Dwarfsoft [GPA] » Profile

Group Policy Editing – Findings

dwarfsoft — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:16:01 +0000

I had started another post on Group Policy editing, and how the Policy files are structured, and how to use and improve on the existing Group Policy Editor tool. The post has been found to be far too epic, so I have decided to cover a smaller subset of recent finds.

As everybody is probably already aware, we use Novell ConsoleOne and Zenworks where I work. ConsoleOne has some interesting features that require that whenever a Group Policy is being edited it takes over as the policy on the machine that is editing it. Rather than have a useful tool like Microsofts Group Policy Management Console, Novell likes to replace the local Group Policy and then just run gpedit.msc. Which is where my first gripe about gpedit.msc comes in:

GPEdit.msc requires line by line entry of things like, for example, port exceptions and program exceptions for the Windows Firewall. This is usually not an issue except that, as I have discussed in previous posts, we have been moving towards a Windows Domain environment. Firewall Exception rules are configured within two places in Group Policy: Domain Profile and Standard Profile. I have found that there is a need to move our current Standard Profile settings across to the Domain Profile settings. After a bit of registry searching I found a neat trick for doing exactly that.

In Novell, when a GPO is opened in gpedit.msc the Group Policy Contents are loaded into the normal registry locations (as per a normal GPO being applied to user and machine) and the contents are also loaded under a specific pair of registry keys. The HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects Key is created on loading gpedit.msc, and underneath a pair of Keys are created like {449E44B0-A4DC-4665-AE8F-68710E1BC1EC}Machine and {449E44B0-A4DC-4665-AE8F-68710E1BC1EC}User, where the GUID is randomly generated (or at least seems to be random) each time gpedit.msc is run. Under these keys are the branch on which the Group Policy Settings are configured.

So therefore in order to duplicate StandardProfile Settings I need to duplicate all keys and values underneath HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{GUID}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\, where {GUID} is the randomly generated GUID for editing a Group Policy Object. So far from my research I have never seen more than one GUID appear underneath the Group Policy Objects key, though your mileage may vary. So the first step is to get the User and Machine keys from under the Group Policy Objects key.

Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
 
Const REG_SZ = 1
Const REG_EXPAND_SZ = 2
Const REG_BINARY = 3
Const REG_DWORD = 4
Const REG_MULTI_SZ = 7
 
strComputer = "."
 
Set objReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
 strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
 
strKeyPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\"
strStandardPath = "\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\"
strDomainPath = "\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\"
 
If keyExists(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,strKeyPath) Then
  subkeys = GetSubkeys(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,strKeyPath)
  If Not IsEmpty(subkeys) Then
    GPOMachine = subkeys(LBound(subkeys)) 
    GPOUser    = subkeys(UBound(subkeys))
 
    RegCopyTree HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & GPOMachine & strStandardPath, strKeyPath & GPOMachine & strDomainPath, False
  Else
    WScript.Echo "Policy not found, please try editing the policy manually"
  End If
Else
  WScript.Echo "Please start editing the Group Policy before running this script"
End If

The code here is the shell of the script. We need to flesh out the functions keyExists, GetSubkeys, RegCopyTree, and valueExists (which we can’t see just yet). So first we will have a look at keyExists:

Function keyExists(Hive, Key)
  On Error Resume Next
  Err.Clear
 
  ret = objReg.EnumValues(Hive,Key,arrValues,arrValueTypes)
 
  If ret <> 0 Then
    keyExists = False
  Else
    keyExists = True
  End If
  Err.Clear
  On Error Goto 0
End Function

Fairly straightforward, we try and enumerate the values of a key. If we succeed then the key does exist, otherwise it doesn’t. We will use the same principle for checking if a Value Exists.

Function valueExists(Hive, Key, ValueName)
  On Error Resume Next
  Err.Clear
 
  valueExists = False
  If Not keyExists(Hive, Key) Then
    Exit Function
  End If
 
  ret = objReg.EnumValues(Hive,Key,arrValues,arrValueTypes)
 
  If IsNull(arrValues) Then
    Exit Function
  End IF
 
  For i = LBound(arrValues) to UBound(arrValues)
    If LCase(CStr(arrValues(i))) = LCase(CStr(ValueName)) Then
	  valueExists = True
	  Exit Function
	End If
  Next
 
  valueExists = False
 
  Err.Clear
  On Error Goto 0
End Function

Here, we take the Enumeration of the Keys Values a step further and actually step through them looking for a match with ValueName. I have opted for a Case Insensitive search due to registry being case insensitive with value names.

