Migrating users from Windows.old with USMT after re-install

Hi all,

I had to reinstall Windows 7 Pro SP1 after moving the hard drive to a new computer where it wouldn't wake up.

I used MS' User State Migration Tool (USMT) with the expectation that I could migrate all the users from Windows.old to the current install. After reading the docs and a few failed attempts, I finally ended up with the following scanstate command:

Code:

scanstate \usmt /all /v:13 /hardlink /nocompress /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /i:migdocs.xml /offlinewindir:\windows.old\windows

That completed with no errors, so I then ran the following loadstate command:

Code:

loadstate \usmt /all /v:13 /hardlink /nocompress /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /i:migdocs.xml /lac /lae

That seemed to work, too, although the users didn't show up in the User Accounts control panel until I set the password options and added them to groups in Local Users and Groups Manager (lusrmgr.msc).

After doing that, all the users showed up, and although their user type and user pictures were missing, it was progress.

After digging in a bit deeper, I found that nearly all of the folders in the users' AppData directory weren't moved. Shouldn't scan/loadstate have moved all the user's data? According to this link, USMT should "migrate everything in a user’s profiles". I would expect that to include the AppData.

Did I miss an option in scanstate or loadstate, or am I expecting it to do something it doesn't do?

Thanks.

It's cleaner to simply copy the data from the active User folders into the new ones, using Organize>Select All dragging to the left-hand Explorer bar corresponding file. This avoids moving User Appdata which provides a corruption path.

gregrocker said:

It's cleaner to simply copy the data from the active User folders into the new ones, using Organize>Select All dragging to the left-hand Explorer bar corresponding file. This avoids moving User Appdata which provides a corruption path.

I'm not following. You're suggesting that I simply copy all the content in C:\Windows.old\Users\%USER%\* to C:\Users\%USER%? Wouldn't that also copy AppData?

How is that avoiding any potential corruption? And an actual file copy is WAY slower than the hard links that USMT uses.

Or am I missing something?

No, I was suggesting to drag only the active populated User folders to backup and then restore them as stated after reinstall/recovery. I meant to specifically exclude User Appdata plus anything else in the tree that is not a folder you're actually using, e.g. Documents, Pics, Downloads, Favorites - but perhaps not Music.