3rd party profile copy tool?

[Dave]

Hi all,
Does anyone know of a 3rd party tool for Windows 2000 active directory
domains that will allow me to copy client profiles?
Say you were to change your local domain name or install a replacement
server - all clients logging in to the new domain (or new server of the same
domain name) will have a new profile generated automatically - this is
horrible as all the user's settings are lost. The copy profile only works
for accounts on the original domain (making it essentially a useless tool).
TIA,
Dave

 

[Cary Shultz [MVP]]

-----Original Message-----
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a 3rd party tool for Windows 2000 active directory
domains that will allow me to copy client profiles?
Say you were to change your local domain name or install a replacement
server - all clients logging in to the new domain (or new server of the same
domain name) will have a new profile generated automatically - this is
horrible as all the user's settings are lost. The copy profile only works
for accounts on the original domain (making it essentially a useless tool).
TIA,
Dave





.

Dave,

Not really sure what you are trying to find. I have used
the "Copy To..." button in the Users Profile tab a few
times. The last time was a year+ ago when we were bought
out by another company. We simply joined the computer
account to the new domain, logged on as the desired user (
have to do this, otherwise the profile for the user
account in that "new" domain is not created ) and then
went to the 'Copy To...' button and copied over all the
data and settings from the "old" domain to the "new"
domain profile. Granted, it is less than efficient but it
worked nonetheless.

This would be valid for the "change the name" scenario (
assuming that you mean that your company was merged with
another and you are taking 'their' domain name or that you
really did change the name of your domain
from 'yourdomain.local' to 'yourdomain.com' - which would
be interesting ). Not really sure what you mean
by "install a replacement server". Can only guess that
the sole DC in your environment went down in a less than
forgiving manner and you had to "replace" it. This would
be a perfect example of why it is Best Practice to have at
least two DCs ( I understand that it is not always
monetarily feasible.... ).

IIRC, you can use ADMT v2 in as well. But that would
require that the DC from the 'source' domain to still be
active.

HTH,

Cary

 

[Dave]

Cary,

I did everything that way in the past, but have never gotten it to work.

I join the client machine to the new domain, reboot, login to the domain as
the user (a new user is set up in the new domain at the server), it creates
a new profile just fine and dandy. The old profile shows up as "Account
Unknown" and the 'Copy To' is grayed out on every single client machine (all
running W2KSP3 or better), disallowing that feature.

When I say "install a replacement server", I mean that either the server is
set up with all replacement hardware or is upgraded with a new motherboard
that is not identical to the old one - meaning the OS must be completely
reinstalled (otherwise you get the dreaded BSOD). Until the HAL is truly
abstracted from the OS (hopefully in "Longhorn"), admins will continue to
run into this dilemma.
It seems that the old domain must still be up and running as well as the new
domain simultaneously for it to work (have not tested this theory).
Usually I find a W2K server with a burned out motherboard that is no longer
made or available and have to reinstall the OS. This makes it impossible to
copy a profile and also, all encrypted file data is gone forever because the
SIDs no longer match (usually there is a backup on tape, but you cannot do a
full machine restore onto different hardware without the BSOD).
Most small businesses don't have the budget for the additional server and
licenses required for redundancy (and when I come in to fix their server,
they don't understand why I am spending hours at each workstation!). They
also don't have policies or any type of standardization or automation in
place either, making each client a unique situation.

It would be nice to find a 3rd party utility that would facilitate profile
copying for these 'catastrophic' situations in Win2K clients for
those companies that do not have deep pockets.

Dave

 

[Cary Shultz [MVP]]

-----Original Message-----
Cary,

I did everything that way in the past, but have never gotten it to work.

I join the client machine to the new domain, reboot, login to the domain as
the user (a new user is set up in the new domain at the server), it creates
a new profile just fine and dandy. The old profile shows up as "Account
Unknown" and the 'Copy To' is grayed out on every single client machine (all
running W2KSP3 or better), disallowing that feature.

When I say "install a replacement server", I mean that either the server is
set up with all replacement hardware or is upgraded with a new motherboard
that is not identical to the old one - meaning the OS must be completely
reinstalled (otherwise you get the dreaded BSOD). Until the HAL is truly
abstracted from the OS (hopefully in "Longhorn"), admins will continue to
run into this dilemma.
It seems that the old domain must still be up and running as well as the new
domain simultaneously for it to work (have not tested this theory).
Usually I find a W2K server with a burned out motherboard that is no longer
made or available and have to reinstall the OS. This makes it impossible to
copy a profile and also, all encrypted file data is gone forever because the
SIDs no longer match (usually there is a backup on tape, but you cannot do a
full machine restore onto different hardware without the BSOD).
Most small businesses don't have the budget for the additional server and
licenses required for redundancy (and when I come in to fix their server,
they don't understand why I am spending hours at each workstation!). They
also don't have policies or any type of standardization or automation in
place either, making each client a unique situation.

It would be nice to find a 3rd party utility that would facilitate profile
copying for these 'catastrophic' situations in Win2K clients for
those companies that do not have deep pockets.

Dave





.

Dave,

Each time I have done the "Copy To..." the old domain was
still in existence and running. Each time it was in the
case of a merger!

Anyway, I know all about the clients not having the
budget for a second / additional server. We have several
clients who have one server ( usually running Small
Business Server 2000 ). It is really scary to think what
would happen in the case of a drastic hardware failure.
Restore from tape backup does not always work! We have
had a few clients whose sole physical hard drive was
running out of run so my boss ghosted and restored. Took
hours! Could have bought another server ( hardware ) for
the time it took!

We also try to automate as much as possible. However,
most of our clients are running WIN98 in a workgroup
mode! I am trying to get my boss on board with RIS but
he is a big ghost fan! Maybe eventually! Well, this
happens in tiny Southern towns ( Roanoke, VA. ). It is
not at all like Beverly Hills, CA. ( where if we needed
something we just bought it! ).

Cary

 

[Dave]

Cary,

I experimented with 2 domains at once, and the 'Copy To' works fine in
merger mode. I wish more small businesses would
do the redundancy thing. MS should have a special "redundancy" license of
their server product that acts solely as a mirror
(backup DNS, AD, etc) which would work only in this config, but could be
"flipped" over and work as the full DC server in case of emergencies. But
the price would be a fraction of the full server product with no CALs
(because it would not be able to have anyone log into it except a single
admin account). - or something of that nature.
SBS should probably have this (that way they can still milk the Fortune500s
w/o gouging the small customers).
Just a thought -
Thanks,
Dave