How can I add new users to Windows 7 from Ubuntu?

Question

Title seas it all... I'm logged in to Ubuntu and I want to add new user to Windows 7 which is on some other partition on the same computer. Is it possible ?

@queueoverflow cause he wants to be pro ;) Let him be, its fine. — Bruno Pereira, Jun 14 '12 at 08:24
As @Frantique's answer indicates, it's possible but not very probable ;) — ish, Jun 14 '12 at 09:09
Yeah, I'm just happy when everyone is happy ;) @izx thx for fixing the answer, keep up the great job! — Bruno Pereira, Jun 14 '12 at 09:48
I have a need sometimes to do it at my work. I don't want to be l33t or whatever. — Xamidovic, Jul 12 '12 at 12:07

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 18 '16 at 00:11

I would say You actually can. But i guess this option will use Windows a little bit too.

Create a liveUSB with Ubuntu, in the moment, the actual version is 16.04.01, I don't think it really matters. With this, you will be able to run Ubuntu on your computer.

Boot your device using your LiveUSB and open the 'try' Ubuntu version.

In the file things, get to : /'your os drive name'/Windows/System32/. If you can't find the drive, look for the drive that has the Windows file in it.

Find sethc.exe, name it sethc2.exe

find cmd.exe. Make a backup copy (I have to say i have installed the whole ubuntu thing, i was kind of deseperate .. hahaha)

Rename cmd.exe as sethc.exe. Good to go, let's restart the engine!

So now when you will open Windows, when you get to the log in page, press Shift multiple times, and the command prompt should appear.

Then, the fun part :

Create a new windows user acount from that command prompt : net user [Name] [password] /ADD

for example : net user Gege 123 /ADD

If you want to go without any password : net user Gege "" /ADD

and then if you want to make it 'administrator' here are the magic words :

net localgroup administrators [Name] /ADD

For me it would be : net localgroup administrators Gege /ADD

I hope this can help.

now this is what means to be l33t :D – Xamidovic Aug 19 '16 at 05:49 — Xamidovic, Aug 19 '16 at 05:49

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 14 '12 at 07:46

4

Short answer: No, you can't with one click!

WARNING: The below option may lead to an unbootable Windows 7 installation - use at your own risk.

Long answer: theoretically you can create the folders manually and add the registry keys to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList with wine's regedit. For this you have to make some research how Windows is creating users, and what it needs to be functional. I don't recommend this through. (This is just a theory, I have not tested it!)

edited Jun 14 '12 at 07:46

ish

139,926

answered Jun 14 '12 at 07:44

Frantique

8,493

Wrong. User accounts are stored in HKLM\SAM hive (in booted Windows only accessible from SYSTEM account, like psexec -s -i regedit). ProfileList is just a list of user profiles, after they're already created. But creating a new user only creates an entry in SAM, and Windows handles creating the profile and all related shenanigans on the first login. But if you never logged in, your user won't have an entry in ProfileList (or a profile in C:\Users). – p0358 Dec 18 '23 at 21:13

How can I add new users to Windows 7 from Ubuntu?

2 Answers2