Profile migration

The Management Suite profile migration feature adds device profile migration capabilities to your network. Profile migration is used with other OS deployment and provisioning features to streamline new device provisioning and existing device migration, without requiring additional end-user or IT interaction once the process starts.

NOTE: For information on installing the OS deployment and profile migration component on your core server, and configuring your OS deployment and profile migration environment, refer to OS deployment

Read this chapter to learn about:

Profile migration overview

Profile migration complements OS deployment by offering a complete user migration solution. With profile migration, you can preserve customized user profiles, desktops, settings for applications, network connections, printers, files, and folders, as you implement upgrade or migration projects. Profile migration supports in-place migrations of individual devices as well as remote, large-scale migrations of multiple devices across your network.

The User Migration Assistant (UMA) tool is used for migration tasks: it runs on each managed device to capture profiles and restore them on a new OS. When you schedule an OS deployment script, the UMA is installed on the managed device after the first time the "Capture profile" or "Restore profile" task is run on the device. You can also run the UMA as a standalone tool on managed devices after it has been installed (see Migrating user profiles).

Profile migration is a two-part process:

  1. Capturing a source device's unique profile, consisting of user accounts, desktop (PC) and application settings, network settings, printers, and data files and folders.
  2. Restoring the profile to a target device.

For step-by-step descriptions of the profile capture and restore procedures, see Creating migration scripts with the OS deployment wizard .

For page-by-page descriptions of the wizard's interface, see OS deployment and Profile migration wizard help.

How profile migration works

Using profile migration, you can create separate capture and restore scripts with the OS Deployment/Migration Tasks wizard. The script can then be scheduled to run remotely on one or multiple target devices on your network. The actual process of capturing and restoring profiles is done by the User Migration Assistant (UMA), an executable that is silently installed on the managed device as the script is running.

What can be captured depends on the User Migration Assistant command file source, an XML file with specific settings related to profile migration. Each item in the file can be turned on or off by setting it to True or False. For example, the setting <mouse>true</mouse> means that the user's mouse setting will be captured. A sample command file is provided for your reference, located in the <core server>\ldlogon\uma\commandxml folder.

For more information about the types of data that can be migrated, see Defining profile content.

Prerequisites

To do a profile migration, devices must meet the following prerequisites:

Migration paths

Profile migration supports migrating across the following Windows operating system versions:

NOTE: Work environments from a 32-bit OS can be migrated to a 64-bit OS, but you can't migrate from a 64-bit OS to a 32-bit OS.

NOTE: The source and target devices must run the same language version of Windows.

For a detailed list of allowable migration scenarios, see "Using profile migration in LANDesk Management Suite 9," which can be downloaded from the LANDesk support community at community.landesk.com.

Creating migration scripts with the OS deployment wizard 

The steps below outline the basic procedures for capturing and restoring a device's profile using the OS deployment wizard. For more information about each of these steps, click the Help button located on each page of the script wizard.

To create a profile capture script
  1. Click Tools > Distribution > OS Deployment.
  2. If you have not yet done so, validate your operating system preboot environment license. Click the Validate licenses button on the toolbar and click Validate now for DOS or Windows environments. (For more information about validating licenses, see OS image guidelines).
  3. In the Operating system deployment window, right-click My OSD Group members or All OSD Scripts and then select the PE configuration type you want to create. (Only Windows and DOS PE configurations can capture profiles.)

    Use My OSD Group members to create a private profile migration script; use All OSD Scripts to create a public profile migration script.

  4. Select Capture profile, and then click OK.
  5. On the General page, enter a description for the script. If you want the profile capture to continue even when there are errors, select the Continue with file capture errors check box. (If you select this, the file errors are recorded in the log file.)
  6. On the Storage UNC page, enter a UNC path and authentication credentials for the location where you want to store the profile data. Specify a filename to use for storing the profile data.
  7. On the UMA command file page, specify the name and location of the command file to be used for profile migration. Click Edit to create a new command file or edit an existing command file.
  8. Click Save to create the profile capture script.
To run a profile capture script
  1. Click Tools > Distribution > OS Deployment.
  2. In the All OSD scripts folder, select the capture script.
  3. Click the Schedule button on the toolbar.
  4. Using the Scheduled tasks tool, schedule the script to run on one or more target devices on your network.

Storing profile data for multiple devices (and multiple users)

Profile data is stored in System Migration Assistant (.sma) files in a directory structure located under the UNC path you specify. If you run a profile capture script on multiple devices, each device's profile data is stored in a separate directory named after its unique Windows computer name.

