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I'm creating a (local) user for a Windows service to run as. I've got good reasons for not wanting to use NETWORK SERVICE, LOCAL SERVICE, or LOCAL SYSTEM.

I create the user via net user foobar "Abcd123!" /add - this works fine.

At this point, c:usersfoobar does not exist.

If I create the user's home directory, before the user either logs on (or, more pertinently) or the service that the user is for starts up, Windows creates a user-profile next-door called c:usersfoobar-{gibberish/SID/whatever} - this is not a predictable name.

I need the user's home directory to contain things like a .ssh directory, a .gitconfig - tools like that (not limited to those tools) that make assumptions that it'll be a person using them, and so user-configuration goes inside ~/.... Usually, tools from a Unix heritage.

Actual question

So - is there a programmatic (preferably, PowerShell, or out-of-the-box command-line) way to tell Windows to create the user-profile for a local user?

Or, any other workarounds?

Things I've yet to try:

• An NSSM start/pre hook that copies files from elsewhere into the user-profile directory that hopefully exists at this point by virtue of Windows starting the service, creating the user-profile then handing control to the NSSM wrapper running the hook before startup.


• Setting the USERPROFILE environment variable for the service to be somewhere other than the actual user-profile directory. This strikes me as dangerously off-piste but also might work fine.

Other context:

• Windows Server 2016, desktop experience.
  
  
  
  
  • Can't use Core/Nano.
  
  
  
  


• There is no active directory in play. There won't be.


• These are local users.


• I'm doing this via Ansible, which is using PowerShell under the hood for Windows things. Specifically the win_user module, with Ansible 2.7.5.


• I don't want to create a C:usersdefault (the equivalent of /etc/skel), because there are a few different service-users and one size won't fit all. This also doesn't affect when the user-profile is created, just what will be in it when it is.


• I'm using NSSM to manage the services.

Things I've tried

• starting the service and allowing Windows to create the directory
  
  
  
  
  • I don't want to do this, because the service requires secrets before starting up, and so if I do this inside my image-baking process I'll then need to clean them up, and also make sure my service doesn't do any work during the baking phase. I want to avoid both of those fiddly bits.
  
  
  
  

All you need to do is run a command as that user, Windows will create the profile:

psexec.exe -u foobar -p Abcd123! cmd.exe /c exit

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec

Windows can create a user-profile on-demand, using the CreateProfile API

However, if don't want to create an executable to perform this operation, you can call the API in PowerShell. Others have already done it: example on github.

Relevant part of the code:

$methodName = 'UserEnvCP'

$script:nativeMethods = @();



Register-NativeMethod "userenv.dll" "int CreateProfile([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pszUserSid,`

  [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pszUserName,`

  [Out][MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] StringBuilder pszProfilePath, uint cchProfilePath)";



Add-NativeMethods -typeName $MethodName;



$localUser = New-Object System.Security.Principal.NTAccount("$UserName");

$userSID = $localUser.Translate([System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier]);

$sb = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder(260);

$pathLen = $sb.Capacity;



Write-Verbose "Creating user profile for $Username";

try

{

    [UserEnvCP]::CreateProfile($userSID.Value, $Username, $sb, $pathLen) | Out-Null;

}

catch

{

    Write-Error $_.Exception.Message;

    break;

}