Migrate to Windows 2000 Professional

Who this Migration page is aimed at:

People who want advice on upgrading from NT 4.0 to Windows 2000.
Those migrating desktops from Windows 9x or NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 Professional.

Introduction

When you move to a new operating system you must think at the strategic level. You have two choices:

1) Start from new. Build systems from scratch; some people call this - 'Wipe and Roll'.

2) Decide on an 'In Place' upgrade of the existing system.

Choose your Migration Strategy: 'In Place' versus 'Wipe and Roll'

You need to make this fundamental decision for each component. Example: For DNS, start from new but for Domain use an 'In Place' upgrade. When you insert the new software CD it detect the existing operating system. the Installation Wizard's default behaviour is UPGRADE (Recommended). For desktops, more and more companies seem to go for a brand new installation, the so called 'Wipe and Roll', in the end you will make the best decision for your system.

Analyse these factors before you make your decision

Hardware: New or existing machines. Will the present c:\ drive be big enough?
Budget, manpower, existing skills.
Other new software that will be installed or upgraded. Example Office XP.

Migration Checklist

Naming conventions for desktops machines
Group Policies. Desktop, security, assign software.
Remote User deployment. Laptop settings.
Disk space. Disk type Dynamic or Basic
Number and size of Partitions or Volumes. Keep some unallocated space for 'Mount Points'
Software to deploy in the build versus software to deploy through Group Policy

Download your Windows 2000 Migration eBook for only $4.95

The extra features you get in your eBook include: Recommendations of what to do. 'How to...' sections with screen shots. New pages with detailed instructions and advice on how to plan your migration. Lots of tips and troubleshooting advice. Printer friendly pages.

Guy's eBook has copy enabled, no expiry date and printer friendly pages. A valuable offline resource.

Rollout Methods

One of the closest guarded features of the rollout is 'The Build'. By the build I mean the the latest edition of the proposed desktop or server machine.

Ghosting. Using imaging software to duplicate a master machine.
RIS (Remote Installation Service) for Windows 2000 Professional or XP Professional. I am very strong on RIS, it is a difficult system to get working, but the intellimirror or 'self heal' it produces is well worth the effort. Remote Installation is the way of the future, take the time to master it.

Assemble the tools and select your migration team

Set up a test network
Obtain Software, Resource Kits, Service Packs
Appoint People: Project Manger, Network Technician, Network Architect, Rollout engineers

Planning and Feedback

With a plan, written down on paper, it is easy to make changes in the light of new information. Following analysis and discussion of the above points that there will be amendments to the original plan. What system will you use for recording your plan - MS Project, Excel Spreadsheet?

USMT - User Settings Migration Tool

The first question is where do you get this useful tool? Either get USMT from the resource kit or download it free from http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources .

You can probably guess from the name what the tool does. Principally, it is used to package the users Profile and then to unpack the files into their Documents and Settings folder. This means that the users can keep their old familiar Windows 9x or NT 4.0 work and bits and pieces so they will be happy to migrate to a faster more stable operating system.

USMT is versatile in the sense that you can filter files it collects. It is also worth mastering the USMT so that you can use it for Exchange migrations.

Download your Windows 2000 Migration eBook for only $4.95

Guy's eBook has copy enabled, no expiry date and printer friendly pages. A valuable offline resource.

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