On MS Windows NT4, the default user profile is obtained from the location %SystemRoot%\Profiles, which in a default installation will translate to C:\Windows NT\Profiles. Under this directory on a clean install, there will be three directories: Administrator, All Users, and Default User.

The All Users directory contains menu settings that are common across all system users. The Default User directory contains menu entries that are customizable per user depending on the profile settings chosen/created.

When a new user first logs onto an MS Windows NT4 machine, a new profile is created from:

When a user logs on to an MS Windows NT4 machine that is a member of a Microsoft security domain, the following steps are followed for profile handling:

MS Windows NT4 profiles may be local or roaming . A local profile is stored in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles\%USERNAME% location. A roaming profile will also remain stored in the same way, unless the following registry key is created:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\
winlogon\"DeleteRoamingCache"=dword:0000000

In this case, the local copy (in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\%USERNAME%) will be deleted on logout.

Under MS Windows NT4, default locations for common resources like My Documents may be redirected to a network share by modifying the following registry keys. These changes may be made via use of the System Policy Editor. To do so may require that you create your own template extension for the Policy Editor to allow this to be done through the GUI. Another way to do this is by first creating a default user profile, then while logged in as that user, running regedt32 to edit the key settings.

The Registry Hive key that affects the behavior of folders that are part of the default user profile are controlled by entries on Windows NT4 is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
	\Software
		\Microsoft
			\Windows
				\CurrentVersion
					\Explorer
						\User Shell Folders

The above hive key contains a list of automatically managed folders. The default entries are shown in the next table.

The registry key that contains the location of the default profile settings is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
User Shell Folders

The default entries are shown in Defaults of Profile Settings Registry Keys.