Create a new user's profile from the command line

Question

I am creating an installation script that should create a few users, and set some registry settings for them. In order to use reg.exe to modify their registry, I need to have the location of their ntuser.dat, normally residing in the users' home directories.

The home directories are only created during the users' first login, which is a little late for my batch file. I don't wish to have to log into each user.

Is there a way to create the home directories without logging into the users? I assume it would involve copying the "\Users\Default" directory, but what else needs to be done?

This question is similar to mine, but does not refer to the registry.

Answer 1

To store default user-settings for new users the registry-key HKEY_USERS -> .DEFAULT was made.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/chad/archive/2012/04/25/tip-49-how-do-you-set-default-user-profile-registry-settings.aspx

But this approach works for all users logged in from the point of change.

If you want to add registry-entries for particular users of your (Active Directory-)Domain then you should have a look at Group Policies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_Policy

Answer 2

i think what you need might be /homedir and /profilepath switches of net user command, you can find full help on syntax in net help user output

ps:

you can also try making user directories using mkdir before creating accounts and then add users