ADMT Guide: Migrating and Restructuring

Active Directory Domains

Microsoft Corporation
Published: June 2010
Authors: Justin Hall
Editors: Jim Becker, Margery Spears

Abstract
This guide explains how to use the Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 (ADMT v3.1) or
ADMT v 3.2 to migrate users, groups, managed service accounts, and computers between
Active Directory domains in different forests (interforest migration) or between Active Directory
domains in the same forest (intraforest migration). It also shows how to use ADMT to perform
security translation between different Active Directory forests.

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Contents
ADMT Guide: Migrating and Restructuring Active Directory Domains............................................7
Interforest Active Directory domain restructure............................................................................7
Intraforest Active Directory domain restructure............................................................................8
Terms and definitions................................................................................................................... 9
Active Directory Migration Tool.................................................................................................. 10
Using an include file............................................................................................................... 12
SourceName field............................................................................................................... 12
TargetName field................................................................................................................. 13
TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN fields...................................................................13
Renaming objects............................................................................................................... 14
Using an exclude file........................................................................................................... 14
Using scripts........................................................................................................................... 14
Active Directory Migration Tool versions and supported environments.........................................17
Support for Windows Server features........................................................................................19
Best Practices for Active Directory Migration................................................................................20
Best Practices for Using the Active Directory Migration Tool.........................................................20
Best Practices for Performing User and Group Account Migrations..............................................20
Best Practices for Performing Computer Migrations.....................................................................22
Best Practices for Rolling Back a Migration..................................................................................22
Interforest Active Directory Domain Restructure...........................................................................23
Checklist: Performing an Interforest Migration..............................................................................24
Overview of Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests........................................27
Process for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests.........................................27
Background Information for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests................28
Account migration process........................................................................................................ 28
Resource migration process...................................................................................................... 30
Planning to Restructure Active Directory Domains Between Forests............................................30
Determining Your Account Migration Process...............................................................................31
Using SID History to Preserve Resource Access..........................................................................33
Using SID Filtering When Migrating User Accounts......................................................................34

Assigning Object Locations and Roles.......................................................................................... 35

Developing a Test Plan for Your Migration....................................................................................36
Creating a Rollback Plan.............................................................................................................. 38
Managing Users, Groups, and User Profiles.................................................................................39
Administering user accounts..................................................................................................... 40
Attributes that are always excluded by the system.................................................................40
System attribute exclusion list................................................................................................ 41
Attribute exclusion list............................................................................................................ 41
Administering global groups...................................................................................................... 41
Planning for a user profile migration.......................................................................................... 41
Preparing for migration of roaming profiles with computers that run Windows Vista and
Windows 7.......................................................................................................................... 43
Creating an End-User Communication Plan.................................................................................44
General information................................................................................................................... 45
Impact........................................................................................................................................ 45
Logon status during migration................................................................................................... 45
Premigration steps..................................................................................................................... 45
Expected changes..................................................................................................................... 45
Scheduling and support information..........................................................................................45
Preparing the Source and Target Domains...................................................................................46
Installing 128-Bit High Encryption Software..................................................................................46
Establishing Required Trusts for Your Migration...........................................................................47
Establishing Migration Accounts for Your Migration......................................................................47
Configuring the Source and Target Domains for SID History Migration........................................51
Configuring the Target Domain OU Structure for Administration...................................................53
Installing ADMT in the Target Domain...........................................................................................53
Installing ADMT v3.1.................................................................................................................. 54
Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1....................................................................................54
Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store...........................................................54
Installing ADMT v3.2.................................................................................................................. 56
Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2...................................................................................57
Install ADMT v3.2................................................................................................................... 57
Detach an Existing Database File from a Previous Version of ADMT and SQL Server.............58
Reconfiguring a Database Installation with Admtdb.exe............................................................59
Reuse an Existing ADMT Database from a Previous Installation..............................................61
Enabling Migration of Passwords.................................................................................................. 61

Initializing ADMT by Running a Test Migration..............................................................................64

Identifying Service Accounts for Your Migration............................................................................66
Identifying Service Accounts...................................................................................................... 67
Migrating Accounts....................................................................................................................... 71
Transitioning Service Accounts in Your Migration.........................................................................72
Migrating Global Groups............................................................................................................... 76
Migrating Accounts While Using SID History................................................................................81
Migrating Managed Service Accounts...........................................................................................84
Migrating All User Accounts.......................................................................................................... 88
Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating Workstations in Batches.............................................94
Translating local user profiles.................................................................................................... 94
Migrating workstations in batches..............................................................................................98
Remigrating user accounts in batches.....................................................................................103
Remigrating all global groups after user account migration.....................................................108
Remigrating All Global Groups After All Batches Are Migrated...................................................108
Migrating Accounts Without Using SID History...........................................................................112
Migrating Managed Service Accounts......................................................................................... 114
Migrating All User Accounts........................................................................................................ 118
Translating Security in Add Mode............................................................................................... 123
Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating Workstations in Batches...........................................127
Translating local user profiles.................................................................................................. 127
Migrating workstations in batches............................................................................................131
Remigrating user accounts in batches.....................................................................................136
Remigrating all global groups after user account migration.....................................................141
Remigrating All Global Groups After All Batches Are Migrated...................................................141
Translating Security in Remove Mode........................................................................................ 145
Migrating Resources................................................................................................................... 148
Migrating Workstations and Member Servers.............................................................................149
Migrating Domain and Shared Local Groups..............................................................................154
Migrating Domain Controllers..................................................................................................... 158

Completing the Migration............................................................................................................ 158

Translating Security on Your Member Servers............................................................................159
Decommissioning the Source Domain........................................................................................ 163
Intraforest Active Directory Domain Restructure.........................................................................163
Checklist: Performing an Intraforest Migration............................................................................164
Overview of Restructuring Active Directory Domains Within a Forest.........................................166
Restructuring Active Directory Domains Within a Forest Using ADMT v3.1................................167
Background Information for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Within a Forest................167
Closed sets and open sets...................................................................................................... 168
Users and groups................................................................................................................. 168
Resources and local groups.................................................................................................170
SID history............................................................................................................................... 170
Assigning resource access to groups......................................................................................170
Preparing to Restructure Active Directory Domains Within a Forest...........................................171
Evaluate the New Active Directory Forest Structure...................................................................172
Identify the source domains..................................................................................................... 172
Identify and evaluate the OU structure of the target domain...................................................172
Assign Domain Object Roles and Locations...............................................................................172
Plan for Group Migration............................................................................................................. 174
Plan for Test Migrations.............................................................................................................. 176
Create a Rollback Plan............................................................................................................... 178
Create an End-User Communication Plan..................................................................................178
General information................................................................................................................. 179
Impact...................................................................................................................................... 179
Logon status during migration.................................................................................................179
Premigration steps................................................................................................................... 179
Expected changes................................................................................................................... 179
Scheduling and support information........................................................................................180
Create Migration Account Groups............................................................................................... 180
Installing ADMT in the Target Domain.........................................................................................182
Installing ADMT v3.1................................................................................................................ 182
Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1..................................................................................183
Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store.........................................................183

Installing ADMT v3.2................................................................................................................ 185

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2.................................................................................186
Install ADMT v3.2................................................................................................................. 186
Detach an Existing Database File from a Previous Version of ADMT and SQL Server...........187
Reconfiguring a Database Installation with Admtdb.exe..........................................................188
Reuse an Existing ADMT Database from a Previous Installation............................................189
Plan for Service Account Transitioning........................................................................................190
Example: Preparing to Restructure Active Directory Domains....................................................194
Migrating Domain Objects Between Active Directory Domains...................................................195
Migrate Groups........................................................................................................................... 196
Migrate Universal Groups........................................................................................................... 197
Migrate Global Groups................................................................................................................ 200
Migrate Service Accounts........................................................................................................... 204
Migrating Managed Service Accounts.........................................................................................208
Migrate User Accounts................................................................................................................ 213
Migrating OUs and Subtrees of OUs........................................................................................... 213
Migrate Accounts........................................................................................................................ 214
Translate Local User Profiles...................................................................................................... 218
Migrate Workstations and Member Servers................................................................................222
Migrate Domain Local Groups.................................................................................................... 228
Example: Restructuring Active Directory Domains......................................................................231
Completing Post-Migration Tasks................................................................................................231
Examine Migration Logs for Errors............................................................................................. 232
Accessing ADMT log files........................................................................................................ 232
Verify Group Types..................................................................................................................... 233
Translate Security on Member Servers.......................................................................................233
Translate Security by Using a SID Mapping File.........................................................................237
Decommission the Source Domain.............................................................................................237
Example: Completing Post-Migration Tasks................................................................................238

