Can I have two different users in Windows XP to use the same local profile (user alias)

I need to have two different userIds that map to the same local profile. What I really need is to have to users that are the same one.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

Ignacio Soler Garcia

Posted 2013-01-18T12:25:31.063

Reputation: 1 729

@CharlieRB: I've created a new user but this creates a new profile. What do you suggest? – Ignacio Soler Garcia – 2013-01-18T13:01:44.533

2@SoMoS, what does your research show in how to do this? Is there a specific area your stuck, or is this the only thing you've tried? – Dave – 2013-01-18T13:21:58.290

@DaVeRook: my research does not show nothing on how to do it because if it showed something I wouldn't need to ask here don't you think? If you don't know the answer to a clear question like this one go ahead and try to help someone else. Your comments are useless. – Ignacio Soler Garcia – 2013-01-18T20:11:01.313

Calm down @SoMoS. If its not helping just move past it, don't make it worse. – LuckySpoon – 2013-01-19T00:12:24.587

Answers

It would probably be better to only link the actual folders you needed since Windows is certainly not set up to do this.

The first problem will be permissions. You need to ensure that both users have the correct access permissions to the files and folders.

Even then, I'm not sure that the registry files are robust enough to be treated this way, it would be very easy to corrupt the profile so I would certainly not experiment on live profiles.

Julian Knight

Posted 2013-01-18T12:25:31.063

Reputation: 13 389

Thanks for your answers, with them it looks like what I need it's not possible because I just wanted an user "alias" so both users shared the same profiles, permissions, etc. Looks like its not possible at all. Anyway, thanks again. – Ignacio Soler Garcia – 2013-01-21T09:47:10.683

It's easy enough to have common files and folders that are shared. But once you get to settings files for apps and, worse, the Windows registry, it would be a very risky option. It might be possible if the security settings were done right but there are two many unknowns and too many apps that wouldn't have been tested this way. A quick way to massive data corruption I'm afraid. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-21T14:40:33.867

If you're simply looking for both to have the same user settings, copying the NTUSER.DAT file between accounts would work. Setup the first account as you wish, copy the NTUSER.DAT file into the other users account, login as other user and bingo, same setup. You could also setup a scheduled task to keep them in sync.

LuckySpoon

Posted 2013-01-18T12:25:31.063

Reputation: 672

Have you ever actually done this? You get enough corrupted settings simply from syncing back to a server (roaming profiles) without sharing between two users even if only using one at a time. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-21T14:41:54.393

To be fair, I haven't mass-manipulated NTUSER.DAT since XP, but from all I have done it works the same. (And the mass manipulation we did was on 3500+ accounts... (And the question is regarding Windows XP)) From the question this sounds like a local setup, so I didn't feel the need to go into roaming etc. So long as the first account is created and setup before copying NTUSER.DAT to the second (never used) account, all will be fine. – LuckySpoon – 2013-01-21T23:25:04.543

Take your point but the question doesn't say that one of the accounts wont be used. So I take it that they are both active, hence the issues. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-21T23:32:13.020