How do I create a default domain profile with Windows 7?: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

How do I create a default domain profile with Windows 7?

I have been running Windows XP Pro and Windows Server 2003 for years, and have always had a default domain profile which I created by customizing a local profile, then copying it to the NetLogon share. When domain users log on, it automatically takes this profile instead of the stock Windows XP default profile.

How can I recreate this behavior with Windows 7 profiles on a Windows Server 2008 R2 domain?

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I'm going to assume you use WDS as your imaging solution.

Copy and paste the xml snippet into notepad or editor of your choice and save as unattend.xml (or anything.xml)
Create a standard user in your domain. Cannot be apart of Enterprise admins or domain admins. Log in as the local administrator on the machine your are going to capture the image with. Add this standard user to the Administrators group to make things easier.

Log out as Administrator, log on as the standard user your created or already have. Customize the desktop and other settings as needed (I still get prompted for IE8 stuff everytime). Once you are done with your customizations. Copy the xml file we created earlier and paste it into c:\windows\system32\sysprep\

Go to the Windows Icon and type in cmd when it appears in the list right click on it and Run As Administrator.

Do the following:
cd sysprep
sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml

Let it do its thing and shuts down. Then just boot up to your PXE and Capture the image with WDS. Thats it.

The main thing out of this is the CopyProfile must be set to true. As the sysprep.exe runs it will move all of the stuff over and then delete the local administrator account.

Hope this helps

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <TimeZone>[YOUR TIME ZONE HERE]</TimeZone>
            <BluetoothTaskbarIconEnabled>false</BluetoothTaskbarIconEnabled>
            <ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
            <CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Identification>
                <Credentials>
                    <Domain>[YOUR DOMAIN HERE]</Domain>
                    <Password>[PASSWORD]</Password>
                    <Username>[USERNAME]</Username>
                </Credentials>
                <JoinDomain>[YOUR DOMAIN HERE]</JoinDomain>
            </Identification>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>Enable Local Administrator Account</Description>
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Path>net user administrator /active:yes</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
            </RunSynchronous>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
            </OOBE>
            <UserAccounts>
                <AdministratorPassword>
                    <Value>UABhADUANQB3ADAAcgBkAEEAZABtAGkAbgBpAHMAdAByAGEAdABvAHIAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value>
                    <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                </AdministratorPassword>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>UABhADUANQB3ADAAcgBkAFAAYQBzAHMAdwBvAHIAZAA=</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Description>Temp Account</Description>
                        <DisplayName>Temp</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Name>Temp</Name>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
            <VisualEffects>
                <FontSmoothing>ClearType</FontSmoothing>
            </VisualEffects>
            <WindowsFeatures>
                <ShowMediaCenter>false</ShowMediaCenter>
                <ShowInternetExplorer>true</ShowInternetExplorer>
                <ShowWindowsMediaPlayer>true</ShowWindowsMediaPlayer>
            </WindowsFeatures>
            <RegisteredOrganization>[YOUR ORGANIZATION]</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>[YOUR ORGANIZATION]</RegisteredOwner>
            <TimeZone>[YOUR TIME ZONE]</TimeZone>
            <ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="generalize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RegisteredOrganization>[YOUR ORGANIZATION]</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>[YOUR ORGANIZATION]</RegisteredOwner>
            <DoNotCleanTaskBar>true</DoNotCleanTaskBar>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

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How do I create a default domain profile with Windows 7?

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Windows 7

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Windows Server 2008

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