Workstation Migration Assistant

If you migrate user accounts from one position to another without using roaming profiles, you may have already met with the Microsoft tool specialized in this task, User State Migration Tool .

Dan Cunningham wrote Workstation Migration Assistant , a small tool with a graphical interface that allows you to easily use USMT to save and restore a user profile. The tool not only save user files but also some key registry, fonts, etc.. You can change a number of variables you can use a network storage, encrypt or compress the backup, send an email to the end of the operation or to specify a maximum size of backup .

Migration Wizard in Windows XP

The application settings are editable in the file MigAssistant.exe.config. Here are the settings I use to migrate workstations under Windows XP using a network storage with ability to view files directly (no compression or encryption) and sending mail at the end of the operation :

<MigAssistant.My.MySettings>
<setting name="MigrationNetworkLocation" serializeAs="String">
<value>\\BackupServer\Migration$</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationExclusionsDomain" serializeAs="String">
<value>*_Admin</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationExclusionsLocal" serializeAs="String">
<value>Administrator, ASPNET, Guest, HelpAssistant, __vmware_user__</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationXPOnly" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationRuleSetXPOnly" serializeAs="String">
<value>MigUser.XML,MigApp.XML,MigSys.XML</value>
</setting>
<setting name="USMTLoggingValue" serializeAs="String">
<value>4</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationConfig" serializeAs="String">
<value>Config.XML</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationConfigXPOnly" serializeAs="String">
<value>ConfigXPOnly.XML</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationEncryptionDisabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="SettingsHealthCheckDefaultEnabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
<setting name="SettingsWorkstationDetailsDisabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
<setting name="SettingsAdvancedSettingsDisabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationUSBMinSize" serializeAs="String">
<value>81920</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationScriptsPreCapture" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationScriptsPostCapture" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationScriptsPreRestore" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationScriptsPostRestore" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationScriptsNoWindow" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationOverWriteExistingFolders" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MailSend" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MailServer" serializeAs="String">
<value>MailServer.corp.local</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MailRecipients" serializeAs="String">
<value>sysadmin@corp.local</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MailFrom" serializeAs="String">
<value>migassistant@corp.local</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationRuleSet" serializeAs="String">
<value>MigUser.XML,MigApp.XML,MigSys.XML</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationMaxSize" serializeAs="String">
<value>0</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationNetworkLocationDisabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationCompressionDisabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationEncryptionDefaultKey" serializeAs="String">
<value>T3stEnCrypt10n</value>
</setting>
<setting name="SettingsDebugMode" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationRestoreAccountsPassword" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationRestoreAccountsEnabled" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationExclusionsOlderThanDays" serializeAs="String">
<value>0</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationDomainChange" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationUSBAutoUseIfAvailable" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
<setting name="MigrationMultiUserMode" serializeAs="String">
<value>False</value>
</setting>
</MigAssistant.My.MySettings>

J’ai placé cet outil sur ma clé USB et le paramètre MigrationUSBMinSize=81920 permet de supprimer un message au démarrage du logiciel proposant d’utiliser la clé comme emplacement de stockage de la sauvegarde.

Au lancement, Workstation Migration Assistant vous proposera d’installer USMT 3.0.1 et le téléchargera automatiquement au besoin. Une fois cette opération effectuée il ne reste plus qu’à cliquer sur Start pour lancer la sauvegarde.

Une fois la sauvegarde effectuée, il suffit de relancer Workstation Migration Assistant sur la nouvelle machine et de cliquer sur l’onglet Data Restore pour lancer la migration.

Il s’agit donc d’un outil extrêmement pratique qui permet non seulement la migration des profils utilisateurs mais ausi l’archivage, par exemple en cas de départ d’employé.