Easiest way to rename a local profile folder to match new domain account?

[Dr. X]

So we recently upgraded our server at work and moved to a domain from a workgroup. I migrated all the existing local user accounts to be associated with the new domain accounts which is all well and good, but the local profile folder is still named the same as the old local user account. Is there an easy way to change this to be the same as the new domain account? Or do I have to create a new local account with the correct name, copy the old profile data and then reassociate that profile with the new domain account?

 

[Tee]

http://www.forensit.com/domain-migration.html

 

[Dr. X]

http://www.forensit.com/domain-migration.html

I used this already on a couple of machines that were giving me problems with the http://connect app and it doesn't provide a way to rename the local folder afaik. It works great to reassociate the domain account with the local folder though.

 

[exchange keys]

What is the client OS?

 

[Dr. X]

A mix of XP and Win7.

 

[cafcwest]

If the machines are setup on the domain and your users now have domain accounts, why do you need any local profiles? (other than a local admin)

 

[exchange keys]

It's been a while since I had to do this manually, but I think you gotta do the following:

Disclaimer: Test this first before doing it on a "real" end user workstation. As I've stated previously, it has been a while...

1. Log into the migrated workstation with the end user's domain account

2. Open the Registry Editor (run as administrator if you have to) and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

3. Look in the key for the relative ID (last four digits of the SID) of the "new profile" and highlight it:

Example: S-1-5-21-3213180722-1427224269-1809740700-1117

4. Look for the ProfileImagePath field. The "new profile" will either have C:\Documents and Settings\username.domain (Windows XP) or C:\Users\username.domain (Windows 7)

5. Change the ProfileImagePath entry to point from the "new profile" to the "old profile" (you'll find the "old profile" from one of the SIDs in the ProfileList)

6. Change the "new profile's SID" to something like: S-1-5-21-3213180722-1427224269-1809740700-1117.bak so it doesn't mess up logins after restart, and you have a backup of the key. You can also export the key, but this will work out fine.

7. Restart workstation and log in with domain user account.

Hopefully this works out for you. Also, look into the User State Migration Tool from Microsoft.