What does User Data Migration actually migrate?

SmartDeploy utilizes Microsoft's User State Migration Tool (USMT) to collect and migrate user files and settings during deployment if configured in your Answer File, or when done using the Computer Management workspace in the SmartDeploy console.


The SmartDeploy migration settings include:

  • User Settings: This includes the full user account, any personalized setting, and documents (C:\Users\Demo).
  • Application Settings: This includes Microsoft Office and other Microsoft-related applications. For more information see Microsoft's USMT documentation.
  • Documents: This includes any files on C drive not added by the operating system or applications (C:\*).


The options for selecting a location for the User Data Migration File (.MIG) are:

  • Network Share (Recommended): This option copies all the data to a network share during deployment and copies it back to the local machine post-deployment to complete the migration. The data remains on the network share after the migration is complete.
  • Locally: This option requires the use of a wipe and load process. Select a folder on the local drive to add the migration data. The other content on that drive will be wiped. You will receive an error message if the existing partitions do not match the partition structure of the reference virtual machine.
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