Appendix: Advanced Procedures................................................................................................ 238

Configure a Preferred Domain Controller....................................................................................238
Rename Objects During Migration.............................................................................................. 240
Use an Include File..................................................................................................................... 241
To specify an include file.......................................................................................................... 241
Use an Option File...................................................................................................................... 244
Troubleshooting ADMT............................................................................................................... 245
Troubleshooting ADMT Installation Issues..................................................................................246
Troubleshooting User Migration Issues.......................................................................................247
Troubleshooting Group Migration Issues....................................................................................248
Troubleshooting Service Account Migration Issues.....................................................................249
Troubleshooting Managed Service Account Migration Issues.....................................................250
Troubleshooting Computer Migration Issues...............................................................................252
Troubleshooting Password Migration Issues...............................................................................253
Troubleshooting Security Translation Issues...............................................................................255
Troubleshooting Intraforest Migration Issues..............................................................................256
Troubleshooting ADMT Log File Issues......................................................................................258
Troubleshooting ADMT Command-Line Issues...........................................................................259
Troubleshooting Agent Operations..............................................................................................259
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................. 261
Related information................................................................................................................. 261
Related tools........................................................................................................................... 261
Related job aids....................................................................................................................... 261

ADMT Guide: Migrating and Restructuring

Active Directory Domains
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To obtain a downloadable version of this guide in .doc format, see ADMT Guide: Migrating and
Restructuring Active Directory Domains (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=191734).
As part of deploying the Active Directory directory service or Active Directory Domain Services
(AD DS), you might choose to restructure your environment for the following reasons:

To optimize the arrangement of elements within the logical Active Directory structure

To assist in completing a business merger, acquisition, or divestiture

Restructuring involves the migration of resources between Active Directory domains in either the
same forest or in different forests. After you deploy Active Directory or AD DS, you might decide
to further reduce the complexity of your environment by either restructuring domains between
forests or restructuring domains within a single forest.
You can use the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to perform object migrations and security
translation as necessary so that users can maintain access to network resources during the
migration process. For more information about the different versions of ADMT that are available,
when to use each version, and how to obtain them, see Active Directory Migration Tool versions
and supported environments.
In this guide

Best Practices for Active Directory Migration

Interforest Active Directory Domain Restructure

Intraforest Active Directory Domain Restructure

Appendix: Advanced Procedures

Troubleshooting ADMT

Additional Resources

The following sections explain the main migration scenarios for using ADMT. After you determine
the appropriate scenario for your environment, follow the steps later in this guide for that
scenario.

Interforest Active Directory domain restructure

You might perform an interforest restructure for business changes, such as mergers or
acquisitions or divestitures, in which your organizations have to combine or divide resources. As
9

part of the restructuring process, when you migrate objects between forests both the source and
target domain environments exist simultaneously. This makes it possible for you to roll back to the
source environment during the migration, if necessary.
Splitting or cloning forestsfor example, to accommodate divestiture of an organizationis not
supported. For more information, see Restructuring Limitations (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=121736).
Important
If you are using ADMT v3.1, all target domains must be at least at the Microsoft
Windows 2000 native functional level. If you are using ADMT v3.2, all source and target
domains must be at least at the Windows Server 2003 functional level.

Intraforest Active Directory domain restructure

When you restructure domains in a forest, you can consolidate your domain structure and reduce
administrative complexity and overhead. Unlike the process for restructuring domains between
forests, when you restructure domains in a forest, the migrated accounts no longer exist in the
source domain. Therefore, rollback of the migration can only occur when you carry out the
migration process again in reverse order from the previous target domain to the previous source
domain.
Important
If you are using ADMT v3.1, all target domains must be at least at the Windows 2000
native functional level. If you are using ADMT v3.2, all source and target domains must
be at least at the Windows Server 2003 functional level.
The following table lists the differences between an interforest domain restructure and an
intraforest domain restructure.

10

Migration consideration

Interforest restructure

Intrafo

Object preservation

Objects are cloned rather than migrated. The original object remains in
the source location to maintain access to resources for users.

User
migra
sourc
mana
copie
rema
doma

Security identifier (SID) history

maintenance

Maintaining SID history is optional.

SID h
group
not m

Password retention

Password retention is optional.

Passw

Local profile migration

You must use tools such as ADMT to migrate local profiles.

Local
autom
globa
prese

Closed sets

You do not have to migrate accounts in closed sets. For more

information, see Background Information for Restructuring
Active Directory Domains Within a Forest
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122123).

You m
close

Terms and definitions

The following terms apply to the Active Directory domain restructure process.
Migration The process of moving or copying an object from a source domain to a target
domain, while preserving or modifying characteristics of the object to make it accessible in the
new domain.
Domain restructure A migration process that involves changing the domain structure of a
forest. A domain restructure can involve either consolidating or adding domains, and it can take
place between forests or in a forest.
Migration objects Domain objects that are moved from the source domain to the target domain
during the migration process. Migration objects can be user accounts, service accounts, groups,
or computers.
Source domain The domain from which objects are moved during a migration. When you
restructure Active Directory domains between forests, the source domain is an Active Directory
domain in a different forest from the target domain.
Target domain The domain to which objects are moved during a migration.
Built-in accounts Default security groups that have common sets of rights and permissions.
You can use built-in accounts to grant permissions to any accounts or groups that you designate
11

as members of these groups. Built-in account SIDs are identical in every domain. Therefore, builtin accounts cannot be migration objects.

Active Directory Migration Tool

You can use ADMT to migrate objects in Active Directory forests. This tool includes wizards that
automate migration tasks, such as migrating users, groups, service accounts, computers, and
trusts and performing security translation.
You can perform ADMT tasks by using the ADMT console, a command line, or a script. When you
run ADMT at the command line, it is often more efficient to use an option file to specify commandline options. You can use the ADMT option file reference in the following example to assist you in
creating option files. Examples of command-line syntax are provided for each task that you must
perform to restructure the domains within the forest.
The following listing shows common options that apply to several migration tasks. Each type of
migration task has a section that lists options that are specific to that task. The section name
corresponds to the task name when you run ADMT at the command line. You can comment out
items with a semicolon. In the following listing, the default values are commented out.
[Migration]
;IntraForest=No
;SourceDomain="source_domain_name"
;SourceOu="source_ou_path"

;TargetDomain="target_domain_name"
;TargetOu="target_ou_path"
;PasswordOption=Complex
;PasswordServer=""
;PasswordFile=""
;ConflictOptions=Ignore
;UserPropertiesToExclude=""
;InetOrgPersonPropertiesToExclude=""
;GroupPropertiesToExclude=""
;ComputerPropertiesToExclude=""

[User]
;DisableOption=EnableTarget
;SourceExpiration=None
;MigrateSIDs=Yes
;TranslateRoamingProfile=No

12

;UpdateUserRights=No
;MigrateGroups=No
;UpdatePreviouslyMigratedObjects=No
;FixGroupMembership=Yes
;MigrateServiceAccounts=No
;UpdateGroupRights=No

[Group]
;MigrateSIDs=Yes
;UpdatePreviouslyMigratedObjects=No
;FixGroupMembership=Yes
;UpdateGroupRights=No
;MigrateMembers=No
;DisableOption=EnableTarget
;SourceExpiration=None
;TranslateRoamingProfile=No
;MigrateServiceAccounts=No

[Security]
;TranslationOption=Add
;TranslateFilesAndFolders=No
;TranslateLocalGroups=No
;TranslatePrinters=No
;TranslateRegistry=No
;TranslateShares=No
;TranslateUserProfiles=No
;TranslateUserRights=No
;SidMappingFile="SidMappingFile.txt"

When you run ADMT at the command line, you do not have to include an option in your command
if you want to accept the default value. In this guide, however, tables that list possible parameters
and values are provided for reference. The tables list the command-line equivalent of each option
that is shown in the corresponding ADMT console procedure, including those options for which
you accept the default value.
You can copy the option file reference into Notepad and save it by using a .txt file name
extension.

