nichiaiinc
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Need help with moving Microsoft Windows Server 2000 User Profiles to New domain on server 2003
I have a company that has several users all connected to a Domain Controller on a windows 2000 machine. The active directory naming convention needs to change, hence we will be creating a new Active Directory domain all together on a new server we have added in and is currently being used only as a file server.
I am wondering what is the easiest way to migrate all the user's profiles ( their settings, such as bookmarks, outlook file paths, rules, windows xp settings and so forth) Is there any tool that can easily do this?
I am wondering what is the easiest way to migrate all the user's profiles ( their settings, such as bookmarks, outlook file paths, rules, windows xp settings and so forth) Is there any tool that can easily do this?
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exaclty as i mentioned above :) your clarification simply reinforces what i was getting you to do :)
ASKER
I have a question Jay Jay. how about in regards to registry entries and such. For example, Outlook 2003 stores the email account and its password setting in the registry versus in the outlook file in the documents and settings folder.
So hence, by just copyign this folder you will have to reenter the users email address and password. This is usually a pain, as the user usually doesnt have a clue what his password and sometimes, email address is. And Im wondering if this data is in teh registry, what other settings are set in the registry, for example desktop background image, or settings of the quick launch tool bar on the bottom of the screen. Im not sure, but guessing there is other stuff that wont get transferred over. Is there anything I can do to make sure this gets copied as well?
Also, if i make a new domain and a new user with the SAME username as the one before. When i create this user on the client PC, will it give him a new folder completely for the new domain or overwrite the existing folder. Basically, I need to know if I should move the users folder contents prior to joining the new domain, in order to not overwrite the data.
Thanks
So hence, by just copyign this folder you will have to reenter the users email address and password. This is usually a pain, as the user usually doesnt have a clue what his password and sometimes, email address is. And Im wondering if this data is in teh registry, what other settings are set in the registry, for example desktop background image, or settings of the quick launch tool bar on the bottom of the screen. Im not sure, but guessing there is other stuff that wont get transferred over. Is there anything I can do to make sure this gets copied as well?
Also, if i make a new domain and a new user with the SAME username as the one before. When i create this user on the client PC, will it give him a new folder completely for the new domain or overwrite the existing folder. Basically, I need to know if I should move the users folder contents prior to joining the new domain, in order to not overwrite the data.
Thanks
Even if you copy the whole profile you will usually lose Outlook passwords (in my experience). You can download a tool called "mailpv" from nirsoft.net (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv.html) and run it while you still have access to their old profile and logon, which will tell you the account info and passwords. You can run this from a command line to save the output to a text file.
There are several other useful tools on that website that gather similar information for different programs, I've written a batch file that I run on each PC before migrating to a new domain:
mkdir %USERNAME%
dialupass /stext %USERNAME%\dial.txt
iepv /stext %USERNAME%\ie.txt
mailpv /stext %USERNAME%\email.txt
mspass /stext %USERNAME%\im.txt
netpass /stext %USERNAME%\netshare.txt
nk2view /stext %USERNAME%\email-autocompl
net use > %USERNAME%\shares.txt
set > %USERNAME%\environment.txt
Download the following tools from nirsoft.net and save the exe file in the same directory as the batch file:
dialupass - saves dialup and vpn details
iepv - saves internet explorer passwords
mailpv - outlook and outlook express passwords
mspass - saves messenger passwords
netpass - saves passwords for network drives, etc
The other commands record network drive mappings (net use) and environment variables (set). These have been handy to me in the past when doing migrations so I included them in the script.
I usually run this from a file share on the old server, and then copy the directory to the new server when it has data from all the PCs.
Cheers,
Daniel
There are several other useful tools on that website that gather similar information for different programs, I've written a batch file that I run on each PC before migrating to a new domain:
mkdir %USERNAME%
dialupass /stext %USERNAME%\dial.txt
iepv /stext %USERNAME%\ie.txt
mailpv /stext %USERNAME%\email.txt
mspass /stext %USERNAME%\im.txt
netpass /stext %USERNAME%\netshare.txt
nk2view /stext %USERNAME%\email-autocompl
net use > %USERNAME%\shares.txt
set > %USERNAME%\environment.txt
Download the following tools from nirsoft.net and save the exe file in the same directory as the batch file:
dialupass - saves dialup and vpn details
iepv - saves internet explorer passwords
mailpv - outlook and outlook express passwords
mspass - saves messenger passwords
netpass - saves passwords for network drives, etc
The other commands record network drive mappings (net use) and environment variables (set). These have been handy to me in the past when doing migrations so I included them in the script.
I usually run this from a file share on the old server, and then copy the directory to the new server when it has data from all the PCs.
Cheers,
Daniel
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Great answers guys! Thank you very much. Jay Jay and mdunnohuh gave me some good ideas and solved my question. DjMundy took it the extra mile with a huge added resource for me and I appreciate the time and sharing of your tools. Which is why I awarded the largest sum of points to Mundy, THanks again everyone
sorry for being late - but yes, you will lose a few things but not a lot....and you wont overwrite the existing profile either way
ASKER
Thank you Jay Jay!
ASKER
Basically I was thinking of just making new user accounts on the new domains, but I would like to be able to copy that users windows XP settings, my documents files and such to their new profile. Its to my understanding that when you join the new domain, even though the username is the same its different. So when joining the new domain with the new user, it will make a new profile on the XP client machine. How can I then copy over all the data and registry settings and such to the newly made username on the new AD?
Thank you