Windows 10 Can I copy the Default User folder between machines?

[rlincolnh]

I have had no contact with W10 until yesterday. A friend's HP Desktop all-in-one apparently went through the MS 'forced upgrade' to W10 some time ago, and appears to have a corrupted Users --> Default folder (especially the NTUSER.DAT file), so I have a couple of questions:
1. Can I copy that entire folder from another W10 machine (of any make/type)?
2. Can I copy the Default\NTUSER.DAT from another W10 machine?
3. Can I create a new Default folder from scratch. If so where do I get the NTUSER.DAT file?

And finally, if I haven't asked the right question, please tell me!

 

[Neemobeer]

Yes you can just copy it over from another Windows 10 computer. The other option is to pull the default folder out of the install media which would require mounting the wim file and then simply copying the folder out.

 

[rlincolnh]

Thanks, Neem. I'll copy the folder from another friend's laptop (W10). The problem machine came as a pre-installed W7 or W8 (not sure), so there is no installation media available.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Are you just going to copy the entire Users folder in it's entirety?
My Users folder is 70 Gigabytes and has a lot of data that would not be pertinent if copied to another computer.

I.e games saves, files and settings related to software installed on the computer, like favorites browser settings, My Documents folder etc.

I'm not sure what would happen if I just dropped my, "Users" folder into my wife's laptop, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work.

You might be better off downloading the Windows 10 install material from here...

Download Windows 10

and reinstalling it.

As long as the computer has already been running Windows 10 you should be able to log in with the existing ID and password.

if there is data on the computer that you need to keep back it up to a flash drive or DVDs first.
I'd do this before you try pasting in another "Users" folder in anyway just in case.

Copy the present Users folder Pate it in some place and rename it to, "Old Users" before you do, you may need to recover it to get the computer to boot after you try substituting the new one.

You may also have a lot of problems getting Windows to let you mess with the folder to start with just guessing but I think that it's going to tell you that the folder is in use.

Mike

 

[northangrywolf]

Yeah you can , but withe the same system. But if you want to move it , you'd better backup it. and check the Compatibility of the folder if in different system. Or with the PC trans which is developed by EaseUS, one of the secure software. You can search it in the google and find the official website.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Sorry I didn't see that you said only the default user folder.
Do back stuff up first though.

You never know what will happen, I still think it might be better to back up the data and start with a clean install.

The easy way to find the netuser.dat file is to run a search of the users folder.

I use a search utility called Agent Ransack best search engine ever and it's free.

 

[rlincolnh]

Well, thanks for reading/replying, guys, but as Mike just realized, it is just the default user folder that I am copying. And it was NTUSER.DAT file, which is in the default user folder, and which only has bare-bones data in it, that I was asking about copying.

I may get to do it tomorrow, but if not, then it will be another couple of weeks because I'm off to Fiji on Thursday! Sun, sand, and no computers!