If you want to ensure that all of the user profiles created for all accounts are placed on a partition where they are not affected by Windows Disk Protection, you must customize the computer operating system installation so that the default location for user profiles is not on the Windows Disk Protection protected partition.

The only supported way to change the default location for all user accounts is during Windows XP installation, and you must make the change by automating the installation of Windows with a special answer file. This method changes the location where all user profiles are stored, including the Default and All Users profiles. This directs Windows to automatically create profiles on a separate partition and overrides the default system drive location for user profiles when they are created by Windows SteadyState.

Answer files are text files that contain responses to some, or all, of the queries that occur during the installation process. After creating an answer file, called Unattend.txt, you can apply it to as many computers as necessary. It can also be included in scripts that automate installation on multiple computers.

The easiest way to create an answer file for an unattended installation of Windows XP is to use Windows Setup Manager, a deployment tool that provides a wizard-based interface for creating the answer file. For more information about using Setup Manager to automate installations, see the "Automating and Customizing Installations" section in the Windows XP Professional Resource Kit. The answer file you create by using Setup Manager can include other information, such as the time zone and network settings.

After you create an answer file, you can change the default location where user profiles are stored by typing the following command:

[GuiUNattended]

ProfilesDir = drive:\foldername