13

As an example, to migrate a small number of computers, you might type each computer name at
the command line, using the /N option, and then list other migration options within an option file
as follows:
ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:"<option_file>.txt"

Where <computer_name1> and <computer_name2> are the names of computers in the source
domain that you are migrating in this batch.

Using an include file

When you migrate a large number of users, groups, or computers, it is more efficient to use an
include file. An include file is a text file in which you list the user, group, and computer objects that
you want to migrate, with each object on a separate line. You must use an include file if you want
to rename objects during the migration.
You can list users, groups, and computers together in one file, or you can create a separate file
for each object type. Then, specify the include file name with the /F option, as follows:
ADMT COMPUTER /F "<includefile_name>" /IF:YES /SD:"<source_domain>
/TD:"<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>"

To specify the names of users, groups, or computers, use one of the following conventions:

The Security Accounts Manager (SAM) account name. To specify a computer name in this format, you
must append a dollar sign ($) to the computer name. For example, to specify a computer with the name
Workstation01, use Workstation01$.

The relative distinguished name (also known as RDN), for example, cn= Workstation01. If you specify
the account as a relative distinguished name, you must specify the source organizational unit (OU).

The canonical name. You can specify the canonical name as DNS DOMAIN
NAME/OU_PATH/OBJECT_NAME or OU_PATH/OBJECT_NAME, for example,
Asia.trccorp.treyresearch.net/Computers/Workstation01 or Computers/Workstation01.

The following sections describe the fields of an include file and provide examples for each field:

SourceName field
The SOURCENAME field specifies the name of the source object. You can specify either an account
name or a relative distinguished name. If you only specify source names, it is optional to define a
header on the first line in the file.
The following example illustrates a header line that specifies the SOURCENAME field. The example
also shows a source object name that is specified in several formats. The second line specifies
an account name. The third line specifies a relative distinguished name.
SourceName
NAME

CN=NAME

14

TargetName field
You can use the TARGETNAME field to specify a base name that is used to generate a target
relative distinguished name, a target SAM account name, and a target user principal name
(UPN). The TARGETNAME field cannot be combined with other target name fields that are
described later in this section.
Note
The target UPN is generated only for user objects, and only a UPN prefix is generated. A
UPN suffix is appended using an algorithm that depends on whether a UPN suffix is
defined for the target OU or the target forest. If the object is a computer, the target SAM
account name includes a "$" suffix.
The following example of input generates the target relative distinguished name, target SAM
account name, and target UPN as "CN=NEWNAME", "NEWNAME," and "NEWNAME" respectively.
SourceName,TargetName
OLDNAME, NEWNAME

TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN fields

You can use the TARGETRDN, TARGETSAM, and TARGETUPN fields to specify the different target
names independently of each other. You can specify any combination of these fields in any order.
TARGETRDN specifies the target relative distinguished name for the object.
TARGETSAM specifies the target SAM account name for the object. For computers, the name
must include a "$" suffix to be a valid SAM account name for a computer.
TARGETUPN specifies the target UPN for the object. You can specify either just the UPN prefix or
a complete UPN name (PREFIX@SUFFIX). If the name that you specify contains a space or a
comma, you must enclose the name in double quotation marks (" ").
SourceName,TargetRDN
OLDNAME,

CN=NEWNAME

SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetSAM
OLDNAME,

"CN=NEW RDN", NEWSAMNAME

SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetSAM,TargetUPN
OLDNAME,

"CN=LAST\, FIRST", NEWSAMNAME, NEWUPNNAME

Note
A comma within the CN value must be preceded with an escape ("\") character or the
operation will fail, and ADMT will record an invalid syntax error in the log file.
SourceName,TargetSAM,TargetUPN,TargetRDN
OLDNAME, NEWSAMNAME, NEWUPNNAME@TARGETDOMAIN,

"CN=NEW NAME"

15

Renaming objects
Use the following format in an include file to rename computer, user, or group objects during
migration:

Use SourceName, TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN as column headings at the top of the
include file. SourceName is the name of the source account, and it must be listed as the first column
heading. The TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN column headings are optional, and you can
list them in any order.

You must specify the account name as user name, relative distinguished name, or canonical name. If
you specify the account name as a relative distinguished name, you must also specify the source OU.

The following are examples of valid include files in which the rename option is used:
SourceName,TargetSAM
abc,def
This include file entry changes the TargetSAM account name for user "abc" to "def." The
TargetRDN and the TargetUPN, which are not specified in this include file, do not change as a
result of the migration.
SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetUPN
abc,CN=def,[email protected]
This include file entry changes the TargetRDN for user abc to CN=def and the TargetUPN to
[email protected]. The TargetSAM for user abc does not change as a result of the migration.
Important
You must specify CN= before using an RDN value.

Using an exclude file

You can exclude objects from migration by using an exclude file. An exclude file is a text file that
lists the SAMAccountName attribute of the objects that you want to exclude. For example, to
exclude the following managed service accounts, create a text file:
MSA_USER5$
MSA_USER6$

Then, specify the name of the exclude file when you run the admt command. For example:
admt managedserviceaccount /ef:exclude file name

Optionally, you can exclude specific accounts by using the /en parameter:
admt managedserviceaccount /en:managed service account 1 managed service account 2

Using scripts
The sample scripts that are provided in this guide refer to the symbolic constants that are defined
in a file named AdmtConstants.vbs. The listing that follows shows the ADMT constants Microsoft
16

Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) file. The constants are also provided in the ADMT
installation folder, in the TemplateScript.vbs file, in the %systemroot%\WINDOWS\ADMT
directory.
To use the sample scripts in the guide, copy the ADMT constants VBScript file into Notepad and
save it as AdmtConstants.vbs. Be sure to save it in the same folder where you plan to save the
sample scripts that are provided in this guide.
Option Explicit

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------' ADMT Scripting Constants

'----------------------------------------------------------------------------

' PasswordOption constants

Const admtComplexPassword

= &H0001

Const admtCopyPassword

= &H0002

' Note that the following constant cannot be specified alone.

' It must be specified along with admtComplexPassword or admtCopyPassword.
Const admtDoNotUpdatePasswordsForExisting

= &H0010

' ConflictOptions constants

Const admtIgnoreConflicting

= &H0000

Const admtMergeConflicting

= &H0001

Const admtRemoveExistingUserRights

= &H0010

Const admtRemoveExistingMembers

= &H0020

Const admtMoveMergedAccounts

= &H0040

' DisableOption constants

Const admtLeaveSource

= &H0000

Const admtDisableSource

= &H0001

Const admtTargetSameAsSource = &H0000

Const admtDisableTarget

= &H0010

17

Const admtEnableTarget

= &H0020

' SourceExpiration constant

Const admtNoExpiration = -1

' Translation Option

Const admtTranslateReplace = 0
Const admtTranslateAdd

= 1

Const admtTranslateRemove

= 2

' Report Type

Const admtReportMigratedAccounts

= 0

Const admtReportMigratedComputers = 1
Const admtReportExpiredComputers

= 2

Const admtReportAccountReferences = 3
Const admtReportNameConflicts

= 4

' Option constants

Const admtNone

= 0

Const admtData

= 1

Const admtFile

= 2

Const admtDomain

= 3

Const admtRecurse

= &H0100

Const admtFlattenHierarchy

= &H0000

Const admtMaintainHierarchy = &H0200

18

Active Directory Migration Tool versions and

supported environments
This topic explains the different versions of the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) that are
available. It provides links to download each version, and explains requirements for installing
them, the supported environments that they can be used in, and how they work with certain
Active Directory features in Windows Server.
ADMT version

Installation platform

Source domain require

ADMT v3.0 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=68791)

Windows Server 2003

Source domains can c

domain controllers tha
Windows NT, Window
Server, or Windows S
No minimum domain f
level is required for a s
domain.

