Vista Tutorial - Vista Business - Windows Easy Transfer over LAN fails

Hello,

We were experimenting with two laptops with Windows Vista Business, to move
an userprofile from one to another. We used Windows Easy Transfer, but to our
disappointment, at almost three-quarters of the way, it seemed to have lost
its network connection. This was with both laptops connected to our network.
We took a crosslink cable and tried again, but with the same result.

Now, we're not really looking for a way to transfer the user profile
(because there are other ways), but we'd jsut like to know why it won't work.
Have more people had experiences like this?

You say that "it seemed to have lost its network connection." I'm not sure
what you mean by that. Perhaps, if you provide us with some detail concerning
exactly what happened / what you saw someone will have a suggestion.

I can tell you that I have tested both USMT (user state migration tool) and
the Easy Transfer wizard and found that both of them recovered and proceeded
without issue when network connections were interrupted deliberately. It
worked well enough, and our network is fast enough, that we decided to forego
using the special data transfer kit/cable the Microsoft recommends.

As an alternative I guess you might also just use USMT to produce a data
store, write the data store to optical disc(s), and accomplish the transfer
that way.

"Oscar Kars" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> We were experimenting with two laptops with Windows Vista Business, to move
> an userprofile from one to another. We used Windows Easy Transfer, but to our
> disappointment, at almost three-quarters of the way, it seemed to have lost
> its network connection. This was with both laptops connected to our network.
> We took a crosslink cable and tried again, but with the same result.
>
> Now, we're not really looking for a way to transfer the user profile
> (because there are other ways), but we'd jsut like to know why it won't work.
> Have more people had experiences like this?

Thank you for your answer. You're right, I should have been more specific.

What happened, is that on three-quarter of the actual migration, on both
laptops, an icon flashed in the upper right corner. It was an icon that
looked the same as the "No network cable attached"-icon in Windows XP.

Unfortunately, un- and re-plugging the cables didn't have any effect. We
left them standing for an hour but no progress at all was made. We had to
terminate both sessions with the task manager.

Our network should be fast enough to be able to complete this task easily.
Also, as I said, the same problem occurred with a crosslink connection.

The profile that was copied, was a Vista profile. It was pretty large, but
not overly so. I could not find any problems on the disk. I deliberately did
not clean it up beforehand, because the owner of the profile wants to keep
his internet settings, cookies and temporary files. Also, we do not believe
that it should matter anyway.

Hope you have a more clear picture now.

"jimmuh" wrote:

> You say that "it seemed to have lost its network connection." I'm not sure
> what you mean by that. Perhaps, if you provide us with some detail concerning
> exactly what happened / what you saw someone will have a suggestion.
>
> I can tell you that I have tested both USMT (user state migration tool) and
> the Easy Transfer wizard and found that both of them recovered and proceeded
> without issue when network connections were interrupted deliberately. It
> worked well enough, and our network is fast enough, that we decided to forego
> using the special data transfer kit/cable the Microsoft recommends.
>
> As an alternative I guess you might also just use USMT to produce a data
> store, write the data store to optical disc(s), and accomplish the transfer
> that way.
>
> "Oscar Kars" wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > We were experimenting with two laptops with Windows Vista Business, to move
> > an userprofile from one to another. We used Windows Easy Transfer, but to our
> > disappointment, at almost three-quarters of the way, it seemed to have lost
> > its network connection. This was with both laptops connected to our network.
> > We took a crosslink cable and tried again, but with the same result.
> >
> > Now, we're not really looking for a way to transfer the user profile
> > (because there are other ways), but we'd jsut like to know why it won't work.
> > Have more people had experiences like this?

From your description I'm picturing the flashing X you see on the client
screen when a remote desktop connection is lost. I'm still not sure I
understand the situation. (I'm a little dense, sometimes.)

Are you saying that the attempt at using the Easy Transfer via crossover
cable failed at approximately or exactly the same point in the process? If at
exactly the same point, then that would be particularly interesting.

So many possibilities come to mind:
1. First of all, since these are laptops what comes to mind is the times
I've seen network connections die due to issues with power saving options on
the NICs. Probably not likely in this case, but one of many things to check.
2. If a particular file at the 3/4 point in the transfer was bad I could see
the transfer timing out, but it shouldn't cause the network connection to be
lost.
3. I even used this process over wireless LAN and saw a momentary lull in
the transfer as keys were renegotiated, but it didn't result in termination
of the transfer.
4. You didn't clean up the profile, and I think you're right when you say
you shouldn't need to do so. It might be interesting, though, to see if
excessive file system fragmentation (really unlikely) or an open process
(much more likely) holding a handle on a file in the profile could cause an
issue. Again, I would expect this sort of thing to hold up the transfer but
certainly not break the network connection. Were both systems rebooted (or at
least logged off / logged on) immediately prior to initiating the transfer
session? (This is probably not necessary, but I make a habit of doing it,
anyway.)

I don't know. I'm kind of stumped. I'm still a little mystified by the
flashing icon thing. I'm not quite sure what that would be. You say it was in
the upper right-hand corner of the screen of both laptops? What did the
network connection icon in the system tray show on both machines?

"Oscar Kars" wrote:

> Thank you for your answer. You're right, I should have been more specific.
>
> What happened, is that on three-quarter of the actual migration, on both
> laptops, an icon flashed in the upper right corner. It was an icon that
> looked the same as the "No network cable attached"-icon in Windows XP.
>
> Unfortunately, un- and re-plugging the cables didn't have any effect. We
> left them standing for an hour but no progress at all was made. We had to
> terminate both sessions with the task manager.
>
> Our network should be fast enough to be able to complete this task easily.
> Also, as I said, the same problem occurred with a crosslink connection.
>
> The profile that was copied, was a Vista profile. It was pretty large, but
> not overly so. I could not find any problems on the disk. I deliberately did
> not clean it up beforehand, because the owner of the profile wants to keep
> his internet settings, cookies and temporary files. Also, we do not believe
> that it should matter anyway.
>
> Hope you have a more clear picture now.
>
> "jimmuh" wrote:
>
> > You say that "it seemed to have lost its network connection." I'm not sure
> > what you mean by that. Perhaps, if you provide us with some detail concerning
> > exactly what happened / what you saw someone will have a suggestion.
> >
> > I can tell you that I have tested both USMT (user state migration tool) and
> > the Easy Transfer wizard and found that both of them recovered and proceeded
> > without issue when network connections were interrupted deliberately. It
> > worked well enough, and our network is fast enough, that we decided to forego
> > using the special data transfer kit/cable the Microsoft recommends.
> >
> > As an alternative I guess you might also just use USMT to produce a data
> > store, write the data store to optical disc(s), and accomplish the transfer
> > that way.
> >
> > "Oscar Kars" wrote:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > We were experimenting with two laptops with Windows Vista Business, to move
> > > an userprofile from one to another. We used Windows Easy Transfer, but to our
> > > disappointment, at almost three-quarters of the way, it seemed to have lost
> > > its network connection. This was with both laptops connected to our network.
> > > We took a crosslink cable and tried again, but with the same result.
> > >
> > > Now, we're not really looking for a way to transfer the user profile
> > > (because there are other ways), but we'd jsut like to know why it won't work.
> > > Have more people had experiences like this?