How Windows 98 Handled Multiple User Profiles

Microsoft Windows 98 allowed multiple people to share a single PC while maintaining individual personal preferences through a feature known as User Profiles. By enabling profiles, the operating system stored customized desktop configurations, Start menus, and web bookmarks for each person who logged in. However, because Windows 98 was built on the consumer-focused MS-DOS/Windows 9x architecture, this multi-user environment was strictly designed for convenience rather than privacy or security, lacking the true data isolation found in modern enterprise systems.

Enabling Multi-User Profiles

By default, Windows 98 treated the machine as a single-user system. To configure multiple accounts, an administrator or user had to manually enable the feature:

  1. Open the Control Panel and launch the Passwords icon.
  2. Select the User Profiles tab.
  3. Switch the setting from "All users of this computer use the same preferences and desktop settings" to "Users can customize their preferences and desktop settings."
  4. Choose which items to individualize, such as desktop shortcuts, Start Menu folders, Favorites, and downloaded web pages.

Windows 98 also introduced the Users applet in the Control Panel, which provided an "Add User" wizard to streamline the process of naming accounts and assigning initial passwords.

File Structure and the Registry

When a new user logged on, Windows 98 created a dedicated directory for that account located at C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\<Username>\. Inside this folder, Windows maintained separate subdirectories for:

  • Desktop: Individual shortcuts and files placed on the desktop.
  • Start Menu: Customized application launch folders.
  • Favorites: Saved Internet Explorer bookmarks.
  • Application Data: Settings specific to installed software.
  • My Documents: The user's personal file repository (in later editions).

User profiles also relied on splitting the Windows Registry. While machine-wide settings were saved in SYSTEM.DAT, individual user configurations were saved in a file called USER.DAT. During the logon process, Windows 98 loaded the active user’s USER.DAT file into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive.

The Logon Process and Security Limitations

Upon startup, Windows 98 displayed a dialog box asking for a username and password. Entering valid credentials loaded the associated USER.DAT and profile directories. If a new username was entered, the system prompted the user to create a password and generated a new profile cloned from the default settings.

Crucially, Windows 98 profiles offered no security or file privacy:

  • Bypassing Logon: Clicking the Cancel button or pressing the Escape (Esc) key at the login prompt dismissed the dialog and loaded the default desktop without a password.
  • Lack of Access Control: Windows 98 ran on the FAT16 or FAT32 file systems, which had no native support for Access Control Lists (ACLs) or file-level permissions. Any user could open Windows Explorer and view, modify, or delete the contents of another user’s profile folder at C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\.
  • Shared Programs: System-wide program files and core configuration files remained fully accessible and unprotected.

Windows 98 user profiles functioned as a practical way to prevent family members or coworkers from disrupting one another's desktop layouts and browser bookmarks, but true multi-user security was reserved for Microsoft’s enterprise-tier operating system of that era, Windows NT.