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UIU Case Example - Windows 7 Setup -> Copy Profile
One support issue that we are presented with occurs when customers using Windows 7 wish to have the windows settings they have customized used as the default settings for any new users created on that machine. The UIU includes an option in the Sysprep section to do just this. While this option adds precise entries to the answer file and allows for the windows settings from the administrator account to be used, care needs to be taken with regard to the setup of the Windows image before this option will work correctly.

During windows setup, if Copy Profile is selected, the process will inspect the registry to validate the users that exist. If there are users that were removed from the system improperly at some point in the past and remain listed in the registry but no longer have associated accounts, the settings pass for specialize will fail and an error will be presented during windows setup. In these cases you will need to return to your base or master image and remove the registry keys associated with the non-existent users.

  1. From the start menu, right click on computer and select Manage.
  2. Navigate the tree on the left to: Computer Management -> System Tools -> Local Users and Groups -> Users
  3. Remove all but the administrator account.

Next, check the registry to verify the following:

  1. Open the registry editor
    a.    Start -> search; type regedit.exe
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

When ProfileList is expanded, many keys will likely be presented. At least three of them should be short, for example S-1-5-18. There should be several, depending on how many profiles had been setup that are long.  For example: S-1-5-21-1377363292-4234994218-404864063-500

Find the long entry that contains a string for ProfileImagePath which lists C:\users\administrator in its Data field.

This key should not be deleted. The rest of the long keys for accounts that no longer exist must be removed for the copy profile feature to work correctly. Do not remove the short ones! You can be sure that a key is safe to delete if it contains text similar to c:\users\JohnDoe in the ProfileImagePath string, wherein JohnDoe is an account that had been deleted or should not exist on that machine.

Be careful when editing a registry as improper edits may render operating system unusable in which case a new base or master image will need to be prepared.

More information on copy profile failure from Microsoft


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