User Migration Confusion

[Zeus_at_Work]

Well I am back and having more issues with SCCM.... hopefully I have the right forum.

 

I regularly use SCCM 2007 (R2) to deploy Windows 7 machines. It works "flawlessly" in that regard. Something I am unable to accomplish though, is user migration from "old pc" to "new pc". So I have set up a test, using my physical office PC (Windows 7) and a Virtual PC (which I imaged using SCCM - also Windows 7). I then followed the directions on the following link to create a task sequence to migrate user settings from source to destination PC's. I then wait..... and wait....................... and wait. I never see any action on either PC and am somewhat lost as to where to go from here. The directions I followed were here http://www.opsvault.com/how-to-migrate-user-state-between-pcs-using-sccm-2007-task-sequences/ and they all seemed fairly straight forward, except at the end it does not really mention how to advertise that task sequence (or whether you need to using the computer association). I've set up a collection that contain the source and destination pc's only, and advertised the above task sequence to it as mandatory (as soon as possible). Nothing ever seems to happen though! If I check the State Migration Point it is configured, and when checking the physical location it is configured for I even see new folders underneath it for today's date and roughly the time I began this test... with a USMT folder and MigrationStatus.xml file..... I am guessing that is the effort it made to grab the user settings from the source...... but when/how/where does it ever get pushed out to the destination PC? Am I missing someting? It seems like a pretty important part of SCCM... I'd like to undersand what I am doing wrong or what I might try from here. Any help is appreciated however, I only have a 5 day course on SCCM and 3-4 months of experience so if you are going to ask me to show you this log or perform that task.... please also include how I might accomplish that.

 

Thanks again... I'd love to make this work........ so far no joy!

[anyweb]

if you want to do it in an easy repeatable way then start checking out the Frontend HTA, that way you can do most actions right in the same place (in WinPE),

it does require a lot of work to be done on the backend though so it's not for the faint hearted, i'll try and put together a WebCast showcasing it in action asap,

 

back to your post though

 

in traditional SCCM terms in order to grab a users state (state capture or Scanstate) you need to advertise a task sequence to them which basically does just that, it grabs the user state using USMT, this data will be stored in the SMP (state migration Point) for later retrieval in a separate task sequence which runs Loadstate (restore user data)

 

if you want a better understanding of how usmt works then read this post note that i havent even mentioned Refresh (reinstall) scenarios, they can be accomplished without an SMP using hardlinking (fast !)

 

cheers

niall

[Zeus_at_Work]

if you want to do it in an easy repeatable way then start checking out the Frontend HTA, that way you can do most actions right in the same place (in WinPE),

it does require a lot of work to be done on the backend though so it's not for the faint hearted, i'll try and put together a WebCast showcasing it in action asap,

 

back to your post though

 

in traditional SCCM terms in order to grab a users state (state capture or Scanstate) you need to advertise a task sequence to them which basically does just that, it grabs the user state using USMT, this data will be stored in the SMP (state migration Point) for later retrieval in a separate task sequence which runs Loadstate (restore user data)

 

if you want a better understanding of how usmt works then read this post note that i havent even mentioned Refresh (reinstall) scenarios, they can be accomplished without an SMP using hardlinking (fast !)

 

cheers

niall

 

Honestly I am not sure how to respond to this. On one hand I appreciate the fact that at least someone responded. On the other hand I am frustrated and annoyed that it seems every time I ask a question to a forum of experts they never seem to address the question, but rather suggest yet another alternate method or tool to accomlpish the same thing that is one of the inherent features of the product I am already using, and the specific forum in which I've posted the question. It is akin to posting "How do I........... in Microsoft Word?" in a Microsoft Word forum, and being told "Use Open Office". The method mentioned in my original post is the method I'd like to use, there is no reason it should not work, it is the method that best suits the environment and addresses the needs of the particular situation. Hardlink is not an option in my particular case as I am not refreshing an existing box but rather trying to transfer user settings from an "old" box (still windows 7) to a new box (also windows 7). I've created the TS exactly as described in my original question, I've created the computer association, i've created two seperate attempts, 1 using a single collection and a single advertisement, the other splitting the TS in to "capture" and "restore" portions, and then used two seperate collections for capture and restore and two seperate advertisements, one for each collection. I have tried several variations of the described method.... The question wasn't "can someone tell me a completely seperate alternative using another product or proocedure that takes more hours to set up when the end task only takes 10 minutes to do manually..... how is that an effective use of time....... I can do this manually in 10 minutes, maybe 15....... instead you'd suggest I spend hours, on top of the hours already spent setting up and configuring SCCM to accomplish a 10 minute task..... I would have to do this procedure 500 times to make the trade off a worth while one. That is why I want to use the method described above as it was simple, elegant, and I can see no reason why it should not work, yet it doesnt seem to. The question was .... how do I make the method I listed work... or troubleshoot it when it doesn't? I am stuck......... and apparently won't get the help I seek here.... Thank you for the "response" but it didn't address the question whatsoever.