Painless Profile Migration

Backing up the profiles on a remote computer is a simple two-step process:

1. Open SavePC.bat (Listing 1) in a text editor such as Notepad. In the code at callout B, customize the BackupFolder variable's value. Make sure that your UNC path doesn't include unnecessary spaces before or after the UNC path. If desired, customize the /d: parameter's value (i.e., the maximum number of days a user profile can remain inactive before getting deleted) in the code at callout A. You don't have to change any other script settings.
2. Open cmd.exe and navigate to the ProfileBackup solution's Backup folder. Type SavePC.bat followed by the name of the remote PC that contains the profiles you want to back up. For example, if you unzipped Profile-Backup on your E drive and you want to back up a computer named COMPUTER_OF_SIMON, the command would look like

   E:\ProfileBackup\Backup> 
     SavePC.bat 
     COMPUTER_OF_SIMON

   (Although this command appears on several lines here, you would enter it on one line in the command-shell window. The same holds true for the other multiline command in this article.)

Restoring profiles is also a two-step process:

1. Open CopyPC.bat (Listing 2) in a text editor. Customize the Backup-Folder variable's value in the code at callout A. This is the only setting you need to customize in any of the restore scripts.
2. Open cmd.exe and navigate to the ProfileBackup solution's Restore folder. Type CopyPC.bat followed by the name of the remote PC that contains the profiles you want to backup. For example, to restore the profiles on COMPUTER_OF_SIMON, the command would look like

   E:\ProfileBackup\Restore>
    CopyPC.bat
    COMPUTER_OF_SIMON

When you use the ProfileBackup solution, keep in mind the following:

• To back up the profiles on a remote PC, you must be an administrator for that PC.
• Administrative shares (e.g., C$, D$, ADMIN$) must be enabled on the remote PC.
• The scripts assume that the remote PC's profile path is the default C:\Documents and Settings. If they're stored in another location, you can still use the solution if you customize the paths in SavePC.bat, DelTempFiles.vbs, and CopyPC.bat.
• A profile shouldn't be in use when you're backing up and restoring profiles on the remote PC. Note that even though a computer might be at the logon prompt, a user's profile can still be in use by the OS. I recommend that you reboot the remote PC before starting the backup and restore operations, then leave the computer showing the logon prompt.
• Like USMT, the ProfileBackup solution copies printer mappings, application shortcuts, and Outlook settings, but it doesn't copy printer drivers, applications, and Outlook .pst and .ost files that aren't stored in the user's profile folder. So, you must reinstall printer drivers and applications. You must also back up any .pst and .ost files outside profile's folder separately. Alternatively, you can move any misplaced .pst and .ost files to the profile folder on the remote PC before using the ProfileBackup solution. For example, if user named Simon has a .pst file stored in C:\mypst.pst, you can move that file to Simon's profile folder (or a subfolder), such as C:\Documents and Settings\Simon\mypst.pst.

A Time-Saving Solution
I used the ProfileBackup solution to successfully migrate the profiles on all 1500 PCs. I found that it works much faster than any Microsoft-provided tools. More important, you can run the solution remotely, so you don't have to physically visit each PC.