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Designed for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT (Tested with Windows 98 RC1, and NT 5.0 Beta 1).
Bugs Read
before using ProfileCopy!!!
Known Issues
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Screen Shot of PACT ProfileCopy 98
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Download PACT ProfileCopy 98.5 Beta 1
Beta 1, 100 KB, 20-May-1998, Self-extracting, including Setup and Uninstall.
Description of PACT ProfileCopy 98
You can save and restore your user profile. A profile includes all user defined settings in Windows like your wallpaper, desktop settings, sound and cursor schemes, desktop icons and layout, start menu tree, and so on. And you can add folders and registry keys yourself!
What's new, it does not only save the registry settings like a normal backup program, it also copies the files referred to by these settings. The wallpaper bitmap, the screen saver, the sound files and cursors themself are copied to a new folder. You can then simply backup and restore this one folder.
Use PACT ProfileCopy 98 instead of a full backup. No need to backup the complete Windows folder every time, but save your personal settings only.
You can copy user profiles from one user to another, from one computer to another, from your PC to your notebook and back, from Windows 95 to a fresh installation of Windows 98, and even when going from Windows 95/98 to Windows NT!
They said it was not possible, PACT Software gives you the power now!
!!! IMPORTANT !!!
!!! Read before using ProfileCopy !!!
This is really recommended...
You risk LOOSING your profile!
Bugs
• Many thanks to all beta testers for your great reports! Your work alone has brought us to Beta 1! We encourage you to go on testing the new features and verify that the issues you have reported are solved. Your help is essential for the further development of ProfileCopy! We appreciate every feedback, good or bad, bugs or suggestions. Thank you for your continued support!
• This is a very early beta version. We do NOT recommend to use Beta 1 on your every day profile. Instead, create two new users and test copying profiles between them, or test ProfileCopy on a dedicated beta testing computer. We can not take any liability!
• IMPORTANT: Please read the "Known Issues" and the "Not yet implemented" chapters below, before using ProfileCopy!
Known Issues
• It is NOT recommended to save/restore the complete HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key, other then for backup purposes on one machine only. See the FAQ for more infomation.
• CopyTree is not tested for: if TargetDir above/below SourceDir!!!
• copy whole drive, "C:\" in list -> should ask for confirmation
• "C:\" in list not tested (does not work)
• Files with read-only, hidden and system attributes don't get overwritten
• Folders and Registry Keys will always be restored according to the entry in profile.ini, disregarding if they are still in the list box or not.
• The system folders "Programs" and "Startup" are expected to be situated below the Start Menu folder. If they have been renamed or moved, they might not be copied/restored correctly.
• If a system folder is not set up (correctly), it will not be restored. Please use TweakUI (download from the Microsoft Web Site) to set all system folders according to your needs. A warning is going to be implemented in the next beta version.
• Sound and Cursur files will always be restored to %WinDir%\Sounds or %WinDir%\Media. This is by intend because the paths should be "relative" and exist on every Windows installation (95, 98, NT). To backup a folder and restore it at the exact same "absolute" path, add it to the list of "Folders and Registry Keys" at the buttom of the dialog.
• Shortcuts are not changed. If the target path does not exist on the restore platform, the shortcut does not work. This is by the nature of shortcuts.
Known Issues on Different Language Versions
• On language versions other than English, the [>] buttons for Sound, Mouse, and Keyboard do not work. Please use the control panel (Start - Settings - Control Panel) to change these settings.
• Save and restore on different language versions, for example, saving on a US English Language Windows and restoring on a German Language Windows:
• the system folders "Programs" and "Startup" are restored with their saved names, not the currently used names.
• the desktop icon layout can not be restored, since the file type names are different.
Not yet implemented
Save/Restore:
- Wallpaper SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER
- ScreenSaver.EXE
- Icons of MyComputer, Recycle Bin, etc., and their names
- Logon Settings
- save desktop icon layout
- settings for
- Explorer
- Options - View
- Toolbar on/off
- view details
- Taskbar Properties
- Notepad Options
- RegEdit Options
- etc.
- settings for other applications
Log File
- no more MessageBoxes, instead a log file and LED display
- display each single save/restore action in LED
- ProfileCopy should accept the profile path on the command line (it does accept /s for
save and /r for restore now).
Usage
- Save: check if a profile.ini exists, ask if overwrite- Buttons: check all or none
- double click in list to open
- add single files to list
- option: copy folders without subfolders
- enabled/disabled check boxes for Folders and Registry Keys list entries
Other
- Tweak Logon and SysFolders
- context help, tooltips
We always enhance or software to give you the most powerfull tools available. Please let us know if you encounter any difficulties not listed here. Thank you for your support!
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
What is a profile?
All user defined settings in Windows like your wallpaper, desktop settings, current sound and cursor scheme, mouse and keyboard settings.
What's the difference to a full backup?
Not all Windows settings are saved, application data might not be saved. Your documents and folders are not included. Please use a full featured, first backup program regulary!
Can I start ProfileCopy per batch file?
You can specify two command line options, /s for save and /r for restore. However, in this version error messages are displayed as message boxes. We will implement an error log file in the next version.
Why don't you just backup the whole (nt)user.dat (HKEY_CURRENT_USER)?
There are several good reasons:
1. ProfileCopy has been designed to be able to copy settings between Windows 95 and Windows NT, and different PCs. Many (most?) settings are different in Windows 95 and Windows NT. You can NOT copy the whole (nt)user.dat, it may render your system unusable.
2. To transfer settings between PCs, the same applications would need to be installed on both PCs. You can and we encourage you to add registry keys for your applications, if you know that it works.
3. The paths saved/restored and referred to by registry settings might be different on different installations of Windows. You would need to search and replace all paths in the registry after copying.
4. All keys in (nt)user.dat need to be closed to save or restore. This is hardly the case except before booting or logging on. For example, Windows NT allows restoring the Last Known Good only /before/ loading the system, a roaming profile is copied /before/ logon. Restoring HKEY_CURRENT_USER completely may not work
5. There are better tools to backup the complete registry if you feel like doing so: the Windows Backup, REGSAVE and REGREST from the Windows Recource Kit, and several others.
Do you recommend to backup the whole (nt)user.dat (IOW include HKEY_CURRENT_USER completely)?
Just for backup purposes, yes. To transfer profiles between PCs, no. To transfer profiles on the same machine, not really, this depends on the applications installed.
Support, Questions, Suggestions
Do you want to have something enhanced? Sure, let us know what's missing!
Screen Shot of PACT ProfileCopy 98
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