-2007-osd.aspx

 

Create copyprofile.xml package and add to the task sequence.

    x86

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
        <settings pass="specialize">
            <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
            </component>
        </settings>
    </unattend>

The only things that get reset is the taskbar pinned items. I just used a VB login script that removes the pinned items and adds new ones.

 

Did you ever get this working and what are the steps?

 

I have made my reference machine but I can't get the sysprep part to work.

 

I think I have to add an unattend.xml file in the Apply Operating System step of my Deployment TS.

 

But it's asking for a package and filename.