Using Deep Freeze on XP, causes Firefox and IE to reset to default state on each reset

Question

I am using Deep Freeze on our computers so on each reset, the computer is returned to it's original state. Each time this happens, Firefox and IE both go through initial startup mode each time prompting the user to follow steps. How can this be set to not have the user prompted to go through the Firefox first-use wizard or IE first-time mode?

Update: Yes we have tried the solution below previously, it only works if you have the same user logging in, but in our setting, one computer can have hundreds of potential users, every time a new user logs in, these setting are not carried over to the new user.

Answer 1

Boot the computer in the "thawed" mode. Open Firefox, open IE. After you've gone through the setup steps for both browsers, close the browser windows and reboot the computer back into the "Frozen" mode and your settings should be saved.

Edit: In the case where you will be having multiple users, you can create a file named override.ini and place it in your Firefox install directory. The content of the file should be:

[XRE]
EnableProfileMigrator=false

Save this file in "thawed" mode and reboot, and you should be good to go. (Source)

Answer 2

On windows XP, you can fix this by thawing the machine and logging in as a throw-away user account (a fresh account you create just for this purpose). While logged in as this user, set the profile up however you want, including the browsers, media player, office, acrobat, and any other programs that show special "first launch" screens. Now is a good time to set up a printer as well.

Now log off, but don't freeze the machine yet. Log in with an administrator account, open the control panel, and launch the "System" applet. On the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings..." button in the "User Profiles" area. This will open a window that allows you to copy the account you just set up to another location. You want to copy it over top of the "Default User" profile, so that you replace that profile. When you do this, also make sure to use the "Change" button to give the "Everyone" group access to use the profile.

Now you can freeze the machine again. Note that copying profiles like this is not normally a recommended procedure, because over the life of a machine as you continue to use the procedure you can create windows registry issues that result in instability of the system. However, it's safe to do in conjunction with deep freeze because the frozen state of the machine prevents these issues of lingering and multiplying over time as they would on an unfrozen machine.