Windows 7: Migrate User Profile to Another Computer Manually
Here Is Simple Task I'm Trying to Achieve: I Need to Migrate User Profile from Old Pc to New Pc. What I Got: Hard Drive from Old Windows 7 Pc New Windows 7 Pc...
Here is simple task I'm trying to achieve:
I need to migrate user profile from old PC to new PC.
What I got:
- Hard drive from old Windows 7 PC
- New Windows 7 PC
I can't use Windows Easy Transfer because old PC is gone.
What I've done (on new PC):
- Created
new_useraccount - Logged in as
new_userto initialize profile - Rebooted
- Logged in as
Administratorand copied profile from old PC's hard drive toC:\Users\old_profile - Changed permissions of
C:\Users\old_profile: Addednew_useraccount with Full Access - Changed new_user's
ProfileImagePathkey in registry:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList]toC:\Users\old_profile - Loaded hive
C:\Users\old_profile\ntuser.datand addednew_useraccount with Full Access - Rebooted
- Logged in as
new_user
From the first look things were in place, but when I click any document on the Desktop - it prompts "File not found / Invalid location". When I try to click Start->Computer it prompts "explorer.exe Access Denied".
EDIT: I can read and run any file from Task Manager, except for explorer.exe
An old PC had only C: drive and all files were kept only under profile directory.
Did I forget something?
Thanks.
Solution is 1 extra step:
Load hive C:\Users\old_profile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat and add new_user account with Full Access permissions.
As the result: User Profile is migrated exactly like it was on the old computer. Without any utilities used. =)
UPDATE (after 4 years): I started using a free tool User Profile Manager (not User Profile Wizard!) from ForensiT. It really does everything mentioned above in couple clicks.
I used Zinstall for this kind of job, although was transferring from a live old computer, not from a drive (tutorial here in case it helps: ). In the past, I did use it for a drive transfer, so that should work as well.
Regarding the Windows 10 issue with Start menu not opening after the transfer, here is how to solve it:
- Log off completely from the damaged user, and then log on as a different user (e.g. admin)
- Delete everything from
C:\Users\ problematic user name \AppData\Local\TileDataLayer\Database\
- Restart
The start menu will now open.
David Miller brings 15 years of experience in global economics, personal finance strategy, and market dynamics. He specializes in turning complex economic trends into actionable insights for everyday readers.
