Preserve User Profile when connecting to domain server

[Charliesz]

Hello there,

Updating server on a network. New server box of course is windows 2003. Server roles are Domain/DNS/File/Printer server.

I have around 20 computers to conenct to this new server. I will have to connect each computer to the server domain.
Question is, how can i preserve every computer profile (backgrounds, menu positions, etc) without switching to the new server assigned profile ?

The reason im asking, users would be really pissed if they had to rebuild all of their desktops all over again. Imagine 20 people having their desktop reconstructed....

I tried connecting one computer as an experiment to the domain. Then i logged in to that computer as a domain admin, then i took the original user profile folder and put its content into the new User profile created by the server. Tried logging in using that user account and i do get all my programs,favorites and such in tact but the background is gone and so are the menu positions.

Is there a way to just preserve all of the settings ?

Thank you.

 

[markdmac]

Yes you can do this. Here are the steps.

First off, are the existing profiles from a workgroup? If not then you will need to do a little more work. I'll give you the full breakdown under the assumption that your profiles are from an existing domain.

1. Create a local user account for the user.
2. Log onto the local machine with that new ID. Logg off.
3. Log on with domain admin rights.
4. Right click My Computer, choose properties.
5. Click Advanced then Profiles for XP or click the User Profiles tab for Win2K.
6. Highlight the domain profile to be saved.
7. Click the copy to button and navigate to the directory under Documents and Settings for the LOCAL user account.
8. Click the permitted to use button and select the new local account.
9. Click OK.

You can now join the computer to the new domain and repeat steps 2-9 using the local account as the source and the new domain ID as the destination.

Note: If the user is a member of the local admins group you will need to first remove them from that group and reboot in order to properly copy the profile.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Charliesz]

Thank you Mark.
The post is very useful!