Unknown Computers and Data Restore

[AnnDC]

I have a couple of question concerning computer associations please:

 

1. Does the association have to be defined prior to capturing the data from the source machine (side-by-side)? I do not see a way to make this happen after the fact and have all the recovery information populated.

 

2. When using unknown computer support, is there a way to associate so when the unknown computer (target) installation is complete the data from the source computer is copied to the new system? If not, what is the process in getting the data to the new system? We are trying to make this as seemless as possible for our local IT staff.

 

Thanks much!

[anyweb]

hi there,

 

1. Does the association have to be defined prior to capturing the data from the source machine (side-by-side)? I do not see a way to make this happen after the fact and have all the recovery information populated.

 

yes it does unfortunately

 

2. When using unknown computer support, is there a way to associate so when the unknown computer (target) installation is complete the data from the source computer is copied to the new system? If not, what is the process in getting the data to the new system? We are trying to make this as seemless as possible for our local IT staff.

 

the process would be as above, create an association for it, then boot it, let it osd as normal and in the task sequence it'll have the restore user state steps built in and magically restore the data,

 

if its unknown then it won't have an association,

you could of course, deploy the os to an unknown computer, then once it's known, create a computer association, then get the data from the source and finally advertise what i'd call a 'loadstate' task sequence to it, which will restore that users data,

 

we are working through how best to do this ourselves, you might want to take a look at webservices to script the computer association via a HTA at boot time for the techs.,

 

here's a good link to start with

[AnnDC]

Can I trouble you for the link please? I did not see it posted. Also, I have not been able to successful do a data restore outside of running a TS fully to install a new system, configure and then copy data. Does the link you mentioned show how to do a restore data to a system that already has the OS installed? I have created the association and captured the data no problem. I copied all the steps for a State Restore and could not get it to run. I verified all that any condition is met or removed. Again, I appreciate any help. Thanks!

[anyweb]

try here

 

and no i don't think it will help you with your restore problem,

 

i'd break up your usmt testing first of all in to two collections, state capture and state restore

then create two simple task sequences, one for state capture, one for state restore, you can cut/paste the needed bits from a standard Install task sequence (if you want the features of USMT 4 then thats another story...)

 

once you have state capture working (and you'll know from reading the scanstate.log and scanstateprogress.log files) you can then start testing state resore,

 

what does your loadstate.log file say ?