Profile Changes in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and beyond

http://blog.stealthpuppy.com/windows/profile-changes-in-windows-vistalonghorn-server/

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 introduce a number of new user profile paths and environment variables that differ from earlier versions of Windows and these changes may have an impact on scripts such as logon scripts and application install scripts. Most scripts should work correctly – VBScript scripts that use system functions to find folder paths should work as expected, however batch scripts that use environment variables or hard codes scripts will require modifications. Here’s a short run down of the changes.

The following table lists the old profile path and the corresponding new path under Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008:

Old Path	New Path
Documents and Settings	Users
Documents and Settings\Default User	Users\Default
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data	ProgramData
Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu	ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates	ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Application Data	Users\{username}\AppData\Local
N/A	Users\{username}\AppData\LocalLow
Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming
Documents and Settings\{username}\Cookies	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
Documents and Settings\{username}\NetHood	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
Documents and Settings\{username}\PrintHood	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Documents and Settings\{username}\Recent	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
Documents and Settings\{username}\SendTo	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Documents and Settings\{username}\Start Menu	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Documents and Settings\{username}\Templates	Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
N/A	Users\{username}\Contacts
Documents and Settings\{username}\Desktop	Users\{username}\Desktop
Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents	Users\{username}\Documents
N/A	Users\{username}\Downloads
Documents and Settings\{username}\Favorites	Users\{username}\Favorites
N/A	Users\{username}\Links
Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\My Music	Users\{username}\Music
Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\My Pictures	Users\{username}\Pictures
N/A	Users\{username}\Saved Games
N/A	Users\{username}\Searches
Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\My Videos	Users\{username}\Videos
Documents and Settings\All Users	Users\Public
Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop	Users\Public\Desktop
Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents	Users\Public\Documents
Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites	Users\Public\Favorites
Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music	Users\Public\Music
Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Pictures	Users\Public\Pictures
Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Videos	Users\Public\Videos

Folders to take note of here are the folders in the All Users path. Many older applications that use out of date methods to resolve system folders, will resolve paths under \ProgramData when looking for common locations. For example the common desktop may be resolved as \ProgramData\Desktop, however this is actually a junction point for \Users\Public\Desktop. A DIR /A:H listing in \ProgramData folder reveals the following junction points:

Path	Points To
ProgramData\Application Data	ProgramData
ProgramData\Desktop	Users\Public\Desktop
ProgramData\Documents	Users\Public\Documents
ProgramData\Favorites	Users\Public\Favorites
ProgramData\Start Menu	ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
ProgramData\Templates	ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates

These junction points should offer backward compatibility for older applications, however I have found that some of my installation scripts are not cleaning up shortcuts from the public desktop as expected.

There are also differences in environment variables between the new version of Windows and the older versions. Windows Server 2003 and below define the following variables relating to profiles:

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users

APPDATA=C:\Documents and Settings\aaron\Application Data

HOMEPATH=\Documents and Settings\aaron

TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\aaron\LOCALS~1\Temp

TMP=C:\DOCUME~1\aaron\LOCALS~1\Temp

USERPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\aaron

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 define the same variables while adding a couple more.

ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData

APPDATA=C:\Users\aaronp\AppData\Roaming

HOMEPATH=\Users\aaronp

LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\aaronp\AppData\Local

ProgramData=C:\ProgramData

PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public

TEMP=C:\Users\aaronp\AppData\Local\Temp

TMP=C:\Users\aaronp\AppData\Local\Temp

USERPROFILE=C:\Users\aaronp

In practice, I’ve found that scripts that reference locations such as %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop, are not performing actions as intended and will have to be updated to use %PUBLIC% instead. Certainly something that requires more investigation.

UPDATE: Microsoft have an excellent reference document that details the profile changes in Windows Vista and how roaming profiles should managed in a Windows Vista environment. Check it out for more information that what I’ve listed here: