Adding Custom Migration Files

MDT 2010 will use only the MigApp.xml and MigDocs.xml files unless you indicate the path to your custom .xml files. As with other properties in MDT 2010, you can configure them in each deployment point's CustomSettings.ini file or add them to the MDT 2010 database.

Set the property USMTMigFiles to the name of each custom migration .xml file. If you don't configure this property, MDT 2010 uses the default migration files: MigApp.xml and MigDocs.xml. If you do configure this option, MDT 2010 uses only the files specified in the property. Therefore, if you configure this property, it must also include the default migration .xml files. For example, the following line in CustomSettings.ini adds Custom.xml to the default .xml files.

USMTMigFiles1=MigApp.xml
USMTMigFiles2=MigDocs.xml
USMTMigFiles4=Custom.xml

Note Do not try to customize the script that drives the USMT process (ZTIUserState.wsf) to add migration .xml files by adding the /i command-line option. This can potentially cause the script to work improperly and may make upgrading to future versions of MDT problematic. Add custom migration .xml files only by customizing the USMTMigFiles property.

Final Discussion

Migrating user state is an important aspect of desktop deployment because it minimizes lost productivity and increases user satisfaction. User state migration requires thorough planning and a good understanding of user, application, and system settings, as well as knowledge of the location of data files in your environment. SMEs can assist with the identification of files and settings for migration, and you should test all migration projects extensively to ensure that they will function properly in your production environment.

USMT offers the most powerful migration options for high-volume deployment projects. As a user state migration engine, USMT has support built in to MDT 2010. In fact, you can provide support for migrating most common data and settings with not much more effort than customizing each deployment share's CustomSettings.ini. By creating custom migration .xml files, you can add support for corner cases and custom applications that your organization uses.