This topic outlines the general process that you should follow to migrate files and settings. You should complete the following steps:
Prepare the Destination Computer and Restore Files and Settings |
Plan Your Migration
- Plan Your
Migration. Depending on whether your migration scenario is
refreshing or replacing computers, you can choose an online
migration or an offline migration using Windows PE or
Windows.old. For more information, see Common Migration
Scenarios
- Determine
What to Migrate. Data you might consider migrating includes
end-user information, applications settings, operating-system
settings, files, folders, and registry keys.
- Determine whether your migration should be online, or offline
using Windows PE, or Windows.old. For more information, see
Common Migration
Scenarios.
- Determine where to store data. Depending on the size of your
migration store, you can store the data remotely, locally in a
hard-link migration store or on a local external storage device, or
directly on the destination computer. For more information, see
Choose a
Migration Store Type.
- Utilize the /genmigxml command-line option to determine
which files will be included in your migration, and to determine if
any modifications are necessary.
- Modify the Migration.xml and MigDocs.xml files, and create
custom .xml files, if necessary. If you want to modify the
migration behavior, for example, you want to migrate the
Documents folder but do not want to migrate the Music
folder, you can create a custom .xml file or modify the rules in
the existing migration .xml files. The document finder, or
MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns helper function, can be
used to automatically find user documents on a computer without
authoring extensive custom migration .xml files.
You can use the MigXML.xsd file to help you write and validate the .xml files. For more information about modifying these files, see Using USMT and USMT 4.0 XML Reference.
- Create a Config.xml File if
you want to exclude any components from the migration. To create
this file, specify the /genconfig option
along with the other .xml files when you use the ScanState
command. For example, the following command creates a Config.xml
file using the MigUser.xml and MigApp.xml files:
scanstate /genconfig:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:scanstate.log
- Review the migration state of the components listed in the
Config.xml file, and specify
migrate=no
for any that you do not want to migrate.
Collect Files and Settings from the Source Computer
- Back up the source computer.
- Close all applications. If some applications are running when
you run the ScanState command, USMT 4.0 might not migrate
all of the specified data. For example, if Microsoft® Office
Outlook® is open, USMT might not migrate PST files.
Note USMT will fail if it cannot migrate a file or setting unless you specify the /c option. When you specify the /c option, USMT will ignore the errors, and log an error each time it encounters a file that is in use that it did not migrate. You can use the <ErrorControl> section in Config.xml to specify which errors should be ignored, and which should cause the migration to fail.
- Run the ScanState command on the source computer to
collect files and settings. You should specify all of the .xml
files that you want the ScanState command to use. For
example, this command creates a store for a destination computer
running Windows Vista® or Windows 7.
scanstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /config:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:scan.log
Note If the source computer is running Windows Vista or Windows® 7, you need to run the ScanState command in Administrator mode. To run in Administrator mode, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run As Administrator. If the source computer is running Windows® XP, you need to run the ScanState command from an account with administrative credentials. For more information about the how the ScanState command processes and stores the data, see How USMT Works.
Prepare the Destination Computer and Restore Files and Settings
- Install the operating system on the destination computer.
- Install all applications that were on the source computer.
Although it is not always essential, it is good practice to install
all applications on the destination computer before restoring the
user state. This ensures that migrated settings are preserved.
Note The application version that is installed on the destination computer should be the same version as the one on the source computer. USMT does not support migrating the settings for an older version of an application to a newer version. The exception to this is Microsoft® Office, which USMT can migrate from an older version to a newer version.
- Close all applications. If some applications are running when
you run the LoadState command, USMT might not migrate all of
the specified data. For example, if Microsoft Office Outlook®
is open, USMT might not migrate PST files.
Note Use /c to continue your migration if errors are encountered, and use the <ErrorControl> section in Config.xml to specify which errors should be ignored, and which should cause the migration to fail.
- Run the LoadState command on the destination computer.
Specify the same set of .xml files that you specified when using
the ScanState command. However, you do not have to specify
the Config.xml file, unless you want to exclude some of the files
and settings that you migrated to the store. For example, you might
want to migrate the My Documents folder to the store, but not to
the destination computer. To do this, modify the Config.xml file
and specify the updated file with the LoadState command.
Then, the LoadState command will migrate only the files and
settings that you want to migrate. For more information about the
how the LoadState command processes and migrates data, see
How USMT
Works.
For example, the following command migrates the files and settings to a destination computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7:
loadstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /config:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:load.log
Note If the destination computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, run the LoadState command in administrator mode. To do this, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run As Administrator.
- Log off after you run the LoadState command. Some
settings (for example, fonts, wallpaper, and screensaver settings)
will not take effect until the next time the user logs on.