When computers join a new domain...

[JonR]

Here's the issue, and I'd appreciate any ideas, however
far fetched: if you take a workstation running XP Pro and
join it to a new domain, the workstation creates a new
profile and when the user logs in, he appears to be a
brand new user... all applications request the
installation CD, the settings and documents are all
defaulted. If the old DC is no longer available, as soon
as you join the system to the new domain, there is no way
to go back.
What I'm looking for is the best practice for migrating as
much of the user's settings [user1@olddomain]-(NT4) to the
new local profile [[email protected]]-(Win2003).
There must be a process, but I haven't been able to dig
anything up in the KB.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Jon

 

[David Jones]

Assuming the old DC is not available, your best bet may
be the User State Migration Tool (USMT), or XP's Files
and Settings transfer wizard.

If the old DC is available, your options expand a bit
more, and there's a neat little tool called the Active
Directory Migration tool that can help a company/domain
move from NT4 to 2003.

 

[Discarnate]

The moveuser.exe tool (the one that comes with the
Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit-- NOT the one that comes
with Microsoft Mail) is the simplest way to move a user
profile to a different domain, but it might not work if
the old domain no longer exists. Whenever I use the tool,
I always first log on as a local administrator, and then
connect to both the old domain and the new domain using
the NET USE command. I'm not sure if that's necessary,
though. In any case, you can download the Server 2003
Resource Kit from Microsoft's site. It might be worth
looking into.

 

[Torgeir Bakken]

Here's the issue, and I'd appreciate any ideas, however
far fetched: if you take a workstation running XP Pro and
join it to a new domain, the workstation creates a new
profile and when the user logs in, he appears to be a
brand new user... all applications request the
installation CD, the settings and documents are all
defaulted. If the old DC is no longer available, as soon
as you join the system to the new domain, there is no way
to go back.
What I'm looking for is the best practice for migrating as
much of the user's settings [user1@olddomain]-(NT4) to the
new local profile [[email protected]]-(Win2003).

Hi

We solve this type of user profile change by (in the registry) changing the
profile path for the new domain user to point to the old user's profile
folder,

see article below.

From: Bruce Sanderson ([email protected])
Subject: Re: Moving a W2K PC between domains
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.general
Date: 2002-08-05 17:32:49 PST
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=uz48D$NPCHA.612@tkmsftngp08


If the user is not a local admin, you might need to to something on the
permission side. Use tip 4631 and 2240 in the 'Tips & Tricks' at
http://www.jsiinc.com as a guide.


More here as well:

Subject: Re: Lost profile when domain name changes
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory
http://groups.google.com/groups?th=262e40881c856d53


HOW TO: Restore a User Profile in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;314045