Function GetSubkeys(Hive, Key)
  On Error Resume Next
  Err.Clear
 
  ret = objReg.EnumKey(Hive,Key,arrSubkeys)
 
  GetSubkeys = arrSubkeys
 
  Err.Clear
  On Error Goto 0
End Function

Possibly the simplest of the functions, GetSubkeys just returns an array of Keys underneath the current Key. The most indepth function we require is the RegCopyTree:

Function RegCopyTree(Hive, SrcKey, DestKey, Force)
  On Error Resume Next
  Err.Clear
  strComputer = "."
  Set StdOut = WScript.StdOut
  strValue = ""
  If Force <> True Then
    Force = False
  End If
 
  if Right(SrcKey,1) <> "\" Then SrcKey = SrcKey & "\"
  if Right(DestKey,1) <> "\" Then DestKey = DestKey & "\"
 
  ret = objReg.EnumValues(Hive,SrcKey,arrValueNames,arrValueTypes)
 
  For i= LBound(arrValueNames) To UBound(arrValueNames)
    'StdOut.WriteLine "Value Name: " & arrValueNames(i) 
	StdOut.WriteLine "Copying from: " & SrcKey & arrValueNames(i)
	StdOut.WriteLine "To          : " & DestKey & arrValueNames(i)
    StdOut.Write     "       Value: "
 
	If (Not valueExists(Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i))) Or Force Then
	  Select Case arrValueTypes(i)
			Case REG_SZ
				'StdOut.WriteLine "Data Type: String"
				'StdOut.WriteBlankLines(1)
				
				objReg.GetStringValue Hive, SrcKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				objReg.SetStringValue Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				StdOut.Write strValue
			Case REG_EXPAND_SZ
				'StdOut.WriteLine "Data Type: Expanded String"
				'StdOut.WriteBlankLines(1)
				
				objReg.GetExpandedStringValue Hive, SrcKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				objReg.SetExpandedStringValue Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				StdOut.Write strValue
 
			Case REG_BINARY
				'StdOut.WriteLine "Data Type: Binary"
				'StdOut.WriteBlankLines(1)
				
				objReg.GetBinaryValue Hive, SrcKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				objReg.SetBinaryValue Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				For Each x in strValue
		          StdOut.Write Hex(x) & " "
		        Next
 
			Case REG_DWORD
				'StdOut.WriteLine "Data Type: DWORD"
				'StdOut.WriteBlankLines(1)
				
				objReg.GetDWORDValue Hive, SrcKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				objReg.SetDWordValue Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
 
				StdOut.Write Hex(strValue)
			Case REG_MULTI_SZ
				'StdOut.WriteLine "Data Type: Multi String"
				'StdOut.WriteBlankLines(1)
				
				objReg.GetMultiStringValue Hive, SrcKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				objReg.SetMultiStringValue Hive, DestKey, arrValueNames(i), strValue
				For Each x in strValue
		          StdOut.Write x
		        Next
		End Select 
 
		StdOut.WriteLine ""
    End If '' Force
  Next
 
  ret = objReg.EnumKey(Hive,SrcKey,arrSubkeys)
 
  For i = LBound(arrSubkeys) to UBound(arrSubkeys)
    If Not keyExists(Hive,DestKey & arrSubkeys(i)) Then
	  objReg.CreateKey Hive,DestKey & arrSubkeys(i)
	End If
	RegCopyTree Hive, SrcKey & arrSubkeys(i), DestKey & arrSubkeys(i), Force
  Next
 
  On Error Goto 0
End Function

This function takes the Hive, Source Key, Destination Key, and a Boolean Value to determine whether to Force overwriting existing values. It first creates the Destination key if it doesn’t already exist, then enumerates all values in the Source path, and writes them to the Destination path, creating new values or overwriting only if Force is set. This function has a lot of StdOut.Write calls to show the progress of the duplication. Running the script via CScript gives the following results:

Copying from: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{678C8897-54AA-4FB9-AA72-6C227C287D12}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\EnableFirewall
To          : Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{678C8897-54AA-4FB9-AA72-6C227C287D12}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\EnableFirewall
       Value: 1
Copying from: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{678C8897-54AA-4FB9-AA72-6C227C287D12}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\Enabled
To          : Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{678C8897-54AA-4FB9-AA72-6C227C287D12}Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile\AuthorizedApplications\Enabled
       Value: 1
...

