How to Move the Location of a Locally Cached Profile

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This question is asked so frequently on the Citrix list. This text is from the Citrix KB(who got the information from the MS KBP) and posted for all.

Synopsis:

By default, the locally cached copy of a profile is stored in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\, which can be an issue if you have a large number of people logging on to a computer. If you have a large number of people logging on to a computer (which creates a large number of profiles), disk space on the operating system partition can become scarce. You can move the locally cached copy of a profile to another local partition.

The information in this document was obtained from Microsoft Article Q214470, last modified on 3/4/99. The information pertains to Microsoft Windows NT Server, Version 4.0; Microsoft Windows NT Server, Version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition; and Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, Version 4.0.

Details:

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

Summary:

By default, the locally cached copy of a profile is stored in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\, which can be an issue if you have a large number of users logging on to a computer. If this occurs (which creates a large number of profiles), disk space on the operating system partition can become scarce. You can move the locally cached copy of a profile to another local partition.

More Information

To move the locally cached copy of the profile, you need to know the security identifier (SID) of the user whose profile you want to move. You can identify the SID by using GetSID.exe from the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Make sure you back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) also.

Windows NT 4.0 stores the local profile information in the registry under the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.

Under the ProfileList key, there are subkeys named with the SIDs of the users who have logged on to this computer. (To find the profile information for the user whose locally cached profile you want to move, find the SID for the user with the GetSID.exe utility.) Inside of the appropriate user's subkey you will see a string value named ProfileImagePath. Set ProfileImagePath to a local path where you want to store the profile.

If you do not have a roaming profile and you want to maintain your profile after you change the locally cached profile path, copy the contents of your old locally cached profile folder to the new location set in the ProfileImagePath value.