is there a way to migrate users workgroup desktop to a domain controller?

[knc]

New client has 8 desktop's in a workgroup environment. We are tasked with installing a DC and replacing the old workgroup server. However setting up everyones desktop in the domain as it was will be very daunting and you all know how people can't handle change!!!

Also I would prefer if we didn't have to setup their outlook settings and getting the n2k (?) copied over correctly.

Please say there is a big red GO button to do this... Lol..

Any solutions you may suggest are there any pitfalls?

 

[Matthew Bradley]

https://www.forensit.com/downloads.html

User profile wizard. Couldn't be any easier. We just did this with 16 workstations on a new DC. It even joins the domain for you all in one step.
I think there is a manual way of doing it via the registry but I was surprised how easy this was using forensit's utility.

 

[knc]

https://www.forensit.com/downloads.html

User profile wizard. Couldn't be any easier. We just did this with 16 workstations on a new DC. It even joins the domain for you all in one step.
I think there is a manual way of doing it via the registry but I was surprised how easy this was using forensit's utility.

YES, I have seen these guys and looked at their product. I could not, unfortunately get a return call to answer my questions, so I thought better to leave them alone. .I didn't want to try an unknown product on a new client.. I would love to use them.

 

[Mainstay]

we've used forensit: User Profile Wizard Professional Edition @ $90 USD... well worth it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Honestly, quite easy to do it manually. Even via UNC path from the server...remotely. Takes but a couple of seconds to browse users old local profile, and copy key folders and files into the same structure in their new domain profile. Piece of cake.

 

[Mainstay]

Honestly, quite easy to do it manually

We had a W7 Ultimate system that needed to make the transition to a Domain Controller that was accessed over a bridged VPN.

The bridge shouldn't have made any difference, but we had no end of difficulty getting all of his settings and preferences over.

One of the vendors we were working with mentioned this program (Profile Wizard). I had never heard of it, and frankly the website didn't evoke a sense of confidence.

We gave it a shot, and 30 minutes later they were joined to the domain and hadn't even realized the migration had taken place.

So yes, manual is always good (especially for maintaining ones skills and avoid being a script-kiddy), but sometimes these automated programs really do come to the rescue.

(I keep flirting with buying Fab's for this same line of thinking).

 

[bitznpcz]

I've used Forensit User Profile Wizard Professional Edition on a few occasions and it does what it says on the tin. Should work for your situation.

 

[cyabro]

+1 for the Profile Wizard. Personal Edition would be fine for you, that's all I used.
I used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago on 18 workstations and it worked perfectly on them all.

 

[OaksLabs]

I believe the User State Migration Tool (USMT) from Microsoft is still around and supported -- and it can do it (I think its command line based, but I've never used it...).

 

[nlinecomputers]

(I keep flirting with buying Fab's for this same line of thinking).

Yes you should get FABS. The amount of billable time you are wasting doing it all by hand will pay for it in a few days. Yes everyone needs to know how to do this by hand but automation is the whole point of having computers and as techs we should be the first to embrace it when we can.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yes you should get FABS. The amount of billable time you are wasting doing it all by hand will pay for it in a few days. .

I LOL at that.
I'd have it done by hand before you even get 1/2 way through installing the home user migration tools. Such exaggeration..."pay for it in days"...really...copy 'n paste remotely from server via UNC path gets it done literally in seconds....without visiting the workstation.

I can see some tools like that be handy for replacing home user workstations with lots of baloney fluff on them and residential grade e-mail clients. But for business setup, domain profiles...piece of cake man...piece of cake.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I LOL at that.
I'd have it done by hand before you even get 1/2 way through installing the home user migration tools. Such exaggeration..."pay for it in days"...really...copy 'n paste remotely from server via UNC path gets it done literally in seconds....without visiting the workstation.

I can see some tools like that be handy for replacing home user workstations with lots of baloney fluff on them and residential grade e-mail clients. But for business setup, domain profiles...piece of cake man...piece of cake.

Apples and oranges here. FABS isn't a profile migration tool. It for migration of data from one machine to another.

 

[nlinecomputers]

For profile changes I do this. http://itswapshop.com/tutorial/wind...es-5-steps-and-5-minutes-using-registry-tweak

 

[cypress]

We had a W7 Ultimate system that needed to make the transition to a Domain Controller that was accessed over a bridged VPN.

The bridge shouldn't have made any difference, but we had no end of difficulty getting all of his settings and preferences over.

One of the vendors we were working with mentioned this program (Profile Wizard). I had never heard of it, and frankly the website didn't evoke a sense of confidence.