ADMT v3.1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121732)

Windows Server 2008

Source domains can c

domain controllers tha
Windows 2000 Server
Server 2003, or Windo
Server 2008. No minim
domain functional leve
required for a source d
ADMT v3.1 cannot be
migrate objects from W
NT 4 domains.

ADMT v3.2 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=186197)

Windows
Server 2008 R2

Minimum source doma

functional level is
Windows Server 2003

Support for Windows Server features

No versions of ADMT can be installed on a read-only domain controller (RODC) or a Server Core
installation. An RODC cannot be used as a source or target domain controller for migration.

19

In addition, ADMT v3.2 provides the following support for new Active Directory features in
Windows Server 2008 R2.
Feature

Impact of using ADMT v3.2

Managed service accounts

Can be migrated by using use the Managed

Service Account Migration Wizard or the admt
managedserviceaccount command.

Authentication Mechanism Assurance

User accounts that are enabled for

Authentication Mechanism Assurance need to
be migrated by using an include file
Important
The User Principal Name (UPN) is
changed when a user is migrated,
which prevents Authentication
Mechanism Assurance from working.
To work around this issue, you need to
keep a record of the UPNs of user
accounts that are enabled for
Authentication Mechanism Assurance
and migrate them using an include file.
In an include file, you can specify the
targetUPNs for these users to be
migrated. This way you can override
the UPNs in that target domain with the
original UPNS from the source domain.
For more information about using an
include file, see Use an Include File.

Offline Domain Join

No impact

Active Directory Recycle Bin

No impact

Windows PowerShell

Not incorporated into ADMT v3.2

Best Practices for Active Directory Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To ensure that your migration process is as seamless as possible, follow these best practice
recommendations:

Best Practices for Using the Active Directory Migration Tool

20

Best Practices for Performing User and Group Account Migrations

Best Practices for Performing Computer Migrations

Best Practices for Rolling Back a Migration

Best Practices for Using the Active Directory

Migration Tool
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

Perform regular backups of domain controllers in both the source and target domains throughout the
course of the migrations. If you are migrating computers that contain file shares to perform security
translation, we recommend that you also back up those computers throughout migrations.

Before you begin a migration, perform a test migration by creating a test user, adding the test user to
the appropriate global groups, and then verifying resource access before and after migration.

Test your migration scenarios in a test environment before migrating objects in the production
environment.

Have a recovery plan, and ensure that your recovery plan works during the test phase of your
migration.

Decrypt files that have been encrypted by means of Encrypting File System (EFS). Failure to decrypt
encrypted files will result in loss of access to encrypted files after migration. Be sure to communicate
to end users that they must decrypt any encrypted files or they will lose access to those files.

Ensure that the system time is synchronized in each domain from which objects are migrated. Kerberos
authentication fails if time is skewed.

Best Practices for Performing User and

Group Account Migrations
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

Perform regular backups of domain controllers in both the source and target domains throughout the
course of the migrations. If you are migrating computers that contain file shares to perform security
translation, we recommend that you also back up those computers throughout migrations.

We recommend that you migrate users in batches. A batch size of 100 users helps to keep the migration
process manageable.

Always administer changes to user accounts and group accounts in the source domain during the
migration process.
21

Use the Migrate and merge conflicting objects option on the Conflict Management page of the
User Account Migration Wizard and the Group Account Migration Wizard to remigrate users and
groups as often as necessary throughout the migration. Administering changes in the source domain
and then using the Migrate and merge conflicting objects option during migration ensures that all
changes that are made to an object in the source domain are reflected after it has been migrated to the
target domain.

To maintain access to resources, ensure that group membership adheres to the following guidelines:

Use global groups to group users.

Use local groups to protect resources.

Place global groups into local groups to grant members of the global groups access to a resource.

Adhere to the guidelines in the following table when you translate user profiles.

Profile type

Translation guidelines

Roaming profiles

Select the Translate roaming profiles option

on the User Options page in the User Account
Migration Wizard. Then, translate local user
profiles for a batch of users immediately after
you migrate those users.

Local profiles

Translate local profiles as a separate step from

the user account migration process. Select the
User profiles option on the Translate Objects
page of the Security Translation Wizard.
Translate local user profiles for a batch of users
immediately after you migrate those users.

Unmanaged profiles

Users lose their existing profiles when their

user accounts are migrated.

Important
It is important to verify that local profile translation has succeeded before users attempt to
log on to the target domain. If users log on to the target domain by using their new target
accounts and their profiles have not translated successfully, those users must be
migrated again from the source domain to the target domain. For more information about
the steps to follow if local profile translation fails, see Troubleshooting Security
Translation Issues.

22

Best Practices for Performing Computer

Migrations
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

Perform regular backups of domain controllers in both the source and target domains throughout the
course of the migrations. If you are migrating computers that contain file shares to perform security
translation, we recommend that you also back up those computers throughout the migration.

Verify that workstations and member servers have restarted immediately after you join them to the
target domain. The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) automates the restart of workstations and
member servers, but you use the Minutes before computers restart after wizard completion option
in the Computer Migration Wizard to select the amount of time that passes before the computer is
restarted. Computers that do not restart after migration are in an indeterminate state.

Communicate to end users that their computers must be connected to the network at the time that their
computer is scheduled to be migrated.

Best Practices for Rolling Back a Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

Roll back user and group accounts that have been migrated between forests by enabling the accounts in
the source domain (if they were disabled during the migration), verifying that the accounts have access
to resources in the source domain, and then verifying that logon scripts and user profiles work as
configured in the source domain.

Roll back resources that have been migrated between forests by changing the domain membership of
servers and workstations and then restarting them. Log on to the resources in the source domain to
ensure that the resources are accessible.

Roll back accounts and resources that have been migrated within a forest by migrating the objects back
from the target domain to the source domain. Accounts and resources that are migrated within a forest
are moved and not copied. Therefore, they do not continue to exist in the source domain.
Note
To ensure a successful rollback of an intraforest migration, do not attempt to delete
the objects in the target domain and then restore them in the source domain. You will
not be able to recover the objects in the source domain because they are
automatically deleted by the cross-domain move proxy if a restore is attempted.
Note

23

When you perform an intraforest migration using ADMT v3.1, if the functional level of
the source domain is Windows 2000 mixed, you will not be able to migrate the
objects back from the target domain to the source domain to undo migration
changes. A remigration requires that the source domain become the target domain,
and, with ADMT v3.1, the functional level of the target domain must be at least at
Windows 2000 native.

Interforest Active Directory Domain

Restructure
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Restructuring Active Directory domains between forests involves relocating objects from source
domains in one forest to target domains in another forest. You might have to restructure
Active Directory domains between forests to:

Migrate a pilot domain into your production environment.

Merge users and resources with another organization because of a corporate merger and the need to
consolidate the two information technology (IT) infrastructures.

Relocate users and resources on a regular basis because of a planned multiforest deployment.

Remove objects from your forest because of a divestiture to another organization or to merge later into
a new or existing forest for that organization.

In this section

Checklist: Performing an Interforest Migration

Overview of Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests

Restructuring Limitations

Planning to Restructure Active Directory Domains Between Forests

Preparing the Source and Target Domains

Migrating Accounts

Migrating Resources

Completing the Migration

24

Checklist: Performing an Interforest

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrating Active Directory domains between forests (interforest migration) involves relocating
objects from source domains in one forest to target domains in another forest. You might have to
restructure Active Directory domains between forests for the following reasons:

To migrate a pilot domain into your production environment

To merge your Active Directory forest with the forest of another organization and consolidate the two
information technology (IT) infrastructures

Task

Reference

Review the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT)

preinstallation instructions.

