Windows 11 User Migration to Azure user

[LilyLeiden]

We just tested migrating a small batch of test users to our new Azure tenant.

While migrating the PC/user account was no problem, the fact that people get a completely blank user profile, certainly was a showstopper!!

Many of our users has had their AD profile for years, even a decade and has a lot of individual settings, ways to work, shortcuts, quick links, favorites/browser cached passwords etc. and they loose all that.
Management has currently halted the process due to the protests.

So I am on the lookout for a way to link/migrate the old profile/profile settings, when Azure joining the PC?

 

[Mike]

Did you use a third-party vendor or SaaS/IaaS solution to do the migration from on-prem to Azure AD or did you simply use Azure AD Sync? You have to manually copy the profile data over from the local account or local AD account to the 365/Azure tenant. You could also use a third party solution like BitTitan's MigrationWiz or Skykick to try to do the whole migration.

If your local IT team is doing this and you don't have access to these paid resources:

To preserve profile data during an on-premises AD to Azure AD migration, you can use the following methods:

1. User State Migration Tool (USMT): You can use USMT to migrate the user profile data from the old PC to the new PC during deployment.
2. Profile Migration Tool: You can use a third-party profile migration tool that is specifically designed for this purpose. There are several commercial and open-source options available, such as: ProfileUnity.
3. Manually copying files: You can also manually copy the profile data from the old profile to the new profile on the new PC, preserving the folder structure. (Depending on how many profiles we're talking about here, it could be the best option in this case)

Regardless of the method you choose, it's important to thoroughly test the process before deploying it to all users to ensure that the profile data is preserved and that the users have a "seamless" experience. There is going to be some stuff you are going to lose even after the migration, cached passwords most likely being one of them. It is important to map this out during the planning phases of the project before trying to execute it again (in my honest opinion).

 

[bboisen]

I spent weeks researching this a couple years back and MS totally neglects that migrating PPLs desktop is a thing.
The simplest solution we always used at my previous job, was USMTGUI from EhlerTech

1. Join the PC to Azure, using the user account supposed to use the PC afterwards, thereby making the user (at least temporarily) local admin.
2. Then start USMTGUI from a thumbdrive, select the old user profile and press "Run".
Usually a 5-10 min process, depending. If data is already on Onedrive, only a minute or two.

Fully manual hands-on process but really not worth spending a lot of time or money on automating.