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Tip: New User State Migration Toolkit (USMT) Features for Windows 7

Hard-Link Migration Store: The new hard-link migration store is for use in computer-refresh scenarios only. Hard-link migration stores are stored locally on the computer that is being refreshed and can migrate user accounts, files, and settings in less time using megabytes of disk space instead of gigabytes.

Running ScanState on Offline Windows Images: You can run the ScanState command in Microsoft Windows PE. In addition, USMT now supports migration from previous installations of Windows contained in Windows.old directories. The offline directory can be a Windows directory when you run the ScanState command in Windows PE or Windows.old when you run the ScanState command in Windows .

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.

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New AES Encryption Options: USMT now provides support for stronger encryption algorithms in several key size options, based on support in the source computer’s operating system.

Configurable File Errors: You can use the new <ErrorControl> section in the Config.xml file to configure which file or registry read/write errors can be safely ignored by the /c command-line option and which ones might cause the migration to fail. In addition, the /genconfig option now generates a sample <ErrorControl> section that is enabled by specifying error codes and desired behaviors in the Config.xml file.

New Helper Functions: The ScanState command has two new helper functions that enable new migration scenarios:

  • MigXmlHelper.FileProperties can be used to control which files are migrated, based on properties that you specify. For example, date created, date modified, date accessed, and file size.
  • MigXmlHelper.GenerateDocPatterns can be used to find user documents on a computer automatically without your having to author extensive custom migration .xml files.

Improved Space Estimation: The ScanState command now more accurately estimates the size of the migration store as well as the additional temporary disk space required to create the migration store. This results in a reduction of migration failures due to low disk space. The ScanState command now also estimates the size of the compressed migration store.

List of Files Being Migrated: You can use the /listfiles command-line option for the ScanState command to generate a text file list of all files included in the migration.

Usmtutils.exe: This is a new tool that supplements the functionality provided by Scanstate.exe and Loadstate.exe.

Local Group Migration: You can use the new <ProfileControl> section in the Config.xml file to configure local group membership of users during the migration. For instance, you could use this to change users from being members of the local administrators group to being members of the local users group during a migration.

Tip provided by Stephen Rose, the Senior Community Manager for the TechNet Springboard Series. Stephen supports Windows Client IT Pros (for Windows Vista and Windows 7) worldwide. He is an MCSE, MCT, and two time MVP in Setup and Deployment.

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