XP: Converting domain profile to local one

venm11

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So, I removed my user from a domain server and this has locked me out. The profile appears to still exist, but I need to convert it to a local user on the machine so I can get at all my stuff. I no longer have access to that domain server, but I do have admin privs on that machine.

Some googling turns up the microsoft profile wizard (curiously rudimentary) and a command-line profile manipulation tool (curiously raw), but I'm not sure if there's an easier or more reliable way to go about this. Recommendations, tips, etc?
 
If all you need is the data, then take ownership of the directory and apply to all sub directories. Then change permissions.

If you need to be able to USE the profile ( I recommend against it ), use the moveuser utility from the win2k3 resource pack.
 
To be honest, once a machine has sat on a domain, it'll have crap like that (And Group Policy objects) and it won't really be a "standalone" regular machine until you reformat it.

I'd personally just backup your docs, reinstall Windows, and just restore your docs.
 
To be honest, once a machine has sat on a domain, it'll have crap like that (And Group Policy objects) and it won't really be a "standalone" regular machine until you reformat it.

I'd personally just backup your docs, reinstall Windows, and just restore your docs.
Eh? No, it should be fine as a stand alone. Yes, the domain profiles are pretty much unusable, but there really isn't any reason why the machine itself would be somehow degraded.
 
Eh? No, it should be fine as a stand alone. Yes, the domain profiles are pretty much unusable, but there really isn't any reason why the machine itself would be somehow degraded.

Not "degraded" as in performance, but depending what policies were pushed by the Domain Controller on that machine, those settings seem to never go away. And instead of manually verifying every single GPO setting- it's easier just to reinstall Windows.
 
Not "degraded" as in performance, but depending what policies were pushed by the Domain Controller on that machine, those settings seem to never go away. And instead of manually verifying every single GPO setting- it's easier just to reinstall Windows.
I have never run across this. But if you are worried about it, you can do a simple reset of the security templates by running secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

Everything else is in the admin templates, and a quick gpedit.msc will show you any settings that may have stuck around ( again, I have never seen this ). All this takes about 20 minutes, which is faster than a default install of XP. To say nothing of all the apps that may be installed as well.
 
Yup, haven't had a problem pulling machines from a domain before..matter of fact my main gaming rig at home was pulled from a domain (my own of course, but I retired my home server)...runs w/o any problems whatsoever.
 
That might fix it. I just practice it anyway... It gets the old domain crap off of it as well (any pushed applications or scripts or registry settings that may have been done with logon scripts).

Eliminates any time you might have a problem, you know it's not because of some setting that a domain policy may have set.

I've just had an issue with it a couple of times, not a huge deal at all- just good practice IMO. That and I'm also a fan of reinstalling anyway... Get rid of old crap you don't need.
 
I do need to reinstall and clean all this stuff out, but I can't do that until I've secured new licenses and get everything working (seperately).

I'll definitely give the forensit tools a try --- thanks TS.

This whole thing came about over the holidays trying to figure out why DNS was postpending my old domain name to all DNS lookups.... it was some side effect of someone's misconfigured home routers. Anyway, detaching from that domain suddenly was not a good idea it seems, at least not without backing up.
 
Btw--- TechieSooner --

do any of these Forensit tools allow you to copy a profile or settings to the template profile (default user?).
 
Btw--- TechieSooner --

do any of these Forensit tools allow you to copy a profile or settings to the template profile (default user?).

you can usually do that yourself.
the problem is, if an Outlook profile is already setup, all new users on that computer will get that same Outulook profile.

Create a local user, configure profile as you see fit. Reboot, login as admin, right-click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced tab -> User Profiles Settings button -> highlight newly configured profile -> "Copy To" -> Select Default User folder.
 
So, I removed my user from a domain server and this has locked me out. The profile appears to still exist, but I need to convert it to a local user on the machine so I can get at all my stuff.
Have you tried logging into the machine while it is off or disconnected from the domain? If so, and you are locked out locally, just use something like BartPE to grab your data off, and then reformat it.
 
you can usually do that yourself.
the problem is, if an Outlook profile is already setup, all new users on that computer will get that same Outulook profile.

Create a local user, configure profile as you see fit. Reboot, login as admin, right-click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced tab -> User Profiles Settings button -> highlight newly configured profile -> "Copy To" -> Select Default User folder.

Thanks. No, I'd obviously never copy a full working profile to default. It's just the annoying task of setting up each user because I forgot/never bothered to tweak the default user via the "slipstream" steps.
 
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