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

To migrate computers running Windows Server 2008,

Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (without Service
Pack 1), Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000
(using ADMT 3.1) to a target domain with domain
controllers running Windows Server 2008 R2 or
Windows Server 2008, first set the following registry key
on the target domain controllers:

For more information about making this

change using Group Policy, see Known
Issues for Installing and Removing
AD DS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=119321).

Note
This registry key does not need to be set to
migrate computers that run Windows
Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, or
Windows Vista SP1.
Registry path:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon
\Parameters
Registry value: AllowNT4Crypto
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1
Note
This registry setting corresponds to the Allow
cryptography algorithms compatible with
Windows NT 4.0 setting in Group Policy.
For any migration tasks that use agent deployment and

For more information about making this

25

Task

Reference

where Windows Firewall is in use, enable the File and

Printer Sharing exception. This can include migration for
the following situations:

change in Windows Firewall, see

Enable or Disable the File and Printer
Sharing Exception
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkID=119315).

Migrating workstation computers and member servers

that are running Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows
Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7,
Windows Vista, or Windows XP.

Migrating security settings or performing security

translation

Prepare to restructure Active Directory domains within a

forest. This task has the following subtasks:

Determine your account migration process.

Assign object roles and locations.

Develop a test plan for your migration.

Create a rollback plan.

Manage users, groups, and user profiles.

Create a user communication plan.

Prepare the source and target domains. This task has

the following subtasks:

Install 128-bit encryption software.

Establish trusts that are required for migration.

Establish migration accounts for your migration.

Configure the source and target domains for security

identifier (SID) history migration.

Configure the target domain organizational unit (OU)

structure.

Install ADMT in the target domain.

Specify service accounts for your migration.

Specify and transition service accounts using either the

Service Account Migration Wizard or ADMT command-

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

Planning to Restructure Active
Directory Domains Between Forests

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

Planning to Restructure Active
Directory Domains Between Forests

Transitioning Service Accounts in Your

Migration
26

Task

Reference

line tools. You can use the admt service command-line

tool to specify service accounts in the source domain.
You can use the admt user command-line tool to
transition service accounts that you specify.
Migrate global groups using either the Group Account
Migration Wizard or the admt group command-line tool.

Migrating Global Groups

Migrate managed service accounts, user accounts, and

workstation accounts with their SID histories in batches.
You can use either the User Account Migration Wizard
or the admt user command-line tool to migrate user
accounts. You can use the Managed Service Account
Migration Wizard or admt managedserviceaccount
command-line tool to migrate managed service
accounts.

Migrating Accounts While Using SID

History

Migrate resources, such as member servers and

domain local groups. You can use either the Computer
Account Migration Wizard or the admt computer
command-line tool to migrate computer accounts. You
can use the Group Account Migration Wizard or the
admt group command-line tool to migrate groups.

Remigrating User Accounts and

Migrating Workstations in Batches

Translate security on servers to add the SIDs of the

user and group accounts in the target domain to the
access control lists (ACLs) of the resources. You can
use either the Security Translation Wizard or the admt
security command-line tool.

Translating Security in Add Mode

Repeat a migration of user accounts, workstation

computers, and member servers, including translating
local user profiles to user and computer objects that you
migrated earlier.

Remigrating User Accounts and

Migrating Workstations in Batches

Migrate domain local groups using either the Group

Account Migration Wizard or the admt group commandline tool.

Migrating Domain and Shared Local

Groups

Migrate domain controllers.

Migrating Domain Controllers

Complete postmigration tasks. This task has the

following subtasks:

Translating Security on Your Member

Servers

Translate security on member servers.

Decommissioning the Source Domain

Decommission the source domains.

Migrating Managed Service Accounts

Migrating All User Accounts

27

Overview of Restructuring Active Directory

Domains Between Forests
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
When you restructure domains between forests, you can reduce the number of domains in your
organization, which helps to reduce the administrative complexity and associated overhead costs
of your Active Directory environment. Restructuring domains involves copying accounts and
resources from a source domain to a target domain in a different Active Directory forest. If you are
using the Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 (ADMT), the target domain must be at least
at a Windows 2000 native functional level. If you are using ADMT version 3.2, the source and
target domains must be at least at a Windows Server 2003 functional level.
If your organization has recently merged with another organization or information technology (IT)
infrastructure, you can restructure domains to consolidate accounts and resources between the
two infrastructures.
In this section

Process for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests

Background Information for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Between Forests

Process for Restructuring Active Directory

Domains Between Forests
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Restructuring Active Directory domains between forests involves planning and preparing for the
domain restructure for your organization. It also entails successfully migrating accounts and
resources to an Active Directory domain in another forest. The following figure shows the process
for restructuring Active Directory domains between forests.

28

Background Information for Restructuring

Active Directory Domains Between Forests
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The migration process between forests is not considered to be destructive because the migration
objects continue to exist in the source domain until the source domain is decommissioned.
Because the source and target domain environments exist simultaneously during the migration,
you have the option to roll back to the source environment if migration fails for any reason, for
example, if a particular object does not migrate or access is not maintained or preserved in the
target domain after you perform the migration. You can use the Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) to migrate accounts and resources between domains while preserving user and object
permissions. During the interforest restructure process, users have continuous access to required
resources. Furthermore, you can move users, groups, and resources independently of each
other.
The remaining sections in this topic explain the account and resource migration process .

Account migration process

Restructuring accounts between Active Directory forests involves the copying of users, groups,
and local profiles from the source domain to the target domain, while preserving the access rights
and attributes of those objects.

29

When user accounts are migrated between Active Directory domains in different forests, the
original account remains in place in the source domain and a new account is created in the target
domain. Because the security identifier (SID) of a security principal (user or group) always
contains an identifier for the domain in which the security principal is located, a new SID is
created for the user in the target domain. Because ADMT can migrate the SID of the original
security principal to the security principal in the target domain, you do not have to perform
additional tasks to ensure resource access unless you are using SID filtering between the forests.
If you are using ADMT v3.1 and Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5, use the ADMT Exchange
Server Migration Wizard to translate security on the mailboxes for migrated users. If you are
using Exchange 2000 servers, ADMT does not provide tools for mailbox migration. In this case,
plan to migrate mailboxes first by using the Exchange 2000 mailbox migration tool and then
migrate user accounts.
If you are using Group Policy to manage folder redirection or software distribution, ensure that
these policies continue to apply when you migrate user accounts to a new forest. Also, if you are
using a Group Policy object (GPO) to grant or deny remote access in the source domain and not
the target domain, ADMT cannot determine which remote access to assign to the user.
If you are using Group Policy to manage folder redirection, Offline Files does not work after the
user account is migrated to a new forest. Offline Files stores the SID of the user as owner; the
SID changes when the user account is migrated. To restore ownership of Offline Files, use the
ADMT Security Translation Wizard to replace the permissions on the files and folders on the
client computer that contains the offline files cache.
To ensure that users continue to have access to Offline Files after you migrate user accounts to
the target domain, you can do the following:
1.

Translate security on client computers to update the Offline Files.

2.

If the SID history of the user account was not migrated to the target domain, translate security on the
server that hosts redirected folders.

If you are using folder redirection, one of the following occurs:

If the folder redirection path is different in the new environment, users can access the folder if the SID
history of the user account was migrated to the target domain. The folder redirection extension copies
the files from the original location in the source domain to the new location in the target domain. SID
history enables the user account to access the source folders.

If the folder redirection path is the same in the new environment, users cannot access the redirected
folder because folder redirection will check ownership of the redirected folder and fail. You must then
translate security on the redirected folder on the server.

If you are using Group Policy to manage software installation and the Windows Installer package
requires access to the original source for operations such as repair and remove, you must
translate security on the software distribution point after you migrate users to ensure that software
installation continues to function properly in the target domain.

