XP User Profiles - how to delete

I have not had a chance to delve very deeply into XP, and have a queston from a potential client of mine. They require the ability to return a laptop (which is going to be loaned to various users) to a previously established "startup" state. Once the laptop is returned, a temporary user profile would be deleted, any user files would be cleared off, and any temporary files, documents, pictures, etc. need to be removed from the system.

What is the best way to do this without resorting to something like Ghost and reimage the drive?

I know there are driver/configuration rollback features, but will this aid me in removing all traces of a former user?

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

Hi. I could do this:

1-) Reboot the laptop, to ensure there are absolutely no open files for any user.

2-) Login as "Administrator ", or as someone with admin rights, and that has not to be removed.

3-) Got to "Control Panels" -> "User Accounts" and delete the accounts in question. (Or, if you need more control, more like "User Manager" in Windows NT 4, go to "Start Button" -> "Run... ", and type "compmgmt.msc ". Wait for the Window, then got to "Local Users & Groups" and do whatever you want...)

4-) Uninstall every program you need to uninstall. Dont't forget to delete by hand every file not already deleted by the uninstaller after...

5-) Reboot again. (just to be sure )

6-) Go to "System" Control Panel, then to "Advanced Options" tab, and the push "Configuration" button in "User Profiles" field.

7-) From here you can safely delete every local or cached user profile not already deleted.

Go to "Start Button" -> "All Programs" -> "Accessories" -> "System Tools" -> open "System Restore ".

9-) If it was not initially disabled by who installed the system, from here you can revert to the closer available "point" registered in the system. How far in time depends of the amount of system modifications done, and the amount of disk space dedicated to this feature.

Good Luck! jmmf.

 

Thanks for the input. Let me explain a little further...

I need to be able to set up a script or "one touch" kind of approach to clearing things off the system. My customer will need to be able to run a single routine to return to a "clean" state. Could this be done just by setting directory permission and running a script to delete a "standard" guest user?

Thanks...

Jim D.

 

I think it could be done, probably with Windows Scripting Host, but not for the System Restore part, which is needed to "clean" the Registry, if you want to really revert to an "Out of the Box" state.

Far more easy than this will be just to made a custom "Quick Restore Boot C.D." using software like "PowerQuest's Deploy Center 5.0 ". I did it in the past, 15 months ago, in the times of P.Q.D.I. 4.0, D.O.S. based.

Now they have version 5.0, Windows based, and now they support CD-R(W) devices DIRECTLY, so it should be VERY EASY to do by now, so don't be afraided.

Take a look here (you can download a FREE demo): http://www.powerquest.com/downloads/eval-corp.cfm
You are looking for "DeployCenterâ„¢ ", about 25 MiB. to go. And you'll need to register, but that's painless (less than a minute)... Regards.

 

Thanks for the input - it seems that the most inexpensive, simplest to use solution for them is the go with Norton Ghost - not sure they even want to spend the money on it (only $70).

Deploy Center looks like a great tool, however. I think I will check into it further...

Thanks again

 

jdusoe,

You may also want to have them consider InstantRecovery It's under $40 and they do have an occasional rebate. I got mine for $29.95. It works great to image a fully bootable copy of any system.

 

Roxio's Go Back is also available for $30 and will give you the "one touch" reversion to a previous state. All intermediate work (including the files and such) will simply be gone. No additional work by the client needed.

 

GoBack has limited reach backward when running XP. I found it to be limited to only one day, under normal conditions. I was able to get as much as one week (sometimes a little more) by placing the TIF's on a second physical drive, to keep the primary drive tracked activity to a minimum.

I think it may be a work in progress and I hope they can get it up to speed for XP, but just wanted to let the limitation be known to you guys. It worked much better on Win9x systems.

 

If you make the user that the laptop users logon as a part of the Guest group then that profile is removed when they logoff.

A better approach would be to use (as others have suggested) a ghosting program. I use PowerDeploy myself and find it very nice to use. It would not be difficult to use PowerDeploy to make a bootable CD that autostarts a reghosting of the hard drive. So all they would have to do is to drop the CD into the computer and make sure the machine boots from the CD.

This approach is better then rollback SW (imho) becuase this way you guarantee that the laptop is in its original state. And almost certainly would be faster anyway.

Richard

 

Thanks to all for the input. I think I have some good alternatives...