How to Move the Location of a Locally Cached Profile

ID: Q214470

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

By default, the locally cached copy of a profile is stored in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\, which may be an issue if you have a large number of people logging on to a computer. If you have a large number of people logging on to a computer (which creates a large number of profiles), disk space on the operating system partition may become scarce. You can move the locally cached copy of a profile to another local partition.

MORE INFORMATION

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).

To move the locally cached copy of the profile, you will need to know the security identifier (SID) of the user whose profile you want to move. You can identify the SID by using GetSID.exe from the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit.

Windows NT 4.0 stores the local profile information in the registry under the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Under the ProfileList key, there will be subkeys named with the SIDs of the users who have logged on to this computer. (To find the profile information for the user whose locally cached profile you want to move, find the SID for the user with the GetSID.exe utility.) Inside of the appropriate user's subkey, you will see a string value named ProfileImagePath. ProfileImagePath should be set to a local path where you want to store the profile.

If you do not have a roaming profile and you want to maintain your profile after you change the locally cached profile path, copy the contents of your old locally cached profile folder to the new location set in the ProfileImagePath value.

Additional query words:

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:2000; winnt:4.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type : kbinfo