If you want to make changes to the registry for the “default user” there is one BIG misunderstanding that i want to clarify here.
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is NOT the Default User!
This is actually the registry for the Local System account. Changes in this hive will be applyed before a user logs in.
A clear example: when making the following change:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop] "Wallpaper"="C:\Windows\mywallpaper.bmp"
the background called “mywallpaper.bmp” will be loaded onto the background while pressing ctrl+alt+del and entering your credentials. (e.g. this is how Dell or HP use their own backgrounds on a pre-installed system).
Ok so how do you make changes to the default user?
It’s actually pretty simple.
As you should know the registry for a user is placed in a file called ntuser.dat in the %userprofile% directory. Therefor, in c:\documents and settings\Default User you’ll find the registry for the default user (doh!).
Now load this file as a temporary hive to enabled making changes to it.
Start a dos prompt. Then type:
reg load HKU\Temp "c:\documents and settings\Default User\NTUSER.DAT"
Start regedit and go to HKEY_USERS\Temp and you’ll see the registry for the default user.
Make the desired changes. When done, close regedit to avoid locking issues and back in your dos prompt type:
reg unload HKU\Temp
And you’re done!
New users without existing profile will inherit the Default User profile and therefor inherit the changes you just made.
“Ok one question though, why not use (domain) policies for such purposes?”
Good question. Policies will always be a better solution because changes to the policies will automatically be applied to existing user profiles and changes to the default user profile will only be used when a user logs in and the user has no existing profile.
There are, however, settings that can not be changed from (domain) policies (at least not in current Windows versions…). Examples:
- Power management (screensaver, disks going to stand-by), etc
- Schemes for audio/sounds
- (one of my favorites) Quick Launch behaviour (e.g. the number of items, the locked status, etc)
- … etc!
Conclusion
Now you know how to edit the default user registry.
Think about making these changes when preparing an image that you’re going to deploy to a network. Or at least apply the changes to the clients before all users are going to log in!