How to automatically create a new Outlook 2003 profile on login

PROBLEM
When a new user signs in for the first time, his/her Outlook profile must be manually configured. This can be especially problematic on a public system (e.g. boardroom, Citrix server, or other public terminal).

SOLUTION
Outlook 2003 provides the built-in ability to create an Outlook profile by specifying the path to a template .PRF file in the ImportPRF registry value. This previously required the NEWPROF.EXE utility in Outlook 2000.

Begin by creating a .PRF file with the standard settings you want for your Outlook profile. See this TechByte for an example .PRF file.

Copy the newly created .PRF file to a commonly available location on the PC or server's local hard drive (as network paths may not be available if it is applied as part of a login script).

- Login as a user with Administrator rights and run REGEDT32 on Windows 2000 or regedit on Windows XP or Windows 2003.
- Load C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\NTUSER.DAT
- In the loaded hive, browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Setup
- Create a new String Value called ImportPRF and enter the path and filename of the .PRF as the data.
- Unload the hive and close the registry editor.

When a new user logs in for the first time, a new Outlook profile with default settings will now be created.

Author: ASAK
Created: Jan 8 2007 (last modified Sep 18 2007)
Categories: Outlook
TechByte #145

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Comment posted by 'Sam Grey' on May 7 2008 @ 10:10:46
Thanks a lot! But, please, correct the mistake: "- In the loaded hive, browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Setup" "HKLM\" haven't to be here.
Comment posted by 'Scott Bemister' on Jun 3 2008 @ 20:42:14
By the way, I was just wracking my braing trying to figure out why this doesn't work, and it turns out that the registry editor is case sensitive. I was putting in Outlook.prf, when i changed it to Outlook.PRF it worked! Go figure - Microsoft being case sensitive.