30

Resource migration process

Active Directory domains include three types of resources:

Workstation accounts

Member server accounts

Resources on member servers

The migration of workstations and member servers is a straightforward process. The local groups
that you create to assign permissions to users are located in the local Security Accounts Manager
(SAM) database, and they are moved when you move the server. You do not have to reconfigure
access control lists (ACLs) so that users can access resources after the migration.
To migrate domain controllers between domains, remove Active Directory Domain Services
(AD DS) from the domain controller, migrate it as a member server to the target domain, and then
reinstall AD DS.

Planning to Restructure Active Directory

Domains Between Forests
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Completing the necessary planning tasks before you begin your migration helps ensure that
users can continue to log on to the network and access resources during the migration. Planning
your domain restructure involves the following:

Determining your account migration process

Assigning object locations and roles

Developing a test plan

Creating a rollback plan for use if the migration fails

Managing users, groups, and user profiles

Creating an end-user communication plan

To prepare for the restructuring process, the Active Directory deployment team must obtain the
necessary design information from the Active Directory design team.
The following illustration shows the steps involved in planning to restructure Active Directory
domains between forests.

31

Determining Your Account Migration Process

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
With the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT), you can use security identifier (SID) history to
maintain resource permissions when you migrate accounts. However, if SID filtering is enabled
between your source and target domains and you do not trust the administrators in the source
domain, you cannot disable SID filtering. Nor can you use SID history to enable access to
resources in the source domain. In this case, you must use a different migration process.
You can choose one of the following three methods to migrate accounts between forests while
maintaining user rights to access resources in the source domain:

Migrate user accounts while using SID history for resource access. With this method, you remove SID
filtering on the trusts between the domains to enable users to access resources in the source domain by
means of their SID history credentials.

If you have a forest trust in place, you remove SID filtering on the forest trust. (You can also
override the forest trust by creating an external trust so that the domain that holds the resources
trusts the target domain and then removing SID filtering on the external trust.)

If you do not have a forest trust in place, you establish external trusts between the source and
target domains. You then have to remove SID filtering on the external trusts if the domain
controller that is used to create the trust is running Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows
Server 2008, or Windows Server 2003. If you are using ADMT v3.1, the domain controller that is
32

used to create the trust can be running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later.
For more information about this process, see Migrating Accounts While Using SID History,
later in this guide.

Migrate all users, groups, and resources to the target domain in one step. For more information about
this process, see Migrating Accounts While Using SID History, later in this guide.

Migrate user accounts without using SID history for resource access, but translate security for all
resources before the migration process to ensure resource access. For more information about
migrating accounts without using SID history, see Migrating Accounts Without Using SID History,
later in this guide.

To determine which account migration process is best for your organization, you must first
determine if you can disable SID filtering and migrate accounts while using SID history for
resource access. You can safely do this if the administrators of the source domain fully trust the
administrators of the target domain. You might disable SID filtering if one of the following
conditions applies:

The administrators of the trusting domain are the administrators of the trusted domain.

The administrators of the trusting domain trust the administrators of the trusted domain and are
confident that they have secured the domain appropriately.

If you disable SID filtering, you remove the security boundary between forests, which otherwise
provides data and service isolation between the forests. For example, an administrator in the
target domain who has service administrator rights or an individual who has physical access to a
domain controller can modify the SID history of an account to include the SID of a domain
administrator in the source domain. When the user account for which the SID history has been
modified logs on to the target domain, it presents valid domain administrator credentials for, and
can obtain access to, resources in the source domain.
For this reason, if you do not trust the administrators in the target domain or do not believe that
the domain controllers in the target domain are physically secure, enable SID filtering between
your source and target domains, and migrate user accounts without using SID history for
resource access.
The following illustration shows the decision process involved in determining which migration
process is appropriate for your organization.

33

Using SID History to Preserve Resource

Access
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The best practice for granting access to resources is to use global groups to arrange users, and
domain local groups to protect resources. Place global groups into a domain local group to grant
the members of the global group access to the resource. A global group can only contain
members from its own domain. When a user is migrated between domains, any global groups to
which the user belongs must also be migrated. This ensures that users can continue to access
resources that are protected by discretionary access control lists (DACLs) referring to global
groups. After migrating an account and maintaining the security identifier (SID) history of the
source domain account, when a user logs on to the target domain, both the new SID and the
original SID from the SID history attribute are added to the access token of the user. These SIDs
determine the local group memberships of the user. The SIDs of the groups of which the user is a
member are then added to the access token, together with the SID history of those groups.
34

Resources within the source and target domains resolve their access control lists (ACLs) to SIDs
and then check for matches between their ACLs and the access token when granting or denying
access. If the SID or the SID history matches, access to the resource is granted or denied,
according to the access specified in the ACL. If the resource is in the source domain and you
have not run security translation, it uses the SID history of the user account to grant access.
You can also preserve the original SID for global groups and universal groups in the SID history
of the global group or universal group in the target domain. Because local group memberships
are based on SIDs, when you migrate the SID to the SID history of the global group or universal
group in the target domain, the local group memberships of the global group or universal group
are preserved automatically.
SID history is used for the following:

Roaming user profile access

Certification authority access

Software installation access

Resource access

If you are not using SID history for resource access, you still have to migrate SID history to
facilitate access to those items.

Using SID Filtering When Migrating User

Accounts
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
For a domain-to-domain trust, security identifier (SID) filtering does not allow for the use of SIDs
from outside the trusted domain to enable access to any resource within the trusting domain. For
a forest-to-forest trust, SID filtering does not allow for the use of SIDs from any domain outside
the trusted forest to enable access to any resource within any domain in the trusting forest.
You can enable the SID of a user in a different forest to access a resource within a forest that has
SID filtering enabled by translating security on the resource to include the user SID in the
permission list.
SID filtering is applied by default when a forest trust is established between two forest root
domains. Also, SID filtering is enabled by default when external trusts are established between
domain controllers that are running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later. This prevents
potential security attacks by an administrator in a different forest.
Because SID filtering does not apply to authentication within a domain, it is also possible to allow
access to resources by means of SID history, if the resource and the account are in the same
domain. To allow users or groups to access a resource by using SID history, the forest in which
the resource is located must trust the forest in which the account is located.
35

For more information about SID-history-based attacks and SID filtering, see Configuring SID
Filtering Settings (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73446).

Assigning Object Locations and Roles

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Create an object assignment table that lists the roles and locations for all the objects that you are
migrating. Create one table for account objects, such as users, groups, and service accounts,
and one table for resource objects, such as workstations, profiles, and domain controllers. In your
tables, list the source and target locations for all objects to be migrated.
Before you create your account object assignment table, determine whether the domain
organizational unit (OU) structures for the source and target domains are the same. If they are
not the same, you must identify the source and target OU in your object assignment tables.
For a worksheet to assist you in creating an account object assignment table, see "User and
Group Object Assignment Table" (DSSREER_1.doc) in the
Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services download of the Job Aids
for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of an object assignment table for users and groups.

36

To create a resource object assignment table, identify the source and target OU for each object
and note the physical location and role in the target domain. For a worksheet to assist you in
creating a resource object assignment table, see "Resource Object Assignment Table"
(DSSREER_2.doc) in the Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services
download of the Job Aids for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of a resource object assignment table.

Developing a Test Plan for Your Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool does not include a test migration option. However, you can
develop a test plan to systematically test each object after it is migrated to the new environment
and identify and correct any problems that might occur. Testing to verify that your migration is
successful helps ensure that users who are migrated from the source to the target domain are
able to log on, access resources based on group membership, and access resources based on
37

user credentials. Testing also helps ensure that users are able to access the resources that you
migrate.
After your testing is complete, you can proceed with migrating small pilot groups and then
gradually increase the size of each batch of migration objects in your production environment.
Use the following process to test the migration of your account object and resource objects:
1.

Create a test user in the source domain. Include this test user with your migrations.

