antjaw
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I need to copy a profile from one computer and put it on another
I need to copy a profile from one computer and put it on another. Windows XP SP2
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Brian Pierce
or USMT http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/usermigr.mspx
Be aware that copying profiles from one computer to another can be problematic if the there is dissimilar software on the two different machines. Sometimes profiles themselves can be problematic, so if you are doing this as part of troubleshooting, and you find problems you were having on the 1st machine are replicated on the 2nd, the profile itself may be an issue.
You need admin rights on both machines. This should all be done over the network.
If the user is still logged in to the source machine, have him her clear the temp directory and temporary internet files. This is not essential, but may speed up the process a lot.
On the source machine, have the user reboot if the machine hasn't been rebooted since his last logon. Leave the machine with no one logged in.
On the target machine, have the user log in once if he hasn't already, reboot the machine and leave it with no one logged in.
Map to the drive where the user profiles are stored, generally c:. i.e. \\machinename\c$. Change to the profile directory, c:\documents and settings. On both machines.
On both machines, you should see a directory that is the same as the username. (In rare cases, the directory might be in the form username.domain or username.machinename) change to this directory on both machines. You don't have to, but this will save the effort of typing the whole path in the command
From the command line, you can copy all the files with xcopy. You must use the options /e /s /v /h because several important files are hidden. Sometimes you may get a sharing error on nt.pol, which I've found you can safely ignore. If you get sharing errors on anyother file, you should reboot both machines and try again. You may need to tell the user at one of the machines to power cycle the machines (not everybody understands what "reboot" means). If you receive the sharing error on nt.pol and what to retry the copying again, add the /c parameter to xcopy, which tells it to continue if there is an error.
You can also copy the contents of the directory using Windows Explorer, but you have to make sure the following options exist: view system/hidden files, and uncheck protect operating system files.
The user should find that he has some settings (printers, drive mappings, application settings) as the old machine. It is not unusual to receive some errors that can usually be ignored. i.e. if application X was in the user's startup folder on the old machine, and that app isn't installed on the new machine, there will be an error. Also be aware that any apps that uses settings applied to all users will probably have to be configured manually.
good luck
You need admin rights on both machines. This should all be done over the network.
If the user is still logged in to the source machine, have him her clear the temp directory and temporary internet files. This is not essential, but may speed up the process a lot.
On the source machine, have the user reboot if the machine hasn't been rebooted since his last logon. Leave the machine with no one logged in.
On the target machine, have the user log in once if he hasn't already, reboot the machine and leave it with no one logged in.
Map to the drive where the user profiles are stored, generally c:. i.e. \\machinename\c$. Change to the profile directory, c:\documents and settings. On both machines.
On both machines, you should see a directory that is the same as the username. (In rare cases, the directory might be in the form username.domain or username.machinename) change to this directory on both machines. You don't have to, but this will save the effort of typing the whole path in the command
From the command line, you can copy all the files with xcopy. You must use the options /e /s /v /h because several important files are hidden. Sometimes you may get a sharing error on nt.pol, which I've found you can safely ignore. If you get sharing errors on anyother file, you should reboot both machines and try again. You may need to tell the user at one of the machines to power cycle the machines (not everybody understands what "reboot" means). If you receive the sharing error on nt.pol and what to retry the copying again, add the /c parameter to xcopy, which tells it to continue if there is an error.
You can also copy the contents of the directory using Windows Explorer, but you have to make sure the following options exist: view system/hidden files, and uncheck protect operating system files.
The user should find that he has some settings (printers, drive mappings, application settings) as the old machine. It is not unusual to receive some errors that can usually be ignored. i.e. if application X was in the user's startup folder on the old machine, and that app isn't installed on the new machine, there will be an error. Also be aware that any apps that uses settings applied to all users will probably have to be configured manually.
good luck
Happy to help - thanx for the grade! :^)