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Requirements

  • Article

In this topic

  • Supported operating systems
  • Software requirements
  • Hard disk requirements

Supported operating systems

USMT does not have any explicit RAM or CPU speed requirements for either the source or destination computers. If your computer complies with the system requirements of the operating system, then it will also be able to run USMT. You will also need a large enough intermediate store to hold all of the migrated data and you will need the same amount of hard disk space on the destination computer for the files and settings.

The following are the supported operating systems for USMT 3.0.

Operating Systems ScanState (source computer) LoadState (destination computer)
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4 X  
Microsoft Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2 X X
Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 X X
Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 2 X X
32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista* X X
64-bit versions of Windows Vista* X X


Note

You can migrate a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit operating system. However, you cannot do the reverse. USMT does not support any of the Windows server operating systems or any of starter editions for Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Software requirements

  • Must run in Administrator mode in Windows Vista. When running ScanState and LoadState on Windows Vista, you need to run the tools in “Administrator” mode from an account with administrative credentials to ensure that all specified users are migrated. This is because User Access Control (UAC) is turned on in Windows Vista. To run in this mode, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, click Run as administrator, and then specify your LoadState or ScanState command. If you do not run USMT in “Administrator” mode, only the user profile that is logged on will be included in the migration.
  • Must run ScanState on Windows XP from an account with administrative credentials. If you do not, then some operating system settings will not migrate. For example, wallpaper settings, screen saver selections, modem options, media player settings, and RAS connection phone book (.pbk) files and settings.
  • Close all applications before running ScanState or LoadState. If some applications are running during ScanState or LoadState, USMT may not migrate some data. For example, if Outlook is open, USMT may not migrate .pst files.

Note

USMT will fail if it cannot migrate a file or setting unless you specify /c. When you specify /c, USMT will ignore the errors, and log an error each time it encounters a file that is in use that did not migrate.

  • Install applications before running LoadState. Though it is not always essential, it is good practice to install all applications on the destination computer before restoring the user state. This ensures that migrated settings are preserved. Specifically, if the following applications are installed on the source computer, they must be installed on the destination computer prior to running LoadState: Lotus SmartSuite, RealPlayer Basic, and Quicken 2004 Home and Business.

Hard disk requirements

To determine your hard disk requirements, ensure that there is enough available space in the store location and on the destination computer.

  • Store. Ensure that there is enough available space for the user state. You should base your calculations on the volume of e-mail, personal documents, and system settings for each user. The best way to estimate these is to survey several average desktops to estimate the size the store that you will need. You can create a space-estimate file (Usmtsize.txt) using the /p option to help determine whether there will be enough available disk space.
  • Destination computer. The destination computer will need enough available space for the following:
    • Operating system
    • Applications
    • Size of the uncompressed store
    • Twice the size of the largest file that will be migrated.
      You will need the last two items listed because when you run LoadState on the destination computer, LoadState migrates each file (one by one) from the store to a temporary location on the destination computer. The files are decompressed (and decrypted if necessary) during this process. Then, LoadState transfers the file to the correct location, deletes the temporary copy, and begins migrating the next file.