I'm reading about Registry subtrees, and in my book is the following statement about CURRENT_USER:
"Retrieves a copy of each user account used to log on to the computer from the NTUSER.DAT files and stores it in the %systemroot%\profiles\username key.
This statement is confusing because:
I know %systemroot% is a system variable which points to the Windows installation folder (usually c:\windows). Does it exist as a variable in the registry as well???
I'm not familiar with a directory called "profiles" in Windows but just in case I did do a search, and the search results came back empty.
On one hand, I know the registry contains info about the users, so it would make sense there would be a "profiles" key. On the other hand, %systemroot% points to the root folder of Windows, which isn't related to the registry. Is this just a really poorly written statement?
Your book is pertaining to either W9x/ME or Windows NT. In those older operating systems %systemroot%\profiles\username was used to store user profile information. In XP/2000/2003 it's stored in %homedrive% + %homepath% (AKA %userprofile%), which translates to (for example) c:\documents and settings\johndoe
In Vista/2008 it's simply %homedrive% + Users\username (i.e., c:\users\johndoe)
(added later)
Forgot to address your registry question. You can find profile info on users either in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Currentversion\ProfileList\userSIDas well as HKU\userSID\*
Hope this helps, John john.manley@avanade.com
Proposed as answer byJohn D. ManleyThursday, June 26, 2008 5:43 PM
Edited byJohn D. ManleyThursday, June 26, 2008 7:15 PMadded registry info
Marked as answer byKen Rosen_MSMonday, June 30, 2008 9:24 PM
I, too, am thinking there is an error in the book referencing where the ntusers store is.
Can you cite a resource and page number or something of that nature so we can assist further?- Wayne Anderson
MCITP, MCSE, MCT, Certification Magazine Contributor
(http://blog.avanadeadvisor.com/blogs/waynea)
Your book is pertaining to either W9x/ME or Windows NT. In those older operating systems %systemroot%\profiles\username was used to store user profile information. In XP/2000/2003 it's stored in %homedrive% + %homepath% (AKA %userprofile%), which translates to (for example) c:\documents and settings\johndoe
In Vista/2008 it's simply %homedrive% + Users\username (i.e., c:\users\johndoe)
(added later)
Forgot to address your registry question. You can find profile info on users either in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Currentversion\ProfileList\userSIDas well as HKU\userSID\*
Hope this helps, John john.manley@avanade.com
Proposed as answer byJohn D. ManleyThursday, June 26, 2008 5:43 PM
Edited byJohn D. ManleyThursday, June 26, 2008 7:15 PMadded registry info
Marked as answer byKen Rosen_MSMonday, June 30, 2008 9:24 PM
