from workgroup to domain

What do you mean by copy the profile? Would coping the invisible data file work?

Did you not read my comment?  If you don't understand the technology, I would STRONGLY recommend partnering with someone who does.  We can help to an extent, but when you're talking about "invisible" files, it's clear this is not your area of expertise.  If you want it to become an area you know well, I very much support that endeavor - setup a test network and start playing around and learning the stuff - ask questions on the test network... but with a question like this and mistaken terminology, I think you would be much better off and SAFER if you worked with someone who knew this well to do it to your production network.

what i meant to say was the appdata folder in the user folder.
they will only have a folder on the server so that they can copy what they want backed up on the server. i dont plan on doing any foder-redirect or roaming profiles. in my experience those make the login and computers take too long.
I do plan on copiing everytihing on the desktop, documents,music, pictures and favorites to thier domain profile. we use firefox so i will have to export the faves and import them into thier new domain profiles also. i also assume i will have to create thier email file for microsoft outlook. I may have to fix the path of shortcuts and reactivate office.
am i missing anything?

Again, you should partner with someone.  Folder Redirection ensures you can backup data and DOES NOT slow down login.

You are still not reading my first comment.  I'll repeat the part in particular I know you're not seeing:

Use the User Profile Wizard from Forensit.com!

i ran the profile wizard on a computer. it failed. now when i try to login i only get the login name, cant change that and when i enter password and press enter, it starts logging in then signs out. any ideas

Screenshots would be helpful.  Including the screen shot of the failure.  Good thing you ran this on a TEST system, right?

"i only get the login name, cant change that"
Which version of Windows?
You should have the ability to change the user and domain/workgroup though it may not be obvious.

is there any other way to do this?
i can select the user and enter the password and press enter. it says welcome for about 20 seconds then signs out.

The User Profile Manager that Lee recommended it solid. I've used it a number of times. However, it is obvious that you did not listen to an important piece of advice he also provided: partner with someone who knows what they're doing. I don't know what steps you took, but I'm willing to bet that you did not do it correctly. Chances are that you'll be able to restore a lot of the settings through copying from profile to profile, but not all of them.

Will you have to reactivate any programs? Depends on how programs are laid out, but generally speaking, no.

i assume once you migrate you cannot go back and still have your local profile

Did you check any of the boxes like deleting local profile? I want to say you didn't, but want to know for sure.

i did not check any of the boxes

You should be able to select a different user, which will let you go back to the local user and see how it behaves.

Can you post a screenshot of the login screen?

Actually, from recollection, you CAN get back into the old profile. But since you'll be on a domain, someone would have to explicitly opt to log into the local profile (which you'd end up disabling anyway).

Answers provided

can i copy over the apdata folder, or would that cause issues. when i try it says i do not have the correct permissions.