Windows profile management under Vista/Windows 7 is a bit special compared to how it works under WindowsXP/2000. These are some quick notes to avoid some of the common pitfalls.
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Profile Cleanup
The main difference between 2000/XP and Vista/7 is that there are additional references to the profiles stored on a machine stored in the registry (HKLM). Under XP/2000 it was possible to just delete profiles from C:\Documents and Settings in order to clear up disk space from cached profiles. Doing this under Vista/7 will result in 'Profile not found' errors on login.
Rather than muck about in the registry, there is an alternate interface for deletion:
- Right click on Computer and Select Properties
- Select Advanced System Settings
- On the advanced tab, click the 'Settings' button under User Profiles
- Delete erroneous profiles through the resulting interface (see below)
Please note, that in the instance we get folder redirection working, the chances of actually needing this is slim.