August 13, 1999

When you deploy Microsoft Office 2000 throughout your organization, you can use the Office Profile Wizard to capture user-defined settings in an OPS file and make them the default settings for all users. In some circumstances, however, the OPS file might include user-specific information, or might accidentally delete personal e-mail files from Microsoft Outlook® 98. You can eliminate these potential problems by editing the Proflwiz.ini file.

Toolbox   The updated Office Resource Kit (orktools.exe) includes a modified Proflwiz.ini file. You can find this downloadable file on the Office 2000 Resource Kit Downloads page.

Prevent accidental deletion of personal files

The Proflwiz.ini file lists the folders, files, and registry settings that are purged when you install Office 2000 with an OPS file. These folders can contain beta and prototype files, which are no longer needed when you upgrade to the final version of the product.

In some cases, however, the folders targeted for removal in Proflwiz.ini contain files that you want to retain. For example, when users install Outlook 98, they choose a location for personal files (such as PST, PAB, and OST files). If they choose the default location, their personal files might be saved in a folder that is marked for cleanup by the original version of Proflwiz.ini. When you install Office with an OPS file, these Outlook 98 personal files are deleted.

To prevent accidental deletion of these files, open Proflwiz.ini and insert a comment character (#) in the following line:

[IndividualFilesToRemoveToResetToDefaults]
# <AppData>\Microsoft\Outlook\*.*

Exclude additional user-specific entries

In addition to specifying files to remove during an Office 2000 installation, Proflwiz.ini also lists files or registry settings to exclude from the OPS file. These items include personal files and settings that you want to exclude from an OPS file distributed throughout your organization. Most user-specific entries are already excluded in the original Proflwiz.ini file; however, a few entries might still be captured in an OPS file.

To help make sure that this additional personal information is not included when you capture settings and deploy them to everyone in your organization, add the following items to the [ExcludeFiles], [ExcludeIndividualRegistryKeys], and [ExcludeIndividualRegistryValues] sections of Proflwiz.ini:

[ExcludeFiles] 
Extend.dat
OutlPrnt
*.rwz
*.nick
*.tmp
<AppData>\Microsoft\Word\*.asd
<AppData>\Microsoft\Word\*.wbk

[ExcludeIndividualRegistryKeys]
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook
\OMI Account Manager\Accounts

[ExcludeIndividualRegistryValues]
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options
\ReplyMessageComment

Related links

For more information about customizing the Profile Wizard when you deploy Office 2000, see Customizing the Profile Wizard in the Office 2000 Resource Kit.