Quick Start Checklist

Applies To: Windows 7

This topic outlines the general process that you should follow to migrate files and settings. You should complete the following steps:

 

Plan Your Migration

 

Collect Files and Settings from the Source Computer

 

Prepare the Destination Computer and Restore Files and Settings

Plan Your Migration

  1. Plan Your Migration. Depending on whether your migration scenario is refreshing or replacing computers, you can choose an online migration or an offline migration using Windows PE or Windows.old. For more information, see Common Migration Scenarios

  2. Determine What to Migrate. Data you might consider migrating includes end-user information, applications settings, operating-system settings, files, folders, and registry keys.

  3. Determine whether your migration should be online, or offline using Windows PE, or Windows.old. For more information, see Common Migration Scenarios.

  4. Determine where to store data. Depending on the size of your migration store, you can store the data remotely, locally in a hard-link migration store or on a local external storage device, or directly on the destination computer. For more information, see Choose a Migration Store Type.

  5. Utilize the /genmigxml command-line option to determine which files will be included in your migration, and to determine if any modifications are necessary.

  6. Modify the Migration.xml and MigDocs.xml files, and create custom .xml files, if necessary. If you want to modify the migration behavior, for example, you want to migrate the Documents folder but do not want to migrate the Music folder, you can create a custom .xml file or modify the rules in the existing migration .xml files. The document finder, or MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns helper function, can be used to automatically find user documents on a computer without authoring extensive custom migration .xml files.

    You can use the MigXML.xsd file to help you write and validate the .xml files. For more information about modifying these files, see Using USMT and USMT 4.0 XML Reference.

  7. Create a Config.xml File if you want to exclude any components from the migration. To create this file, specify the /genconfig option along with the other .xml files when you use the ScanState command. For example, the following command creates a Config.xml file using the MigUser.xml and MigApp.xml files:

    scanstate /genconfig:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:scanstate.log

  8. Review the migration state of the components listed in the Config.xml file, and specify migrate=no for any that you do not want to migrate.

Collect Files and Settings from the Source Computer

  1. Back up the source computer.

  2. Close all applications. If some applications are running when you run the ScanState command, USMT 4.0 might not migrate all of the specified data. For example, if Microsoft® Office Outlook® is open, USMT might not migrate PST files.

Note

USMT will fail if it cannot migrate a file or setting unless you specify the /c option. When you specify the /c option, USMT will ignore the errors, and log an error each time it encounters a file that is in use that it did not migrate. You can use the <ErrorControl> section in Config.xml to specify which errors should be ignored, and which should cause the migration to fail.

  1. Run the ScanState command on the source computer to collect files and settings. You should specify all of the .xml files that you want the ScanState command to use. For example, this command creates a store for a destination computer running Windows Vista® or Windows 7.

    scanstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /config:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:scan.log

Note

If the source computer is running Windows Vista or Windows® 7, you need to run the ScanState command in Administrator mode. To run in Administrator mode, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run As Administrator. If the source computer is running Windows® XP, you need to run the ScanState command from an account with administrative credentials. For more information about the how the ScanState command processes and stores the data, see How USMT Works.

Prepare the Destination Computer and Restore Files and Settings

  1. Install the operating system on the destination computer.

  2. Install all applications that were on the source computer. Although it is not always essential, it is good practice to install all applications on the destination computer before restoring the user state. This ensures that migrated settings are preserved.

Note

The application version that is installed on the destination computer should be the same version as the one on the source computer. USMT does not support migrating the settings for an older version of an application to a newer version. The exception to this is Microsoft® Office, which USMT can migrate from an older version to a newer version.

  1. Close all applications. If some applications are running when you run the LoadState command, USMT might not migrate all of the specified data. For example, if Microsoft Office Outlook® is open, USMT might not migrate PST files.

Note

Use /c to continue your migration if errors are encountered, and use the <ErrorControl> section in Config.xml to specify which errors should be ignored, and which should cause the migration to fail.

  1. Run the LoadState command on the destination computer. Specify the same set of .xml files that you specified when using the ScanState command. However, you do not have to specify the Config.xml file, unless you want to exclude some of the files and settings that you migrated to the store. For example, you might want to migrate the My Documents folder to the store, but not to the destination computer. To do this, modify the Config.xml file and specify the updated file with the LoadState command. Then, the LoadState command will migrate only the files and settings that you want to migrate. For more information about the how the LoadState command processes and migrates data, see How USMT Works.

    For example, the following command migrates the files and settings to a destination computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7:

    loadstate \\fileserver\migration\mystore /config:config.xml /i:miguser.xml /i:migapp.xml /v:13 /l:load.log

Note

If the destination computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, run the LoadState command in administrator mode. To do this, right-click Command Prompt, and click Run As Administrator.

  1. Log off after you run the LoadState command. Some settings (for example, fonts, wallpaper, and screensaver settings) will not take effect until the next time the user logs on.

See Also

Concepts

Create a Custom XML File
Customize USMT XML Files