This should simplify the time taken for duplicating from Standard to Domain profile. For future reference this has also made it far easier to import/export port/program exceptions from policies I am editing. In future I may incorporate this into my Group Policy Firewall Exceptions Excel Spreadsheet in VBA to allow writing updated policies to the Policy.

After running this the settings will be seen to have changed in the Group Policy Editor Window immediately. I have tested this and checked that the Logging file is not replaced by “…\standard.log” where it should be “…\domain.log”.

Cheers, Chris.

Attached: RegFirewallProfileDuplication.vbs

Shared User Profiles – Staging Scripts

dwarfsoft — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:19:40 +0000

As promised, here are the scripts required for the Pre-staging of Domain User Profiles on the local machine. The first thing we need to do is Enumerate all the Local User Accounts.

Function StageAllUsers(DomainFQDN, strDomain)
   ' Enumerate all users that are Local and not built in accounts.
   strComputer = "."
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
   'Enumerate users where the User Domain is the Local Machine
   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
                  ("Select * from Win32_UserAccount " & _
                   "Where Domain = '" & GetComputerName & "' " & _
                   "And Disabled = FALSE And Name <> 'Administrator'")
   ' Stage each user
   For Each objItem In colItems
      ' Ensure the account actually has a profile (otherwise we can ignore it)
      If GetLocalUserProfile(objItem.Name) <> "" Then
         ret = StageUser(objItem.Name, DomainFQDN, strDomain)
      End If
   Next
End Function

The functions called here are GetComputerName, which returns the name of the local machine, and the other important ones are GetLocalUserProfile and Stage User. The first we can check is GetLocalUserProfile.

'Gets the Profile Path for the User passed in UserName.
' This requires the profile to exist on the local machine
' Returns an empty string on error
Function GetLocalUserProfile(UserName)
   On Error Resume Next
   GetLocalUserProfile = ""
   SDDL = GetLocalUserSDDL(UserName)
   If SDDL = "" Then
      Exit Function
   End If
   Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
   GetLocalUserProfile = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( _
                            objShell.RegRead( _
                               "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & _
                               SDDL & _
                               "\ProfileImagePath"))
  On Error Goto 0
End Function

The registry path (including the SDDL, covered next) returns the profile path for the user. This relies on a function called GetLocalUserSDDL which goes as follows:

Function GetLocalUserSDDL(UserName)
   strComputer = "."
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
   'Enumerate users where the User Domain is the Local Machine
   'and the username matches the Supplied Name
   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
                     ("Select * from Win32_UserAccount  " & _
                      "Where Domain = '" & GetComputerName & "' " & _
                      "And Name = '" & UserName & "'")
   GetLocalUserSDDL = ""
   For Each objItem In colItems
      'Get the first returned SID/SDDL then exit
      GetLocalUserSDDL = objItem.SID
      Exit Function
   Next
End Function

This reads the SDDL (eg S-1-5-21-791012361-4073638415-1907800938-1006 or otherwise known as the String SID) for the User on the local machine. The next major function is Stage User:

Function StageUser(UserName, DomainFQDN, strDomain)
   Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
   ' Not Assuming "C:\Documents and Settings\" & UserName:
   '   Get SDDL of user via WMI interrogation of UserAccount
   '   Get Profile Location of user (from HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & SDDL & "ProfileImagePath"
   strProfile = GetLocalUserProfile(UserName)
 
   ' Set ACLs on ProfileLocation
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subdirectories """ & strProfile & """ /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
 
   ' Set ACLs on D:\UserData\%username%
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subdirectories ""D:\UserData\" & UserName & """ /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
 
   ' Reg load ProfileLocation\NTUSER.DAT into HKU\%username%
   ret = objShell.Run("reg load ""HKU\" & UserName & """ """ & strProfile & "\NTUSER.DAT""" ,0,True)
   ' Reg load ProfileLocation\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.DAT into HKU\%username%_Classes
   ret = objShell.Run("reg load ""HKU\" & UserName & "_Classes"" """ & strProfile & "\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.DAT""" ,0,True)
 
   'Try both of the following. One should fail, the other should pass.
   ' Set ACLs on HKU\%username%
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subkeyreg ""HKEY_USERS\" & UserName & """ /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
   ' If User is already logged in then the registry will be open at HKU\SDDL
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subkeyreg ""HKEY_USERS\" & GetLocalUserSDDL(UserName) & """ /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
 