2.

Join that user to the appropriate global groups to enable resource access.

3.

Log on to the source domain as the test user, and verify that you can access resources as appropriate.

4.

After you migrate the user account, translate the user profile, and migrate the workstation of the user,
log on to the target domain as the test user, and verify that the user has retained all necessary access
and functionality. For example, you might test to verify that:

The user can log on successfully.

The user has access to all appropriate resources, such as file and print shares; access to services
such as messaging; and access to line-of-business (LOB) applications. It is especially important to
test access to internally developed applications that access database servers.

The user profile was successfully translated, and the user retains desktop settings, desktop
appearance, shortcuts, and access to the My Documents folder. Also, verify that applications
appear in and start from the Start menu.
You cannot migrate every user property when you migrate user accounts. For more
information about user properties that cannot be migrated, see Migrate User Accounts,
later in this guide.

After you migrate resources, log on as the test user in the target domain, and verify that you can
access resources as appropriate.
If any steps in the test process fail, identify the source of the problem, and determine whether you
can correct the problem before the object has to be accessible in the target domain. If you cannot
correct the problem before access to the object is required, roll back to your original configuration
to ensure access to the user or resource object. For more information about creating a rollback
plan, see Creating a Rollback Plan, later in this guide.
As part of your test plan, create a migration test matrix. Complete a test matrix for each step that
you complete in the migration process. For example, if you migrate 10 batches of users, complete
the test matrix 10 times, once for each batch that you migrate. If you migrate 10 member servers,
complete the test matrix for each of the 10 servers.
For a worksheet to assist you in creating a test matrix, see Migration Test Matrix
(DSSREER_3.doc) in the Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services
download of the Job Aids for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of a completed migration test matrix.
38

Creating a Rollback Plan

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Reduce the risk of disrupting end users in your organization by establishing a rollback plan. In
general, it is possible to isolate and resolve any problems that occur during each phase of the
migration. However, it is important to analyze potential risks and identify the levels of user impact
and downtime that might necessitate rolling back the migration. You might be required to roll back
your migration if any of the following occur:
39

Users cannot log on to their accounts after migration.

Users cannot access resources after migration.

User migration is incomplete; for example, passwords did not migrate.

User migration was successful, but user workstation migration or local profile translation failed.

If user impact or downtime reaches a level that you have defined as unacceptable in your
organization, you can implement your rollback plan and continue to operate in your premigration
environment. Because the source domain remains intact during the restructure, you can restore
the original environment by completing a few key steps.
To roll back to the premigration environment after migrating account objects:
1.

Enable the user accounts in the source domain (if you disabled the accounts during the migration
process).

2.

Notify the users to log off from the target domain.

3.

Notify the users to log on to the source domain.

4.

Verify that users can access resources.

5.

Verify that the logon scripts and user profiles for users work as configured in the source domain.

The rollback process for resource objects is similar to that for account objects. To roll back to the
premigration environment after migrating resource objects:
1.

Change the domain membership for the server or workstation to the source domain.

2.

Restart the server or workstation.

3.

Log on as a user and verify that you can access the resource.
Note
If you have to modify objects, such as member servers or domain controllers, to
migrate them to the target domain, back up all the data before you make the
modifications and perform the migration.

Managing Users, Groups, and User Profiles

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
You must define how the objects that you are migrating are to be administered during the
interforest restructure process. By establishing administrative procedures for migration objects,
you can preserve the objects both in the source domain and the target domain. Consequently,
you can fall back to the premigration environment if the restructure process is not successful.
40

Plan for the administration and management of the following types of account migration objects:

User accounts, including security identifiers (SIDs)

Global group membership

User profiles

Administering user accounts

During the migration process, user accounts exist in both the source and the target domains.
Administer changes to user accounts in the domain in which the user object is active. Continue to
administer changes to group memberships in the source domain while the migration is taking
place. Use the Migrate and merge conflicting objects option in the Active Directory Migration
Tool (ADMT) to remigrate user accounts as often as necessary during the migration process. This
ensures that changes that are made to the account in the source domain are propagated to the
account in the target domain. This operation merges the existing account and the new account so
that administration of the object can continue in the source domain for the duration of the
migration process.
The Migrate and merge conflicting objects option applies the following guidelines when an
account is migrated:

If you change an attribute in the target domain and it is not used in the source domain, it is not
overwritten with the NULL value from the source domain.

If you change an attribute in the target domain and it is used in the source domain, it is overwritten
with the value from the source domain.

If the user has group memberships, the memberships are merged from the source memberships and the
target memberships.

If this is not the desired behavior, you can configure ADMT to exclude attributes from being
migrated, so that attributes in the target domain are retained.
For example, suppose that after migrating a user, you set attributes on the new user object in the
target domain, such as a telephone number or office number. You remigrate the user by using the
Migrate and merge conflicting objects option in ADMT, and the new information is retained in
the target domain. If you changed the group memberships for the user in the source domain, the
changes are propagated to the target domain when you perform the remigration.
Some attributes are excluded from the migration. These attributes include the following:

Attributes that are always excluded by the system

Attributes that are in the system attribute exclusion list

Attributes that are configured by the administrator to be excluded

41

Attributes that are always excluded by the system

Some attributes are always excluded from the migration by ADMT and cannot be configured to be
migrated. This protects system-owned attributes. These attributes include the following:

Object globally unique identifier (GUID)

SIDs (Although SIDs can be added to the SID history of the object in the target domain.)

LegacyExchangeDN

System attribute exclusion list

The first time that you run an ADMT user migration, ADMT generates a system attribute exclusion
list, which it stores in its database. The system attribute exclusion list contains two attributes by
default: mail and proxyAddresses. ADMT also reads the schema in the target domain, and adds
any attributes to the list that are not part of the base schema. Attributes in this list are excluded
from migration operations even if the attribute is not specified in the attribute exclusion list. An
administrator can change the system attribute exclusion list only by using a script. This protects
attributes that are important in order for server-based applications, such as Microsoft Exchange,
to work. If the target domain schema is further extended after ADMT has generated the list,
administrators must manually add the new attributes to the list, unless they are certain that
copying the values of these attributes from the source domain will not interfere with server-based
applications.

Attribute exclusion list

Administrators can define a list of attributes that are excluded from each migration. This is called
an attribute exclusion list. By default, when using the ADMT console, state information for
attributes that are configured to be excluded is stored in the user interface (UI) and included in
the exclusion list for the next migration. Scripting and command-line attributes do not have state
information. Therefore, they are not stored in the UI. These attributes must be added to the
attribute exclusion list for each migration operation, either by means of the attribute name or by
means of an option file.

Administering global groups

Continue to administer the groups in the source domain during the migration process. Remigrate
groups as often as necessary by using the Migrate and merge conflicting objects option in
ADMT. This ensures that changes made to group memberships in the source domain are
propagated to the groups in the target domain.

Planning for a user profile migration

User profiles store user data and information about the desktop settings of the user. User profiles
can either be roaming or local. The migration process is different for local and for roaming
profiles.
42

Profile translation is one type of security translation, and profiles are translated during the
migration process. If you perform security translation in add mode, the SIDs in the target and the
source domains both have access to the profile. Therefore, if you have to roll back to the source
environment, the SID in the source domain can use the profile. If you perform security translation
in replace mode, you must retranslate the profile by using a SID mapping file (undoing the
security translation) to roll back to the source environment.
Important
If you have to roll back to your original configuration, notify users that profile changes
made in the target domain are not reflected in the source domain.
Some organizations might choose not to migrate user profiles. Other organizations might choose
to replace users workstations during the user account migration process, and use a tool such as
the User State Migration Tool (USMT) to migrate user data and settings to the users' new
computers. The following table summarizes the migration requirements for user profiles.
Type

Description

Migration Requireme

Roaming profiles

User profiles are stored centrally on servers.

Profiles are available to the user, regardless of
the workstation in use.

