sysprep copyprofile breaks Windows Sound Recorder on Windows 10 Education 22H2

Question

I have Microsoft Windows 10 Version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.2846) reference image built using MDT (Microsoft Deployment Workbench, Microsoft, ) Version: 6.3.8456.1000. I am using Windows Deployment Services (Microsoft Corporation, Version: 10.0.14393.2608) to deploy the captured image with an answer file that has copyprofile set to true. The only purpose to enable copyprofile is to carry over the customisation done to the default user profile. Once the image is restored it immediately breaks the Sound recorder even if it's updated to the latest version. It would open for a while and immediately crash. The Event viewer log shows the following:

Faulting application name: SoundRec.exe, version: 10.1906.1907.16002, time stamp: 0x5d2e5908
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.2728, time stamp: 0xe7e53a4e
Exception code: 0xc000027b
Fault offset: 0x000000000010fd12
Faulting process ID: 0x2c30
Faulting application start time: 0x01d96c8c2de34f72
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder_10.1906.1972.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\SoundRec.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report ID: f2d29883-67d6-4556-bb76-f58f3ce35554
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder_10.1906.1972.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Faulting package-relative application ID: App

Upon further investigation I found out that the path to Windows Sound recorder recordings were still pointing to C:\Users\Administrators\Documents\Sound recordings where the created users had no permission. I recreated the image and then it was requesting access to the Documents folder. The Voice recorder had access to the Documents folder. I then set the permission for C:\Users\Administrators\Documents to everyone (Full permission) to test and it didn't crash on the standard users logged in. They were able to access it without any issues and record. All the recordings were saved to the same path C:\Users\Administrators\Documents\Sound recordings for all later logged in users.

I haven't found much references on the internet for this and really struggling to fix this. I have also used DefProf and it does the same. So while the profile is copied it's setting the Default save path to C:\Users\Administrators\Documents\Sound recordings for all the users. I loaded the registry hive for the default user C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT and tried to find any referencing path but couldn't find anything at all. Can anyone give me insights on how I can fix this issue please?# Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi, I'd be happy to help you out with your question. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. I think that the "copyprofile" option is causing the Sound Recorder to break, as it is setting the default save path for recordings to a location that regular users do not have access to. This is resulting in a permissions issue and causing the application to crash. To resolve this issue, I recommend modifying the default user profile to change the default save path for the Sound Recorder. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Press the Windows key and type "regedit" in the search box. Press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecordPath
3. Change the value of "RecordPath" to a different path that all users have access to, such as "C:\Users\Public\Recordings".
4. Save the changes and exit the Registry Editor.
5. Re-run Sysprep with the "copyprofile" option to create a new reference image. After deploying the new reference image, the Sound Recorder should work correctly and save recordings to the new default path you specified in the registry. Please keep in mind that modifying the registry can be risky, so be sure to backup your registry before making any changes. If you have any other questions or need assistance with anything, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm here to help.

If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer, thank you.

Answer 2

Hi I just checked and I do not see the key called Record Path under HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecordPath

I even loaded the default user's ntuser.dat and cannot see this path. This is from the MDT captured image where the issue is and which would generally save the voice recordings to the Administrators>Documents>Sound recordings folder. Is it somewhere else I should be looking?

Answer 3

Same issue here in an environment of 3k plus devices. The key is not there I tried to manually add it to no luck.