Windows User State Migration Tool

Use USMT to migrate user state in high-volume deployment projects. It can execute complex, repeatable migrations of user state data between operating systems. You can script USMT; you can execute it as part of an MDT 2010 Lite Touch Installation (LTI) or Zero Touch Installation (ZTI); or you can execute it directly at the command prompt.

In addition to document and settings migration, USMT can migrate application preferences for Microsoft Office applications between versions of Office. For example, USMT can migrate Office XP settings to the Microsoft 2007 Office system. Version 4.0 is the new version of USMT supporting Windows 7 migrations. It includes numerous changes from USMT 3.0, but the most notable are:

• Hard-link migration store For use in Refresh Computer scenarios only, hard-link migration stores are stored locally on the computer that you're refreshing and can migrate user accounts, files, and settings in less time using far less disk space.
• Support for offline Windows operating systems You can gather data from an offline Windows operating system using the ScanState command in Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). In addition, USMT now supports migrations from previous installations of Windows contained in Windows.old directories.
• Volume Shadow Copy support With the /vsc command-line option, the ScanState command can now use the Volume Shadow Copy service to capture files that are locked for editing by other applications.

This tutorial mostly describes USMT because of its power and flexibility in large-scale migrations. Later in this tutorial, you will learn how to plan, develop, and deploy a custom migration project by using USMT.

Microsoft IntelliMirror

Microsoft introduced IntelliMirror with Microsoft Windows 2000 so that users' data and settings could follow them from computer to computer on the network. The following two IntelliMirror features in particular minimize the need to migrate user state when deploying Windows 7 because these features store user state on the network.

• Roaming user profiles Roaming user profiles ensure that users' data and settings follow them on the network. This feature copies users' data and settings to a network server when they log off their computers and then restores their data and settings when they log on to another computer anywhere on the network. This feature provides a transparent way to back up users' data and settings to a network server.
• Folder redirection Folder redirection allows IT professionals to redirect certain folders (My Documents, Application Data, and so on) from the user's computer to a server. This feature protects user data by storing it on a network server, thereby providing centralized storage and administrator-managed backups. When used with roaming user profiles, folder redirection speeds the logon process by removing documents and other large files from the user profile.

Note Windows 7 and Windows Vista store user profiles using a different folder hierarchy than Windows XP.