Installing USMT

USMT 4.0 is included in the Windows Automated Installation Kit 2.0 (Windows AIK 2.0). You can download the Windows AIK from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads. After downloading and installing the Windows AIK, the USMT source files are in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT\Platform, where Platform is either amd64 or x86.

You can stage USMT directly on each client computer or on a network share. If you're using MDT 2010, it can install USMT in deployment shares automatically. MDT 2010 already contains logic for using USMT to save and restore user state data on each computer.

You use USMT in a number of ways: on a network share, on Windows PE media, on an MDT 2010 deployment share, or with Configuration Manager. The last two options enable migration during LTI and ZTI deployment projects. The following sections describe each option.

Network Share

After installing the Windows AIK on a local computer, you can copy the contents of the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT\ to a network share. Then you can run ScanState and LoadState remotely on each computer.

Windows PE Media

USMT 4.0 supports offline migration. That is, you can run USMT from a Windows PE session to save user state data without actually starting the old operating system. To support this scenario, you must copy the USMT binary files to your Windows PE media.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

Unlike earlier versions of MDT, MDT 2010 automatically adds USMT to deployment shares when you update them. It copies the files from the Windows AIK to the USMT folder in the deployment share. You do not have to do anything additional to install USMT in a deployment share.

Configuration Manager

You can use USMT with Configuration Manager to manage user state migrations during operating system deployment. For more information, see the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 documentation.