Types of Profiles In Windows XP


Windows XP Professional supports three types of profiles:

● Local user profiles: A local user profile is stored in the %SystemDrive%\Documents And Settings (or %SystemRoot%\Profiles) folder on the local hard disk. Windows creates a local user profile the first time a user logs on to the computer. If the user makes changes to the profile, the changes affect only the computer on which the changes are made.

● Roaming user profiles: A roaming user profile is kept on a network server, which makes it available when a user logs on to any computer on the network. Windows making a local copy of the user profile the first time a user logs on to a computer. If the user creating changes to the profile, Windows merges the alterations into the server copy when the user logs off; hence, the revised profile exists for the next time the user logs on to any computer. Roaming profiles are simply managed by and are ideally suited to Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server. With some additional effort, though, you can achieve some of the benefits of a roaming user profile even without a server edition of Windows.

● Mandatory user profiles: A mandatory user profile is one that can be changed only by an administrator. Like a roaming user profile, a mandatory profile is stored on a network server, and Windows creates a local copy when a user who has been assigned a mandatory profile logs on for the first time. Unlike a roaming user profile, a mandatory profile is not updated when the user logs off. This makes mandatory profiles useful not only for individual users whom you want to severely restrict, but also for multiple users (for example, all users in a certain job classification) to whom you wanted to apply consistent job-specific settings. Multiple users can share a mandatory user profile without affecting others. Users who have been assigned a mandatory profile can make profile changes while they’re logged on (unless prevented by policy settings), but the network copy remains unchanged. Although a copy of the profile—changes and all—remains on the computer after a user logs off, at the next logon Windows recopies the original profile from the network share.