We gave it a shot, and 30 minutes later they were joined to the domain and hadn't even realized the migration had taken place.

So yes, manual is always good (especially for maintaining ones skills and avoid being a script-kiddy), but sometimes these automated programs really do come to the rescue.

(I keep flirting with buying Fab's for this same line of thinking).

It really is a no brainer lol. Get it and never look back!

 

[knc]

I LOL at that.
I'd have it done by hand before you even get 1/2 way through installing the home user migration tools. Such exaggeration..."pay for it in days"...really...copy 'n paste remotely from server via UNC path gets it done literally in seconds....without visiting the workstation.

I can see some tools like that be handy for replacing home user workstations with lots of baloney fluff on them and residential grade e-mail clients. But for business setup, domain profiles...piece of cake man...piece of cake.

Stone can you explain your process? does it preserver the entire desktop in terms of wall paper and outlook settings?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Stone can you explain your process? does it preserver the entire desktop in terms of wall paper and outlook settings?

Process...while remoted into the server, browse through the network to \\workstationname\c$\users and drill into old user profile, copy 'n paste important folders into new users profile. You'll see the new domain as C:\users\jsmith.domain or whatever new login name is.

For business clients (which is all I really deal with)....I'm only concerned with data. Despite the usual instructions of "keep your files on servers drives"....end users often have files on their desktop. Plus useful shortcuts. So I copy the desktop folder. I'll copy other library folders also..Faves, Downloads, Pics, etc.

Those important library folders will get grabbed by a GPO I make to redirect them to the server after first login.

Outlook...business clients are on Exchange Server (either local or hosted like O365)...so there's nothing there. If the user had personal archives, easy enough to grab and mount.

Wallpaper I usually don't worry about, I often push out a company logo desktop anyways, but wallpaper is a personal preference, most people seem to not mind setting up a new fresh picture anyways. The one or two people who may have whined about it (out of say a 25 or 50 user migrations)......you can reach through the network and retrieve it (if they're an important person like "the boss" and worth the few minutes time).....it's a registry key and picture is located in a directory deep inside AppData in their old profile. A quick copy 'n paste, and a quick remote regedit...done.

I know for residential users moving entire profiles is important, migrating to new computer. But with business clients, it's all about production....business use, line of biz apps, data, peripherals like printers.

Speaking of printers, they should be controlled by the server, shared by the server, pushed out and installed on the workstations via GPO....so copying over the whole profile including what printers were installed locally..blows things up and makes a mess...you'd have to go in and uninstall the old local printers, takes up time. (although I can pull them through N-Able..but it still takes extra time)

Old profiles also typically include bugs/glitches....remnants of malware/junkware....stuff that installs in HKCU and %userprofile%\AppData. I don't want to bring glitches over to a new profile. Setting up a clean, virgin profile, and cherry picking only the important data..allows a chance to ditch those glitches present in the old profile.

 

[marley1]

This is a trivial task. Do you have an experience with a domain?

Like yeolde says this takes no time manually.

Setup for redirection on DC and group policy for printers and shortcuts and drive maps

Join machine to domain add domain users to the local group so you can install thing

Restart login as user.

Go to the c:\users and copy the old documents desktop favorites.
Load up outlook and import old mail
Send test email so it builds blank nk2 then copy and replace the old into the new by renaming

If outlook 10 or 13 sand cogent but with different file

 

[cyabro]

Doing it manually is the way I used to do it until I found Profile Wizard.
No copying of data is done so is a lot quicker.
It reassigns the old user profile folder to the new user account.

 

[Matthew Bradley]

Doing it manually is the way I used to do it until I found Profile Wizard.
No copying of data is done so is a lot quicker.
It reassigns the old user profile folder to the new user account.

Agreed. To each his own I suppose, but personally, it's almost laughable how simple Profile Wizard is. It's maybe, 3 mouse clicks, inputting domain admin credentials and selecting a radio box. We're probably splitting hairs here "this takes 14 seconds.. no my way only takes 11 seconds!". I just know the clients we deal with would hang us up by our pinkie toes if they came in Monday morning and didn't have their icons in the EXACT same places along with all there other little idiosyncratic settings that wouldn't get transferred by the *manual* method. Sure, it's nice to start with a clean slate and a pristine appdata folder. In a perfect world, I'd prefer doing it that way but our clients are far from perfect.

 

[Mainstay]

but our clients are far from perfect.

wait, what? I'm sure it must be just you, our clients are, of course, just perfect. ;-)

(The icon thing alone is enough reason to use Profile Wizard).