Capturing user data

You capture user data from a computer by setting up and running a Move the User: Create task. This saves the user data in a user package, which you can then restore to the same or another computer by running a Move the User: Restore task.

When you set up a Move the User: Create task, you must include the following:

The name of the computer, or group of computers, from which you want to collect user settings.

The location and file name definition for the user packages created by the task.

You can save all of the user packages on the Console server, or save each user package on the client computer from which it was collected.

You need to save all user packages on the Console server when you are moving users from one computer to another. If the target of the task is a computer group, all packages are named automatically. If the target is a single computer, you can specify a name for the package, or use the automatic naming option.

You can set the location to which the user package files are saved on the Console server.

Setting the storage location for user packages

If you want to restore the user settings to the same computers from which they were collected, you may prefer to save each user package on the client computer. This saves network bandwidth during the restore process, making it much quicker and more efficient.

The user profile that specifies the computer users whose settings the task is to collect.

When you run a Move the User: Create task, the user data collected from each computer is saved as a user package in the location that you specified.

Note: If you are capturing and restoring the user settings to the same computers (as you would when rolling out a new operating system), you can perform the entire process in a single task. You need to set up the Create and Restore steps, and whatever other steps are required, in the same task. When you run the task, it automatically performs the Create step first, then any other steps, and finally the Restore step.

The maximum size of a user package is 2 gigabytes. If you attempt to create a larger package, the Move the User: Create task fails.