Likewise, if multiple users are discovered and captured on the same source device, each user's profile data is stored in a separate subdirectory of the device's directory, and is named with the user login name. In other words, every migrated device has its own profile storage directory and contains a subdirectory for every captured user account on that device.

To create a profile restore script
  1. Click Tools > Distribution > OS Deployment..
  2. In the Operating system deployment window, right-click All OSD Scripts and then select the PE configuration type you want to create. Only Windows and DOS PE configurations can restore profiles.
  3. Select Restore profile, and then click OK.
  4. On the General page, enter a name and a description for the script.
  5. On the Profile storage page, enter a UNC path and authentication credentials for the location where the profile data is stored.
  6. Click Save to create the profile restore script.
To run a profile restore script
  1. Click Tools > Distribution > OS Deployment.
  2. In the All OSD scripts folder, select the restore script.
  3. Click the Schedule button on the toolbar.
  4. Using the Scheduled tasks tool, schedule the script to run on one or more target devices on your network.

Profile migration log file

Profile migration creates a log file for every script you run. Log files are saved on the core server in the <core server>\ldlog folder. Log files are named CJ-OSD-scriptname-date-time.log

Defining profile content

Profile migration lets you migrate the following content:

User accounts are migrated by default. Settings and files are migrated according to user-defined rules in the UMA command file, described in the following sections.

NOTE: You don't need to edit the UMA command file directly; the OS deployment Capture Profile wizard gives you the option to select settings as you are creating a profile capture script. The wizard lets you change settings for the desktop, applications, and network. However, if you want to change other settings that are not in the wizard, the following sections will help you modify the UMA command file.

Creating a command file

The User Migration Assistant (UMA) stores information about the profile content you want to migrate in an XML file called a command file. To specify what options are stored when you capture a profile, you edit the command file.

The easiest way to create a new command file is to create or edit one when you create a profile capture script in the Operating system deployment tool (see To create a profile capture script). The command file you create here will have the default settings plus any changes you have made to the desktop, application, and network settings that are listed for you.

If you want to further customize the many settings in the command file, you can create a new XML file with the settings you want. A sample command file (sample_command_file.xml) is found on the core server in the <core server>\ldlogon\uma\commandxml folder. Copy this sample file to create custom files for different profile migration tasks.

The following sections contain specific help for customizing a command file by editing the XML document.

NOTE: If you delete a command file from the core server, any migration script referencing that command file will not run properly. You should also delete any scripts that reference the file, or edit them to reference another command file.

Migrating user profiles

In a scripted profile migration, all discovered local and domain user accounts on the source devices are captured by default, except for the All Users and Default User accounts.

All captured user accounts will be restored to the target devices. A user account that does not already exist on the target device will be created as a new local user account and its settings migrated. Before restoring user accounts, you can enter a default password for these new local user accounts. If a duplicate user account does already exist on the target device, the captured (source) user account's settings will be migrated to the existing user account, but the user's current password is preserved and should be used to log in.

To specify which user profiles to migrate

In the UMA command file, include user names to migrate in the <IncUsers> section. You can include all users with the variable $(all) or specify individual names enclosed in <UserName></UserName> tags. A code sample is shown below.

<IncUsers>

<UserName>$(all)</UserName>

</IncUsers>

To specify which user profiles to exclude from migration

In the UMA command file, exclude user names to migrate in the <ExcUsers> section. Specify individual names enclosed in <UserName></UserName> tags. A code sample is shown below.

<ExcUsers>

<UserName>ASPNET</UserName>

</ExcUsers>

Migrating desktop settings 

Many of the customized and optimized settings on your device desktops can be migrated. These settings are defined in the <Desktop> section in the command file. For each item you want to include, specify true within the tags (for example, <colors>true</colors> will capture color settings). For items you do not want to include, specify false within the tags. You can select from the following settings:

The following restrictions apply to desktop settings:

A code sample of desktop settings is shown below.

<Desktop>

<desktop_settings>true</desktop_settings>

<accessibility>true</accessibility>

<active_desktop>true</active_desktop>

<colors>true</colors>

<desktop_icons>true</desktop_icons>

<display>false</display>

<icon_metrics>false</icon_metrics>

<keyboard>true</keyboard>

<mouse>true</mouse>

<pattern>false</pattern>

<screen_saver>true</screen_saver>

<sendto_menu>false</sendto_menu>

<shell>false</shell>

<sound>true</sound>

<start_menu>false</start_menu>

<taskbar>false</taskbar>

<time_zone>true</time_zone>

<wallpaper>true</wallpaper>

<window_metrics>false</window_metrics>

</Desktop>

Migrating application settings and associated files

Persistent application settings and associated files can be migrated as part of a device's profile. Application programs themselves are not migrated during profile migration (however, they can be part of an OS image deployment).

