Cortana/Windows Search breaks in default profile

[Quazz]

Apparentally, to prevent Windows search from breaking after copying the profile over, all you have to do is delete

AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat

Windows will create one on login.

[Wayne Workman]

@Quazz That definitely needs integrated into the script.

[Quazz]

@Wayne-Workman Due to the difficulty in removing this file under Windows (close to impossible), this should be deleted after the profile is copied to the NAS, so that when you deploy it it gets deployed without the incorrect metro registry settings.

[Quazz]

@Quazz Scratch that, it still seems to cause issues, but I’m looking into some ntuser.dat stuff to fix it.

[Quazz]

@Quazz Well that didn’t solve anything, so I’m going to try out a little program called Defprof which should supposedly be compatible with W10 and do everything I hope it does.

[JJ Fullmer]

@Wayne-Workman said in Cortana/Windows Search breaks in default profile:

@Quazz That definitely needs integrated into the script.

I believe it already is integrated in the script. The only .dat files it should copy are the ntuser.dat files. But I could be wrong on that one.
I’m still planning on some serious work on this to make it only edit the ntuser.dat hive for each setting stored there instead of copying the whole thing. But I have a lot of other projects that have to take priority at the moment. I will make a note to add in an explicit exclude in the copy for the UsrClass.dat just to be safe.

[JJ Fullmer]

@Arrowhead-IT Of course since it is in github now, anyone is welcome to help with commits and contributions

[Quazz]

@Arrowhead-IT Editing the ntuser.dat is far more difficult than copying it over, though.

I’m not sure if it’s feasible to do so for this. For example, the taskbar icons are stored in a very unfamiliar format. (perhaps possible to query the data from the current user and plant that in ntuser.dat though). Other issues are Microsoft using version numbers for apps in their registry (who on earth thought that would be a good idea?).

Also, another oddity on Windows 10 is that directly editing the ntuser.dat seems to not actually apply the changes to new profiles! But copying over an existing ntuser.dat does! This is very different from Windows 7 and endlessly more frustrating. Not to mention it makes no sense.

I will report tomorrow on how things went with defprof (they seem to use a specific program they wrote for the Windows Store Apps, so I’m guessing that will be key) and see if that can help to figure out this mess.

[Quazz]

Defprof was able to do everything I hoped, everything is working exactly as it should.

One of the key parts I noticed is they have their own program which you have to install to handle the Windows Apps.

Also default wallpapers need to be placed in the Users/Public

There’s a ntuser.dat hiding there as well which might have an impact on default profiles.

For now though, I have a way to handle Windows 10 perfectly.

Additionally, from what I gather from Defprof is that it’s a bad idea to remove the Default folder becuase of the junction points contained in it.

[x23piracy]

@Quazz i you should also notice delprof2: https://helgeklein.com/free-tools/delprof2-user-profile-deletion-tool/
It’s more advanced then the old ms one.

Regards X23

[Quazz]

@x23piracy Delprof is a nice tool for stubborn profiles, but not really necesarry or useful for creating a default profile unless I’m mistaken?

I think Delprof and Defprof are being confused here, perhaps.

[Wayne Workman]

Well… on Win10 Enterprise, this script decreased login times down to 4 seconds.

We’re playing with Win10 LTSB now, and the script is increasing login times. Same script, just a different OS. And it appears the tiles I pinned to the task bar and start menu are no longer staying pinned.

What a bummer. I’m going to have to dig into this another time.

[JJ Fullmer]

@Wayne-Workman That’s odd. I know that I had to create a different profile for LTSB but it certainly worked in LTSB. The profile I made in Win 10 Enterprise CB won’t work in LTSB and vice versa. Gotta create a new one. It’s lame I know.
My login times are much longer than 4 seconds though. But I have a lot of customziations. Little common fixes and startup scripts and backgrounds and stuff, so my first login for any user is like 2 or 3 minutes, but only a few seconds after that first time.