I have a Windows Vista system that I need to have a local, not-on-a-domain,
account on that is a mandatory profile, such that any changes that are made
to it are wiped out once the account is logged off.

In Windows XP I would do the following:
1. Create a folder called C:\UserXHome\Profile
2. Create a user called UserX
3. Set the profile folder of UserX to C:\UserXHome\Profile
4. Give UserX modify NTFS permissions to C:\UserXHome and its subfolders
5. Log on to the system with the UserX account and set up the settings for
it, then log off
6. Change C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.dat to C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.man
7. Change C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.dat.log to
C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.man.log
8. Change C:\UserXHome\Profile to C:\UserXHome\Profile.Man
9. Set the profile folder of UserX to C:\UserXHome\Profile.man

And bingo that was all there was to doing it in XP. A user could log on and
make the few changes I would allow and then log off, and it would reset for
the next user.
One specific change we want to prevent is changing the background image and
screensaver. If they do change we want it reset back to the one we set
earlier.

In Windows Vista, specifically Vista Business, I've run into no end of
troubles with this process. Even going through the instructions found at the
following link provide no help,
[url]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766489.aspx[/url] .

So here are the steps I attempt:
1. Create a folder called C:\UserXHome\Profile
2. Create a user called UserX
3. Set the profile folder of UserX to C:\UserXHome\Profile
4. Give UserX Full Control Permissions to C:\UserXHome\ and its subfolders.
5. Log on with UserX, setup the settings as I want them and log off.
6. I log back on with the administrator account.

Problem #1: The UserX profile is in C:\Users\UserX and not in
C:\UserXHome\Profile
7. I have to use the Control Panel - User Accounts - Configure advanced user
profile properties to "copy" the
profile from C:\Users\UserX to C:\UserXHome\Profile, and give UserX
permission to use the profile.
8. I then have to use RegEdit to go to the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
and then open the correct key for the account.
9. I manually change the CentralProfile to C:\UserXHome\Profile
10. I also manually change the ProfileImagePath to c:\UserXHome\Profile
11. I delete the C:\Users\UserX folder.
12. I log off and log on with UserX, and reset the settings I had done in
step 5, because it has forgotten them some how. I then log off UserX.
13. I log back on with an administrator account.
14. I change C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.dat to
C:\UserXHome\Profile\ntuser.man

Problem #2:
Per the above technet article I should only have to rename the ntuser.dat to
ntuser.man to get a mandatory profile.
But I'm still able to log on with UserX and change settings, e.g. the
backgound display, then log off and back on, and the background will be
whatever it was changed to, instead of reverting back to the one I originally
set.

So then I try to do the SuperMandatory profile option. I set
C:\UserXHome\Profile to C:\UserXHome\Profile.man.v2,
and then set the profile setting in the UserX account to
C:\UserXHome\Profile.man.

That does not work either.

Can anyone give me the simple step-by-step to creating a local mandatory
profile much as I have done under Windows XP, or is this not possible under
Vista??