SBS 2003: Migrate user profile from another domain (with the old server dead)

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tripex

Gawd
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Jun 8, 2002
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Hello my never-disappointing friends,

Today i am here to request help on this situation:


The old server has crashed. It was a Windows NT Server.
It was running a local domain but the backup is also fucked and as such, no information was retrieved :(

Afterwards, a new server with SBS 2003 Premium was installed, new domain name (mydomain.local).

After the crash, some computers were immediatly moved to a (temporary) workgroup so they could work together and stayed like this for a couple weeks. For these, the transition for the new domain was painless (using the http://server/connectcomputer migration wizard).

But one or two computers were left on the old non-existent domain.
I need to migrate these two babies to the new SBS domain.

The profiles are local, not roaming.

How do i migrate them?


TIA
 
Remove the machines from the old domain using the old domain admin account then connect them to the new one.
 
"After the crash, some computers were immediatly moved to a workgroup. The transition for the new domain was painless (using the http://server/connectcomputer migration wizard)."

Youd move those 2 exactly the same way as the previous ones....since the domain was no longer available either time. (unless Im missing something)
 
dbwillis said:
"After the crash, some computers were immediatly moved to a workgroup. The transition for the new domain was painless (using the http://server/connectcomputer migration wizard)."

Youd move those 2 exactly the same way as the previous ones....since the domain was no longer available either time. (unless Im missing something)
Click to expand...

Sorry, maybe i didnt explain it right.

When the old server crashed, most computers were moved to a temporary WORKGROUP configuration, so they could network together, share files, printers, etc. At that time, user documents were MOVED LOCALLY from the old NT domain profile to the new Workgroup profile (this was done manually by other people).

Later, when I added those computers to the new SBS domain, the "connectcomputer" wizard did its work and transformed the local Workgroup profiles into SBS domain profiles. No need for me to move documents and outlook stuffs.


But these 2 computers (with Windows XP) were left on the old NT domain. Right now they still log on to the old NT non-existent domain.

I can add them to the new SBS domain, but i cant migrate the profiles because the wizard says the profile belongs to another domain, blablabla. I really need to keep the user settings.

Thats my problem right there.

HELP :(
 
Hey i found this thru Google and I would like to ask you guys which of the solutions they posted there is better for me:

Migrating Local User Profiles from one domain to another
http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=94668

--------------------
Update:

I just tried "Method 4" listed from the above link, which explains how to "Copy the user profile".
I did this on a test environment, not on the computer where my real problem is, unsolved.

And this didnt work. I mean, it copied everything successfully, but then i noticed that the paths didnt change and things may bork in unexpected times, so this is not a safe solution for me. Like when i opened Outlook, it tried to access the "outlook.pst" that was on the source profile folder.

I thought it translated everything to the new profile path, but no.
Apparently, "Method 4" is lame like that.
 
swatbat said:
Remove the machines from the old domain using the old domain admin account then connect them to the new one.
Click to expand...

Btw, this will not work.

When logged in to the new domain, i'm sure a new profile folder will be created under Docs and Settings.
Obviously, it's going to ignore the old profile folder.
 
Log into the old domain profile, run the transfer files and settings wizard to copy the profile to another location on the drive (like C:\profiletrans).

Then log into the new domain profile, and once again run the transfer files and settings wizard to transfer the profile from its new location (c:\profiletrans) to the new domain profile.
 
You will need to do the following on each workstation:

Method 1, machines have already been moved to new domain:

1. Have user log on as new domain account after the workstation has been joined to the new domain. (Note user's profile directory name).
2. Reboot.
3. Log on as local administrator.
4. Launch regedit.
5. Go to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
6. Find the subkey with the "ProfileImagepath" noted in step 1.
7. Change the value of "ProfileImagePath" to point at the user's previous profile directory.
8. Add the user's new domain account with full control to the specified folder and subfolders. (Not needed if the user's new domain account has local admin rights).
9. Reboot.

Log in as new domain user. If your users were using Outlook Exchange email, you'll need to go in and fix their user config, but that should be about it. Their old profile should load with no issues.

Method 2 (machines are still in old domain, MS would prefer you do it this way, but if the users have much data, you'll eat up a lot of drive space, and it only works for one user per machine):

1. Boot machine unattached to the network.
2. Log in as local admin.
3. Open a copy of explorer and make sure show hidden files is on.
4. Open system control panel.
5. Go to profile managment.
6. Select the user's profile from the list. Select to copy it.
7. Specify the target as "C:\documenats and settings\.default".
8. Add machine to new domain.

Log in as the new domain user, the users previous profile settings will be copied to their new profile.
 
Does the path in step 7. Specify the target as "C:\documenats and settings\.default". contain a period before the default or is that a typo?
 
Thanks nessus

Method 2 looked like it was going to copy all the documents and stuff as default settings for new user profiles.

Because this profile had around 36 gigs in and i was afraid of losing something, i followed Method 1 (seemed more safe for me).

It worked nice.

Theres just one thing that bothers me:



As you can see on that picture from User Profiles on My Computer, there is now 2 similar accounts, taking the same amount of space (which is not even right, that profile has like 36gigs, not 516megs) and one of the account is Unknown while the other is the one from the New domain - i just scrambled the domain and user name for security reasons.

Also, loading that window - User Profiles - now takes extra time, why?

I would defenitely like to fix this annoyances.

But thanks for your incredible tip!
 
BioPort said:
Log into the old domain profile, run the transfer files and settings wizard to copy the profile to another location on the drive (like C:\profiletrans).

Then log into the new domain profile, and once again run the transfer files and settings wizard to transfer the profile from its new location (c:\profiletrans) to the new domain profile.
Click to expand...


Thanks, i also tried this before nessus trick, but it crashed a lot, so i quit.
 
tripex said:
Thanks nessus

Method 2 looked like it was going to copy all the documents and stuff as default settings for new user profiles.

Because this profile had around 36 gigs in and i was afraid of losing something, i followed Method 1 (seemed more safe for me).

It worked nice.

Theres just one thing that bothers me:



As you can see on that picture from User Profiles on My Computer, there is now 2 similar accounts, taking the same amount of space (which is not even right, that profile has like 36gigs, not 516megs) and one of the account is Unknown while the other is the one from the New domain - i just scrambled the domain and user name for security reasons.

Also, loading that window - User Profiles - now takes extra time, why?

I would defenitely like to fix this annoyances.

But thanks for your incredible tip!
Click to expand...


Bumper bomps.
 
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