Capture User State MDT

When upgrading the operating system of 20+ users, you don't want to manually drag and drop all of their files and documents. Capturing a users state essentially takes a snapshot of everything on that users account on the computer. This includes local files such as .pst. I'll be walking you through the steps on how to do this and how to put it into a task sequence.

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1) Install the relevant ADK on your MDT server. If you are running Server 2012/2012r2 you will need the Windows 8.1 ADK. If you are running Windows Server 2016 then you will need the Windows 10 ADK. Links to the ADK are below.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

2) Run the adksetup.exe. Make sure you have Deployment tools and User State Migration Tool (USMT) ticked. If you

think you may need other features you can also tick and download those.

3) Once you have installed the ADK features, open up a file explorer and navigate to this path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\User State Migration Tool\x86

4) You should see 2 documents called MigUser.xml and MigApp.xml. These 2 xml files will allow you to choose what gets captured. For instance you can decide on what folder gets captured, what file format gets captured (for example only .docx). If you want to edit these simply right click and edit them. Once you have made your changes click save.

5) Go into your C drive and create a new folder called USMT. This is where the capture files will be stored until you restore the users state. Make sure you share this folder with everyone.

6) Now you need to add a file into your scripts folder in your deployment share. The file will be available on the downloads page on my website named UserExit.

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Now it's time to create the task sequence

1) Open up the deployment workbench. Go into task sequence and create a new task sequence. Give it a relevant name such as Capture User State.

2) The type of template you want for this is a Standard Client Replace Task Sequence. Choose this and click next.

3) Click next again and then finish. This should create it.

4) Right click your deployment share and click on properties, then go into rules. If you have the following already in place, change it so that it matches what I will be showing below. You can keep other settings already there but change the ones shown below so that it matches.

UserDataLocation=NETWORK

UDShare=\\yourmdtservernamehere\USMT

UDDir=%OSDComputerName%

ComputerBackupLocation=NETWORK

UserExit=UserExit.vbs

OSDComputername=#GetOfflineComputername()#

ScanStateAgrs=/v:5 /o /c

USMTMigFiles001=MigUser.xml

USMTMigFiles002=MigApp.xml

SkipAdminPassword=YES

SkipProductKey=YES

SkipComputerName=NO

SkipDomainMembership=NO

SkipUserData=NO

SkipLocaleSelection=YES

SkipTaskSequence=NO

SkipTimeZone=YES

SkipApplications=YES

SkipBitLocker=YES

SkipSummary=YES

SkipRoles=YES

SkipCapture=YES

SkipFinalSummary=NO

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Time to capture

1) Go to a machine you want to upgrade. Navigate to the scripts folder on the MDT server. You can do this by typing this into run.exe, \\servername\mdtsharename$\scripts. Launch the LiteTouch VBScript file. Select the Capture User State script.

2) In the User Data, the specify a location should automatically populate with the following: \\servername\USMT\%OSDComputerName%. Click next.

3) On the complete computer backup screen select do not back up the existing computer. Click next. This should begin the capture.

4) Once the capture is finished, make sure there are no errors and click finish. If there are expand the show more to see what the errors are.

5) Navigate to \\servername\USMT and make sure the computer you captured is there.

6) Restart the machine you want to upgrade and press F12 to PXE boot. Deploy your OS you want to upgrade to. The computer name should auto populate itself. Decide if you want to join it to the domain or leave it in a workgroup. Generally I leave it in the workgroup and join the domain after.

7) Move the user data and settings from a previous version of windows at the next screen and click next.

8) The deploying of the new OS should begin. Once it is complete it will restore the user state. If you have domain accounts but didn't join the domain, you can still see if everything got moved over by simply going into the C drive, users and seeing if all the accounts and their files are there.