Web Development·12,110 discussions

Domain Join User Profile Migration

Tags: Windows

We are working on a domain join project for a client. My question is in regard to setting up the new user profiles on the domain. The client is a machine shop and their computers run very specific software to operate the machining equipment. Currently, everyone logs onto the computers using a local shared “User” account. They don’t really keep much personal stuff on the computers so they didn’t have a need for individual local accounts. They just need to log in as the generic “user” to be able to operate the equipment. The settings and configurations that are set for the equipment software is very important. Here is my question. On the domain everyone is going to have their own user profiles. How do I migrate the settings and data from the local shared “user” profile to each employee’s new domain profile. I can easily transfer ONE local profile to ONE new domain profile but I feel like I need to replicate one local profile to multiple new domain profiles so they all have the same settings and configurations that they were sharing. Is there something I’m not thinking of here? I hope someone out there can help me make sense of this and offer some guidance.

Thanks

Ben

Topic

I might be the wrong person to ask.

In reply to Domain Join User Profile Migration

I author and supported apps for a production line dating from before 2000 to present day. The production line was something the company IT ignored and had no interest in the 1990’s so automation was done as best we could. We were denied building or using the network so fast forward to today.

The apps are all legacy and may break current IT rules. No one really cares because production is the job, not IT.

With that in mind, IT does seem to want to bring the factory PCs under their control but fails to accept that we can’t shutdown the line forever to wait for upgrades that would allow these old apps to be replaced.

-> So back to you. The lessons learned from that IT group are simple. Don’t muck around with working systems. Get a new PC deployed as you think it should be and swap that in for test runs. Expect such test runs to fail then work the issues.

Sometimes we had an IT staffer say it’s our problem to solve and we can’t keep the production PC. You can imagine that IT staffer didn’t have a job very long.

Where are those projects today? Limbo. While production does see a path to compliance with the company IT mandates there is no money for getting there. The money would be for the IT staff to do their thing and for updates to apps or replacement to those apps.

-> Ever deal with a company that has a machine that works fine that IT wants to replace?

Replicate the users

In reply to Domain Join User Profile Migration

I’d create a USMT backup of the local shared user
Then restore that backup to all domain users logging into that PC.

We’ve used USMT for all profile handling for years but last year we started using USMTGUI and User Profile Central from EhlerTech.

As the author say “USMTGUI is just a GUI for USMT” but in my opinion it is a really brilliant software.

[Author]

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