   'Try both of the following. One should fail, the other should pass.
   ' Set ACLs on HKU\%username%
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subkeyreg ""HKEY_USERS\" & UserName & "_Classes"" /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
   ' If User is already logged in then the registry will be open at HKU\SDDL
   ret = objShell.Run("subinacl /subkeyreg ""HKEY_USERS\" & GetLocalUserSDDL(UserName) & "_Classes"" /grant=""" & UserName & "@" & DomainFQDN & """=F",0,True)
 
   ' Reg unload HKU\%username%
   ret = objShell.Run("reg unload ""HKU\" & UserName & """",0,True)
   ' Reg unload HKU\%username%_Classes
   ret = objShell.Run("reg unload ""HKU\" & UserName & "_Classes""",0,True)
 
   ' Get Domain User SID from ProfileLocation ACL
   arrSID = GetDomainUserSidFromFolderACL(strProfile, UserName, strDomain)
 
   If UBound(arrSID) > 0 Then
      ' Convert Domain User SID to SDDL
      WScript.Echo "Getting Sid for " & UserName
      SDDL = ArraySidToStrSid(arrSID)
 
      ' Stage Domain User Profile into Registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\%DomainUserSDDL%
      ret = CreateAndLinkProfile(SDDL, arrSID, strProfile)
   Else
      'Account didn't exist in the domain or ACL failed to set on Folder
   End If
End Function

For the most part this function behaves by running external commands to mount registry hives, and set ACLs on folders and registry, all up until we call GetDomainUserSidFromFolderACL. This is where we retrieve the SID of the Domain User that we are pre-staging via the ACL we set earlier on the Local User Profile folder. This subverts the need to query Active Directory for the SID through other means.

Function GetDomainUserSidFromFolderACL(strFolder, strUserName, strUserDomain)
   Dim arrSID(0)
   GetDomainUserSidFromFolderACL = arrSID
 
   Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
   If Not objFSO.FolderExists(strFolder) Then
      Set objFSO = Nothing
      Exit Function
   End If
 
   ' Ensure that strFolder is of the form C:\\Documents and Settings\\UserName
    strFolderName = Replace(strFolder, "\\","\")
    strFolderName = Replace(strFolderName, "\","\\")
 
   Set wmiFileSecSetting = GetObject( _
      "winmgmts:Win32_LogicalFileSecuritySetting.path='" & strFolderName & "'")
 
   RetVal = wmiFileSecSetting. _
       GetSecurityDescriptor(wmiSecurityDescriptor)
   If Err <> 0 Then
       Exit Function
   End If
 
   ' Retrieve the DACL array of Win32_ACE objects.
   DACL = wmiSecurityDescriptor.DACL
 
   For each wmiAce in DACL
   ' Get Win32_Trustee object from ACE 
      Set Trustee = wmiAce.Trustee
      If (StrComp(Trustee.Name, strUserName, vbTextCompare) = 0) And _
         (StrComp(Trustee.Domain, strUserDomain, vbTextCompare) = 0) Then
         GetDomainUserSidFromFolderACL = Trustee.SID
         Exit Function
      End If
   Next
End Function

Although this subverts the need to Query Active Directory, this does also mean that we receive the SID in a format that is unexpected. Normally, via querying Active Directory we would have received a SID in an Octet String format. Querying the SID from WMI returned it in SDDL or String SID format. The format that we receive the SID from the ACL is in an Array of Integers. In order to Pre-stage an account we need the SDDL/String SID, and the only way to get this in VBScript is to manually convert it using some functions developed by Richard Mueller and Wilfred Wong in this newsgroup posting.

Instead of using only the code listed, we need to alter it for dealing with the SID array we received back from the ACL.

Function ArraySidToStrSid(arrSid)
   ' Function to convert OctetString (byte array) to Decimal string (SDDL) Sid.
   Dim strHex, strDec
 
   strHex = ArraySidToHexStr(arrSid)
   strDec = HexStrToDecStr(strHex)
   ArraySidToStrSid = strDec
End Function
 
Function ArraySidToHexStr(arrSid)
   ArraySidToHexStr = ""
   For Each x In arrSid
      ArraySidToHexStr = ArraySidToHexStr & _
         Right("0" & Hex(x), 2)
   Next
End Function

The HexStrToDecStr function is the same as it was from the Richard Mueller posting listed above.

