When you make changes in the Windows Registry you normally can only make them for all users or the user account that is currently logged in. But what if you want to make them in another user account ? There is an easy way to do that by loading the Registry hive of the user into the Registry.
Here is how this is done: Start the Windows Registry with the shortcut Windows R, typing regedit and pressing enter. Now mark the HKEY_Users folder in the Registry and click on File > Load Hive afterwards. The default directory that opens is the directory of the current user. Navigate to the user directory of the user that you want to make changes for, all available ones are listed in Document and Settings.
Enter that folder and look for the file ntuser.dat. That file is hidden, if you can’t locate it change the folder settings so that you can see hidden files and folders in Windows. A double-click on the file loads the Registry hive as a subfolder of HKEY_Users with the name that you have selected after clicking on the ntusers.dat file.
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Hmmm… What if you just right-clicked regedit.exe and then RUN AS… and carried on from there?
Will this tip also work for less privileged users ( I mean, non-admins )?
I can’t get this to work, I get two errors:
Cannot load C:\Documents and Settings\Username\NTUSER.DAT.LOG Error while loading hive
This error is when I try to load the NTUSER.DAT. log that I am working on:
cannot load C:\Documents and Settings\Username\NTUSER.DAT.LOG The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
I can only get NTUSER.DAT.LOG to allow me to enter a Key name, but it doesn’t work.
Modified instructions:
From: dhacks.net, dougknox.com, tech-archive.net
When you make changes in the Windows Registry you normally can only make them for all users or the user account that is currently logged in.
But what if you want to make them in another user account?
There is an easy way to do that by loading the Registry hive of the user into the Registry:
1. Start the Windows Registry with either:
Windows key + R,
Start >> Run >> Regedit
2. type regedit and press enter.
3. Highlight the HKEY_Users folder in the Registry
4. click on File > Load Hive
5. The default directory that opens is the directory of the current user.
6. Navigate to the user directory of the user that you want to make
changes for by clicking the up arrow.
7. All available directories are listed in Document and Settings.[1]
8. Enter that folder and look for the file ntuser.dat. ntuser.dat is hidden, if you can’t locate it change the folder settings so that you can see hidden files and folders in Windows.
Click the folder and then click okay.
Note There is also a file called ntuser.dat.log. Don’t open this.[2]
10. You’ll be prompted to enter a “Key name”. You can use whatever you wish, but I suggest using the User’s logon name.
11. You can now expand the Hive you just loaded and make any needed changes.
12. When finished, highlight this Hive again and in the drop down menu, click File >> Unload Hive. This loads the Registry hive as a subfolder of HKEY_Users with the name that you have selected after clicking on the ntusers.dat file.
You MUST unload the Hive prior to logging on to the users account. Otherwise XP may have trouble loading the user’s profile.