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rejoining Server 2003 SBS without losing profiles on local workstations

I replaced my windows 2003 SBS server tonight with the same IP, Domain name, server name, etc. Our 6 workstations hold their profile locally. I am having problems figuring out how to best rejoin the workstations to the new server without losing the local profiles. We have one unit on the network that did not have much in the profile, so I just switched it over to workgroup, then rejoined like I would if it were brand new. Of course, my desktop came up with a fresh(new) profile and I had to redo a couple things. The other 5 workstations are employees and they have a ton of stuff that I do not want to have to reinstall and re-map, etc. Is there any way to easily rejoin these 5 workstations onto my network without losing profiles. Could you please provide a step by step so I can do this first thing in the morning. I was there for 5 hours so far tonight swapping the server :)

Thanks!
Andy

SOLUTION

Lee W, MVP

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microdome7

ASKER

Is there any solutions for copying the profile without spending the $60 for that program. I was going to try to use the files and settings transfer wizard in windows while I am in my profile and save the image to c:\save -- I was then going to dejoin and rejoin the domain and when I was back up, restore the image of my files and settings from the wizard. Will this work?

Lee W, MVP

Wow... your time isn't worth $60?

You can spend HOURS manually copying the data and resetting permissions... or you can spend $60 and save hours of your time. Your call.

And no, if I understand what you're talking about, that won't work because the SIDs (SS#'s) are DIFFERENT from the original domain.

microdome7

ASKER

haha... i guess you are right. I usually don't think about it that way when it is for my "own" equipment. I'm usually the one asking someone else the question you asked me :) LOL

Tell me about this utility so I know that it is exactly what i need. I am running XP Pro SP2 on the workstations and SBS 2003.

microdome7

ASKER

oh, and it was free for non-corporate use. I guess if I am not doing this for client, that is what they mean. Have you used it... the file was only 200k???

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Jeffrey Kane - TechSoEasy

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Lee W, MVP

If you're using this to MAKE MONEY or to facilitate making money, then you need to do the honest and ethical thing and BUY it. It's $60 for 25 users/workstations - not $60 per workstation or per user.
I've used it. It works pretty well, but it's been about 6 months since the last time I used it so I can't describe it in detail right now.

There are other tools, but most if not all are considerably more expensive, at least that I've found.

microdome7

ASKER

well, that didn't go so well. I ran it and specified the profile that I wanted and the username that I wanted and now when I try to login, it just rolls back to the login screen. Acts like it is going to login then login screen right back. I don't think I will buy it :)

Nope, not making money, actually losing it :)

microdome7

ASKER

Jeff-

I will give that a shot tomorrow. I have 5 workstations that have not been rejoined. The 1 that I did rejoin, I just went into system properties and put it over to a workgroup. Then I rebooted and told it to join domain, specified user/pw/domain, and then specified the administrator/pw to join. Voila! Of course, I lost all my profile settings. The reason I tried it on that machine was because it only ran one program (Point of Sale) and it takes like 2 minutes to redo which I already did.

So, I've got those 5 units booted into their existing domain profile. I should boot them into local administrator account and follow the directions that you pasted. It will give me option to use the existing profile?

Thanks,
Andy

Jeffrey Kane - TechSoEasy

Yes, it will give you options as you can see from the screen shots I included in that blog post. If the user's name does NOT show in the drop-down list, then just select "NONE" and it will pick up the previous profile folder anyhow as long as the user name matches.

Jeff
TechSoEasy