From workgroup to domain (retaining users profiles)

[Sean]

I've got 1200 computers. Currently using Novell and are planning to
migrate to Win2k3 (using AD and all...). All the users currently sign
onto their PCs with a local account. While the users will NOT be
using roaming profiles, they will be signing into a domain instead of
the local PC. Is there a way I can make the domain user account use
the local user account's profile? Username and Password will remain
the same, but trying it in a test environment gives me this:

Local PC User: Test
Local PC Profile: test
Domain User: Test

 

[Herb Martin]

I've got 1200 computers. Currently using Novell and are planning to
migrate to Win2k3 (using AD and all...). All the users currently sign
onto their PCs with a local account. While the users will NOT be
using roaming profiles, they will be signing into a domain instead of
the local PC. Is there a way I can make the domain user account use
the local user account's profile? Username and Password will remain
the same, but trying it in a test environment gives me this:

Yes, you can migrate those profiles, but with difficulty and a lot
of manual work.

It's a mess -- that is part of the problem with "workgroups" and
local user accounts, but knowing this won't help you now.

A couple of ideas follow....

1) Save each profile to a server, and make a spare copies in case
things go bad -- you can always try again. For maximum efficiency
get them in a set of subdirectories by USERNAME (the one they
will have on the domain.)

2) You might use the USMT (User State Migration Tool) from the
MS Website, but if ALL you want is profiles you can get those
with XCOPY.

A Logon batch file might work hear, something based on XCOPY
but smart enough to send output AND errors to a text file and to
log the completion in a server based text file so you can sort and
search for missing users.

3) While you are at it, get the user accounts set to use a roaming
profile (specify in the user's property sheet once the domain account
it created). Do this with an environment variable so that you can
set all 1500 in one go, e.g., \\profileserver\profiles\%username%
is the general pattern.


After you get the domain created, copy the profiles to the location
specified above so that each is in the corresponding subdirectory.

 

[Sean]

Thanks so much for the reply...I guess I was banking on a quick and
easy answer but it looks like its gonna be hard no matter what. I
like the logon batch file idea and I think i'll run with that. Thanks
again

 

[Herb Martin]

Thanks so much for the reply...I guess I was banking on a quick and
easy answer but it looks like its gonna be hard no matter what. I
like the logon batch file idea and I think i'll run with that. Thanks
again

No, the answer and the fix is easy. If you don't authenticate
with a Domain account you can user domain resources that are
secured.

If you authenticate with a domain account (e.g., by logging onto
the workstation with it) then you will get precisely the access
allowed by the permissions on the resource.