User State Migration Package creation for Operating System Deployment

The User State Migration Tool (USMT) allows you to migrate user settings and data between computers during operating system deployment.

When deploying operating systems with System Center Configuration Manager 2007  (SCCM), you must use USMT functionalities whenever saving users’ settings and documents is a requirement.

In order to do so, USMT must be configured as a package within SCCM. This blog post shows how to create a package for USMT 4.0 which is required for Windows 7 deployments.

(Post courtesy Simone Pace)

In my first post: Capture a Windows 7 image from reference computer using Capture Media we saw how to capture a Windows 7 WIM image and how to make it available for SCCM to use.

We will use that image to upgrade a client computer’s operating system to Windows 7.

One of the steps that is usually required during an OS upgrade project is to keep user’s settings and data. User State Migration Tool will do the job for you but it must be correctly configured as an SCCM package in order to be used during our automated deployment process. USMT 4.0 is copied to the system during installation and setup of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) setup.

Note: Screenshots and computer names used in this article refers to a Virtual scenario running on a Hyper-V R2 host:

All Servers are Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise servers.

  • Domain: contoso.com
  • Server CON-001
  • · SCCM with all required roles installed
  • · SQL Server 2008 for SCCM database
  • · Windows Automated Installation Kit 2.0
  • · WDS Transport Server role installed
  • SCCM Primary Site: C01

1. Create the Package.

Create New Package and fill in the right information to correctly identify the package. Click Next.

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On Data Source check “This package contains source files”, click set and select “Local drive on site server”, click browse and select the folder “C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT”, click OK twice (this step requires WAIK 2.0 to be already installed). Click Next.

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Leave the default settings and click Next on Data Access

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Leave the default settings (recommended) or apply the required changes and click Next on Distribution Settings

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The default settings on reporting page are just fine J. Click Next on Reporting

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Check the security settings and change them if required, click Finish and complete the package creation wizard.

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2. Distribute the package on DPs.

Right click on the package and select Manage Distribution Points

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Skipping the Welcome page… Select “Copy the package to new distribution points” and click Next.

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Select your Distribution Point(s) and complete the Manage Distribution Points Wizard

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3. Check the package distribution results in Package Status

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Once the package is installed in our Distribution Points, it is ready to be referenced by SCCM to capture and restore user’s data and settings during an Operating System Deployment process.