Changing domain without loosing profiles

[cinolas]

Greetings,

I am admin for a small company that uses 1 server running Win2k Server and about 12 workstations that run WinXP Pro.

I recently had to reformat the domain controller.. So I set it up with Win2k Server as DC. Our old domain name didn't have an extension (for some reason) and so I gave an extension to the new one; the domain name is in every other way the same.

i.e.
old domain name : ourbusiness
new domain name : ourbusiness.yvr

I tried manually changing the domain for my workstation and it worked but when I logged back in as MyUser in ourbusiness I found myself in a new local user profile... and unable to log back into my old profile.

that we do not use roaming profiles, home folders or login scripts and that our users files are stored on their local machine. Note also that we do not use the DHCP provided by the server but the one provided by our router.

So I was able to move my files but not my settings (I didn't try too hard though). I'm looking for a clean way of migrating the remaining computer accounts without affecting the local profiles.

I haven't changed anything on the other workstations yet so I guess they are still logging into the old domain (even though there is no controller for it ?). In any case, all the workstations show up in Windows explorer (from my workstations) under ourbusiness but if I try accessing those that don't have a computer account in AD I get :

"\\Workstation1 is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network ressource"...."There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request."

I read a bit about netdom and I'm pretty sure it can do what I want to do but I can't figure out the syntax... the docs at Microsoft are quite ambiguous. I tried "netdom reset workstation1 /domainurbusiness" on the dos prompt of the DC but it always results in failure. Sometimes it explicitely says that there is not server to handle the logon request...

I also considered using the XP Files and settings wizard but it insists on compressing everything and it takes a long time to do so... so that's last resort.

So my question is:

How do I get my XP workstations to join ourbusiness.yvr (from a former ourbusiness account) without loosing the local profiles and settings ?

Note: it may be a clue but somehow the old folder (on my local machine which has been migrated) were named myuser and the new one is myuser.ourbusiness. Simply renaming the folder doesn't cut it

 

[xevious2k]

I just did this recently. The easiest way to do this is to go ahead and join the workstations to the domain. Login to each workstation as the user to create the new local profile, (myuser.ourbusiness). Log off and log back on as the domain administrator. Open My Computer, Click Tools, Folder Options... and select the View Tab. Check off show hidden files and folders. Clear Hide extentions for known file types AND Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).

Change to the Documents and Settings\myuser directory and press Ctrl-A to select all files, copy these files to the Documents and Settings\myuser.ourbusiness directory, Log off as Administrator and log back on as the user.

All the user settings should now be there. If you used the same server names and share names, everything should reconnect without a problem. If you changed the share names, you'll have a little tweeking to do for printers and shared folders and mapped drives.

The biggest pain, (not that I cared), was that wallpaper pictures that were stored in the profile have to be reloaded because the profile path has changed from myuser to myuser.ourbusiness

The reason this works is that most of the profile settings are stored in the ntuser.dat file that is a hidden protected operating system file, renaming the profile won't do it for some reason.

x2k

 

[xevious2k]

another way if the client machines are WinXP, you could use the files and settings transfer wizard.

x2k

 

[cinolas]

Thanks, I'll try moving the files as described. Cheers.

 

[cinolas]

well... I tried to copy the files as suggested and it didn't work as smooth as you made it sound

All of the files (including the hidden and system files) copied without a problem but the sttings did not apply (outlook had no identity, application preferences were lost, etc...)

So that didn't seem to work... unless there is more to your instructions than just copying all the system and hidden files (something like a subtilty regarding permissions or something...)

Any ideas ? Thanks

 

[xevious2k]

Just to make sure, when it asked you to overwrite files, you did click yes to all right? I sounds like the ntuser.dat file didn't copy.

x2k

 

[cinolas]

Yes I did. You had no problem whatsoever doing this ?

thanks again for the help

 

[cinolas]

Any other way of doing this ? Anyone ?

Thaks all

 

[craizie11]

Log on as administrator;

right click on my computer and select properties. Select the user profile tab on top and that will pull up a list of profiles currently stored on the computer. From there you can select the old profile you want to copy and then select the 'copy to' button and then direct the copy to point to the new profile you want to change.

 

[cinolas]

I followed your instructions craizie11 and it didn't work...

First, in Windows XP Pro there is no "User Profile" tab in System Properties... however under the "Advanced" tab there was a "User Profile" section with a "Settings" button that sent me to the panel you were talking about.

However, once in the User Profile Settings panel, my old accounts showed up as "Unknown Accounts"... and the "Copy To" button was inactive for these accounts...

so, no go.

Luckily I had first run the Files and Settings Wizard to backup the user's settings so I recovered by re-importing the settings with the wizard. The File and Settings Wizard is far from ideal because it compresses all the files and it takes a very long time, that's why I'm still looking for a better way to do this.

Thanks for your help craizie11, I totally appreciate any hint you may have for me.

 

[ricpinto]

You have to give the user the rights to become a local administrator to fully restore the profile and use cut-and-paste instead of copy-and-paste for faster result.