User Account Profile

The operating system stores the user account settings such as, desktop settings, display settings, Mouse settings, Printer settings, Network settings. Windows Server 2003 saves this information in the system root drive under the Documents and Settings folder. These settings are identified as user profiles. When the user logs of from the network, the profile is updated in the computer from where the user logged in. There are four types of user profiles, such as, default profile, local profile, roaming profile and mandatory profile.

Windows Server 2003 supports two types of user profiles, such as:

> Local Profile - Enables to create a profile for the user account when the user logs in to the computer for the first time. Windows Server 2003 enables you to create multiple local profiles on a computer. You can create local profiles for users who share the same computer.

> Roaming Profile - Enables to create a profile for the user to access the network using any computer on the network. The system administrator creates a roaming profile and saves them on a network server. Therefore, a user can access the profile from any computer on the network. You can create a roaming profile for a user account who wants to access more than one computer on a network.

To create a user profile:

1. Open Computer Management. The Computer Management console appears.

2. Expand Local Users and Groups.

3. Click Users. A list of users appears.

4. Select the user for which you want to create the profile.

5. Select Action 4 Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.

6. Click the profile tab. The profile tab appears.

The different options on the Profile tab are:

> Profile path - Specifies the location to save the user profile

> Logon script - Specifies the program to start when the user logs in

> Local path - Specifies the path of the local folder to start at logon

> Connect - Specifies to connect to the specified location

7. Enter the location for the profile in the Profile path text box, for example, d:\user.

8. Click Apply.

9. Click OK.

10. Log off the computer.

11. Login as user.

12. Modify settings under the user account, for example, Change the background color of the desktop and disable the screen saver.

13. Log off and login again using the user account.

14. Open the user folder. Windows Server 2003 creates the profile for the user account in the d:\user folder.