Finally we just need to run through the actual staging of the account:

Function CreateAndLinkProfile(strNewSDDL, strNewSID, strProfilePath)
   WScript.Echo "Creating Profile for " & strNewSDDL & ": " & strProfilePath
   'Write Sid to registry
   ret = WriteRegBinaryToRegistry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & strNewSDDL,"Sid",strNewSID)
   ret = WriteRegStringToRegistry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & strNewSDDL,"ProfileImagePath",strProfilePath)
   ret = WriteRegStringToRegistry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & strNewSDDL,"CentralProfile","")
   ret = WriteRegDwordToRegistry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & strNewSDDL,"Flags",1)
   ret = WriteRegDwordToRegistry(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\" & strNewSDDL,"State",0)
End Function

At this point if the Domain User logs in they get redirected to the existing local users profile. Then if rollback is initiated they log on with the Local User account with the same profile. This is seamless to end users, both forward and backward.

On a side note the functions for writing to the registry are through WMI due to needing to write Binary values to the Registry

Function WriteRegBinaryToRegistry(Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName, ArrValues)
   strComputer = "."
   Set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
               strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
   oReg.CreateKey Hive,strKeyPath
 
   oReg.SetBinaryValue Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName,ArrValues
End Function
 
Function WriteRegDwordToRegistry(Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName, Value)
   strComputer = "."
   Set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
               strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
   oReg.CreateKey Hive,strKeyPath
 
   oReg.SetDwordValue Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName,Value
End Function
 
Function WriteRegStringToRegistry(Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName, Value)
   strComputer = "."
   Set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _
               strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
   oReg.CreateKey Hive,strKeyPath
 
   oReg.SetStringValue Hive, strKeyPath, strValueName,Value
End Function

Cheers, Chris.

Edit: DomainAccountProfileStaging.vbs has been uploaded as a complete file.

Shared User Profiles – Alternative to Migration

dwarfsoft — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:01:16 +0000

Well, I have been very slack in that I haven’t updated with my Group Policy investigations or the eDirectory VBScript classes I was working on, but what I have been involved in recently is working on Migrating Workstations from Novell eDirectory to Active Directory.

In this process I have come across an array of options in migrating accounts from a Local User account to Domain User account and transferring the profiles across to keep the user “look and feel” that they are accustomed to.

One problem: In this scenario it makes for a very manual rollback strategy, no matter how much scripting and automation is involved in the migration process. This boils down to Novells implementation of “Dynamic Local User” which effectively creates a Local User Account that is not really bound to a User Account in eDirectory for Authentication or mapping purposes (which you can see if you look at the account SIDs).

So, how can you Migrate a local profile to a Domain User account while still maintaining a seamless rollback option (without using Roaming Profiles… This is out of the question)? The solution I have worked on is what I am terming “pre-staging” or “seeding” the Domain User Profile.

Enumerate all Local Enabled Users (except for “Administrator”)
Get the SID for that User (and the SDDL/String SID)
Read the Profile Path for that User from Registry
Set an ACL on that folder for \ (we have the UserName being replicated between eDirectory and Active Directory
Mount the existing users NTUser.dat into HKU\
Set ACL on HKU\ and all subkeys for \
Set ACL on HKU\ and all subkeys for \ (just in case the user is actually logged in)
Dismount HKU\
Mount the User Class hive (UsrClass.dat) into HKU\_Classes
Set ACL on HKU\_Classes and all subkeys for \
Set ACL on HKU\_Classes and all subkeys for \ (just in case the user is actually logged in)
Dismount HKU\_Classes
Read the ACL on the Profile Folder (set Earlier) for \ to get the Domain User SID
Convert the Domain User SID to an SDDL/String SID
Pre-stage/Seed the Domain User Profile by creating a new Registry key in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
Write in a few choice keys, the two most important being ProfileImagePath (String) and Sid (Binary). (The others I seeded were the DWords State and Flags, which were set to 0, and CentralProfile, which was an empty string).

Once the eDirectory user is no longer a member of a DLU enabled User Profile Package, they will be forced to log on through the Active Directory Domain (yes, we are still logging on through the Novell Client). The Profile used for the Domain User will be the same as that used by the Local user. The added benefit is that our rollback strategy becomes “Add user to a DLU enabled User Policy Package” and gets them to log back into their original profile. To safely secure a situation where there is a catastrophic failure of the profile (loss) a backup of the profile can also be done at the seeding stage (just check %userdomain% for equality with %computername% to see if they are logging on with a Local account or a Domain Account).

This has had only minor testing at this stage, but as no paths have changed and there appears to be no problem with the Domain User using the existing Profile I believe this is a reasonably comprehensive solution. This, I must stress, is not a recommended way to deal with migrating users, but it is a tricky little feature that can be abused as I have just demonstrated.

Code (or VBScript) will follow soon

Cheers, Chris.