Where is system profile registry hive stored?

In Windows XP Pro, I can load
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\systemprofile\NTUSER. DAT and make changes
to the profile used by the system (for example, the wallpaper / screen
saver used when no users are logged in). In the unlikely event that the
profile is stored somewhere else, I can go to
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18
and read the value ProfileImagePath to find it.

I can't seem to find it in an XP Embedded device we are evaluating.
There is no systemprofile directory under %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config,
and there is no S-1-5-18 key under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. S-1-5-19 (LocalService) and S-1-5-20
(NetworkService) are there, but no S-1-5-18 (systemprofile).

What am I missing here? Doesn't there have to be a system account and
corresponding profile?

Regards,

Dave

"Dave R." <dwragle (at) drbsystems (dot) com> wrote in message
news:%230%23PcEaxIHA.3384@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> In Windows XP Pro, I can load
> %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\systemprofile\NTUSER. DAT and make changes
> to the profile used by the system (for example, the wallpaper / screen
> saver used when no users are logged in). In the unlikely event that
> the profile is stored somewhere else, I can go to
> HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18
> and read the value ProfileImagePath to find it.
>
> I can't seem to find it in an XP Embedded device we are evaluating.
> There is no systemprofile directory under
> %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config, and there is no S-1-5-18 key under
> HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.
> S-1-5-19 (LocalService) and S-1-5-20 (NetworkService) are there, but
> no S-1-5-18 (systemprofile).
>
> What am I missing here? Doesn't there have to be a system account and
> corresponding profile?
>

No one has any ideas? I would have thought this would be a fairly
straight-forward answer. I'd even be interested in any ideas on how to
find out the answer!

Regards,

Dave