more tips:
Include your profile in your backup scheme. On Windows, this will be located at C:\Documents and Settings\
username. By default, your MyDocuments lives there and also all your custom settings including any mapped network drives, printers, desktop settings and icons,.....
But, there's a trick to copying it back in.
If a new install/restore, logon as the profile's user and log right back off. This will create the new profile.
Restart the box, logon as a different user(preferablly with admin rights but I don't think its required). The restart is important to make sure the ntuser.dat file isn't opened which will mess up the copy.
Open up My Computer/Tools/FolderOptions/View and choose Show Hidden Files and Folders. Click OK.
Then, copy the 'contents' of the original copy of the profile. Don't copy the folder(just its contents!!) The reason is that you don't want to overwrite the existing(new) user profile folder because there is a SID(security ID) associated with it. You just want the folders and files inside copied inside of the newly created profile.
Once the copy is complete, Restart or Log off and back on as the normal user and you should see all your settings.
This has saved me hours and hours of not listening to users bitch and moan about, "Where's my stuff????" and from not having to manually put everything back.
Hope this is clear enough. If not, let me know.
OPTIONAL: Delete the folder C:\Documents and Settings\user?\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files. If the user spends a lot of time on the internet, this folder will be huge!! This will speed up the copy process.