Microsoft Windows NT Server White Paper 7
Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95
User Profile Differences
Windows 95 Profiles are very similar in behavior to Windows NT 4.0 Profiles, but
there are some differences.
Unlike Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95 downloads and writes User Profiles to
the user’s home directory. When the Windows 95 user first logs on, the UNC
path specified in the user account’s home directory path is checked for the
Windows 95 User Profile. You can modify this behavior, however. See the Win-
dows 95 Resource Kit for more information.
Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 User Profiles have the following addi-
tional functional differences:
• Windows 95 does not support common groups.
• Windows 95 can be configured to copy only the shortcut (.lnk) and Pro-
gram Information Files (.pif) when the User Profile is downloaded,
whereas Windows NT downloads all file, shortcut, and directory objects.
• Windows 95 User Profiles do not support a centrally stored Default User
Profile.
• Windows 95 uses different files for the registry portion of User Profiles.
(Refer to the following table.) Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 profiles
are not interchangeable, primarily because the registry hive, which is a key
component of the User Profile, is incompatible between operating system
versions.
Windows NT 4.0 file Equivalent Windows 95 file
NTuser.dat User.dat
NTuser.dat.log User.da0
NTuser.man User.man
NOTE: The Windows 95 User.da0 and Windows NT 4.0 Ntuser.dat.log, while equivalent, provide
slightly different functionality. Windows 95 writes a copy of User.dat to User.da0 each time the user
logs off. Windows NT uses the Ntuser.dat.log file as a transaction log file. This allows for fault toler-
ance in the event that a User Profile must be recovered.
• Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 file structures are identical with the ex-
ception of the Application Data directory. Windows 95 does not support
this directory.
Windows 95 User Profiles can be stored on NetWare servers. For more in-
formation on configuring a client with a Primary Network Logon of Client for
NetWare Networks, see the chapter “Windows 95 on NetWare Networks” in
the Windows 95 Resource Kit. For more information on configuring a client that
uses Microsoft Service for NetWare Directory Services, see the online Help
that accompanies the service.
How User Profiles Are Handled in Windows 95
When a user logs on to a Windows 95 machine, the local profile path,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Profile
List, is checked for an existing entry for that user:
If the user has an entry in this registry location, Windows 95 checks for a lo-
cally cached version of the user’s profile. Windows 95 also checks the user’s