Individual applications are specified for migration in the <Applications> section of the command file. You can specify that all application settings are migrated by using the variable $(all).

UMA can capture the user's settings and customizations. For Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook, the settings might be the address book and any locally stored e-mail. For Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, the customizations might include bookmarks, cookies, and preferences.

For more information about the restrictions that apply to migrating specific applications, see "Using profile migration in LANDesk Management Suite 9," which can be downloaded from the LANDesk support community at community.landesk.com.

A code sample of application settings is shown below.

<Applications>

<Application>$(all)</Application>

</Applications>

<Inclusions>

<IncDescription>

<Description>%Personal Directory%\ /s</Description>

<DateCompare>

<Operand />

<Date />

</DateCompare>

<SizeCompare>

<Operand />

<Size />

</SizeCompare>

<Dest />

<Operation />

</IncDescription>

</Inclusions>

<Exclusions>

<ExcDescription>

<Description>%Personal Directory%\*.vol /s</Description>

<DateCompare>

<Operand />

<Date />

</DateCompare>

<SizeCompare>

<Operand />

<Size />

</SizeCompare>

</ExcDescription>

</Exclusions>

Migrating printer settings

Printer settings to migrate are specified in the <Printers> section of the command file. You can specify individual printer settings by enclosing the printer name within <Printer></Printer> tags, or you can migrate all settings by using the variable $(all).

NOTE: You can only migrate printer settings for printers that have built-in printer definitions in the operating system you are using.

Virtual printers settings (for example, settings for an XPS printer) can't be migrated from a source computer to a target computer.

A code sample of printer settings is shown below.

<Printers>

<Printer>$(all)</Printer>

</Printers>

Migrating network settings

You can migrate settings for network connections and configurations, computer identification, and mapped drives. These settings are defined in the <Network> section in the command file. For each item you want to include, specify true within the tags (for example, <computer_name>true</computer_name> will capture the computer name). For items you do not want to include, specify false within the tags. You can select from the following settings:

TCP / IP configuration

Network identification

Other

The following restrictions apply to network settings:

A code sample of network settings is shown below.

<Network>

<ip_subnet_gateway_configuration>false</ip_subnet_gateway_configuration>

<dns_configuration>false</dns_configuration>

<wins_configuration>false</wins_configuration>

<computer_name>false</computer_name>

<computer_description>false</computer_description>

<domain_workgroup>false</domain_workgroup>

<shared_folders_drives>true</shared_folders_drives>

<mapped_drives>true</mapped_drives>

<dialup_networking>true</dialup_networking>

<microsoft_networking>false</microsoft_networking>

<odbc_datasources>false</odbc_datasources>

</Network>

Migrating files and folders

You can migrate individual or multiple files determined by directory location and filename. File and folder settings are enabled in the <FilesAndFolders> section of the command file. You can specify individual folders and files in the <Inclusions> and <Exclusions> sections of the document to specify which files you do and don't want to include.

Input the files that you want to migrate. The Files / Folders page lists the files on the source computer, sorted by location. You can select all the files in a location, or you can expand the tree and select individual files.

Consider where you want the selected files to be placed on the target computer. If the hard disks on the source and target computers are configured differently, you must select alternative destinations for files and directories.

NOTE: Be careful when changing the locations of files. Batch and configuration files might contain fully qualified path names. If you change the locations of the files and directories to which the batch and configuration files refer, the programs or tasks will not run successfully.

A code sample of file and folder settings is shown below.

<FilesAndFolders>

<run>true</run>

</FilesAndFolders>

<ArchiveFile>

<filename></filename>

</ArchiveFile>

 

<Inclusions>

<IncDescription>

<Description>%Personal Directory% /s</Description>

<DateCompare>

<Operand></Operand>

<Date></Date>

</DateCompare>

<SizeCompare>

<Operand></Operand>

<Size></Size>

</SizeCompare>

<Dest></Dest>

<Operation></Operation>

</IncDescription>

</Inclusions>

<Exclusions>

<ExcDescription>

<Description>%Personal Directory%\*.vol /s</Description>

<DateCompare>

<Operand></Operand>

<Date></Date>

</DateCompare>

<SizeCompare>

<Operand></Operand>

<Size></Size>

</SizeCompare>

</ExcDescription>

</Exclusions>