If you are migrating

used on Windows V
roaming profiles for
information, see Pre
roaming profiles wit
Windows Vista and

During user accoun

roaming profiles o
the User Account M
translate local user
immediately after yo
Local profiles

User profiles are stored locally on the

workstation. When a user logs on to another
workstation, a unique local user profile is
created.

Translate local profi

the user account m
profiles option on
of the Security Tran
local user profiles fo
immediately after m

Profiles not managed

Same as local profiles.

Users lose their exi

accounts are migra

Hardware refresh

User state information is stored locally on the

workstation.

Migrate as a separa
account migration. M
users new compute
USMT.

43

Preparing for migration of roaming profiles with computers that

run Windows Vista and Windows 7
A roaming profile location is configured for a domain user account, and specified in the following
way:
\\host.name.fqdn\ProfileShare\<profilename>
Typically <profilename> is replaced with %username%. Thus the actual location of a roaming
profile for user RoamUserX is:
\\host.name.fqdn\ProfileShare\RoamUserX
The roaming profile folder (in this example, RoamUserX) is created at the time of first logon for
RoamUserX, and the actual profile data is stored within that folder.
In Windows Vista, a change was made to profiles that made them incompatible with previous
versions of Windows. To differentiate the new profiles, a .V2 extension was added to all roaming
profiles for users on computers running Windows Vista and later.
The location of a roaming profile for the same user RoamUserX for a computer that runs
Windows Vista or Windows 7 is:
\\host.name.fqdn\ProfileShare\RoamUserX.V2
This version can co-exist with a roaming profile for an earlier version of Windows.
Only ADMT v3.2 distinguishes the two different profile folder names. Earlier versions of ADMT
only look for the folder called <profilename> and do not try to locate a V2 profile if it exists.
Therefore, earlier versions of ADMT do not migrate roaming profiles for computers running
Windows Vista and Windows 7.
In order to migrate a roaming profile folder using ADMT v3.2, the default access control list of the
folder needs to be modified. By default, when a user logs on and the roaming profile folder and
contents are created, the <profilename> or <profilename>.V2 folders are given the following
ACLs:

SYSTEM Full Control

USER_NAME

Owner = USER_NAME

- Full Control

Therefore, only the owner of the profile, and the local system on which the share resides, are able
to access the <profilename> or <profilename>.V2 folder. When the folder is assigned those
default permissions, ADMT cannot access the folder for security translation.
To configure the folder permissions in order to allow ADMT v3.2 to migrate the roaming profile,
you can enable a Group Policy setting for the domain. In Windows Server 2008 R2, the setting is:
Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles\Add the
Administrators security group to the roaming user profiles
If this setting enabled and propagated before the first logon of the user (before the roaming profile
is created), then the roaming profile directory will have an added permission that grants Full

44

Control to members of the Administrators group of the share host (host.name.fqdn in this
example).
After this setting is enabled, migrations can be performed as long as the user who runs ADMT
v3.2 is included in the Administrators group of the share.
The user who runs ADMT user needs Full Control access on the roaming profile folders. To
achieve that, you can try one of the following options:
1.
2.

3.

Create a script (for example, using Windows PowerShell) that performs that following:
a.

Executes as SYSTEM on the share machine (host.name.fqdn in the example)

b.

Adds the Administrators security group to the ACL set of the profile folders propagating to all
subfolders and files

c.

Adds the Administrators security group with Full Control to the ACL set of the profile folders and
have the permission inherited to all subfolders and files.

Create a script (for example, using Windows PowerShell) that performs that following:
a.

Runs in the context of each roaming user (for example, as a logon task).

b.

Adds the Administrators security group with Full Control to the ACL set of the profile folders and
have the permission inherited to all subfolders and files.

Creating an End-User Communication Plan

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Develop a plan to inform all affected users about the upcoming account migration, to ensure that
they understand their responsibilities, the impact of the migration, and who to contact for help and
support.
Before you begin the user migration process, send a notice to all users who are scheduled to be
migrated. Because you typically migrate users in batches of approximately 100 users at a time, it
is also helpful to send a final notice to the users in each batch two to three days before their batch
is scheduled. If your organization maintains an intranet, publish the account migration schedule
and the information that is contained in the user mail on an easily accessible Web page.
Include the following information in your end-user communication.

General information
Alert users to the fact that their user accounts are scheduled to be migrated to a new domain.
Point users to a Web page or internal resource where they can find additional information and
view a migration schedule.

45

Inform users of their new domain name. Be sure to let them know that their account passwords
will not change. Let users know that the original domain account will be disabled immediately
following the migration and the disabled account will be deleted after a specified period of time.
This is not necessary if the users log on with user principal names (UPNs).

Impact
Make sure that users understand that when their account is migrated, they might be unable to
access some resources, such as Web sites, shared folders, or resources that individuals in their
group or division do not widely use.
Provide information to users about whom to contact for assistance in regaining access to required
resources.

Logon status during migration

Make sure that users understand that during the migration process they will be unable to log on to
the domain or access e-mail or other resources. Be sure to specify the period of time for which
they will be unable to log on.

Premigration steps
Alert users to any steps that they must complete before the migration process begins. For
example, they must decrypt files encrypted by means of Encrypting File System (EFS). Failure to
decrypt encrypted files will result in loss of access to encrypted files following the migration.
Users must also ensure that their computers are connected to the network when their account is
scheduled to be migrated.

Expected changes
Describe other changes that users can expect to experience after the migration, such as changes
in use of smart cards, secure e-mail, or instant messaging, if applicable.

Scheduling and support information

Provide information about where users can go to find more information For example, they can
visit an internal Web site where you post information about the migration. Also, provide
information about whom to contact if a user has a conflict with the date scheduled for the
migration.

Preparing the Source and Target Domains

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
46

Before you begin to migrate your accounts from the source domain to the target domain, you
have to prepare the source and target domains for the migration. The following illustration shows
the tasks that are required to prepare the domains for the interforest domain restructure process.

Installing 128-Bit High Encryption Software

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The computer on which the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) is installed requires 128-bit
high encryption. This encryption is standard on computers that are running Windows 2000 Server
Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Service Pack 4 (SP4), Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or
Windows Server 2008 R2. If you plan to install ADMT on a computer that does not support 128-bit
high encryption by default, you must install the 128-bit high encryption pack.
You can download the encryption pack from Windows 2000 High Encryption Pack
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=76037).

47

Establishing Required Trusts for Your

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Before you can migrate accounts and resources from a source domain to a target domain in a
different Active Directory forest, you must ensure that the appropriate trusts exist between the
forests. Trust relationships between the forests that you are restructuring makes it possible for the
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to migrate users and service accounts and translate local
user profiles from the source domains to the target domains. In addition, depending on how trust
relationships are configured, users in the source domain can access resources in the target
domain. Moreover, users in the target domains can access resources in the source domain that
have not yet been migrated.
To migrate users and global groups, you must establish a one-way trust between the source
domain and the target domain, so that the source domain trusts the target domain.
To migrate resources or translate local profiles, you must do one of the following:

Create a one-way trust between the source domain and the target domain.

Create a two-way trust between source and target domains.

For more information about creating trusts, see Creating Domain and Forest Trusts
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=77381).

Establishing Migration Accounts for Your

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To migrate accounts and resources between forests, you must establish migration accounts and
assign the appropriate credentials to those accounts. The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT)
uses the migration accounts to migrate the objects that you identify. Because ADMT requires only
a limited set of credentials, creating separate migration accounts helps you to simplify
administration. If the migration tasks for your organization are distributed across more than one
group, it is helpful to create a migration account for each group involved in performing the
migration.
To simplify administration, create a single account in the source domain and a single account in
the target domain for all objects, with the required credentials to modify the objects, such as
users, managed service accounts, global groups, and local profiles, to be migrated by that
account. For example, a migration account that you use to migrate user accounts along with the
security identifier (SID) history, global groups along with SID history, computers, and user profiles
has local administrator or domain administrator credentials in the source domain. The migration
account also has delegated permission on the user, managed service account, group, and
48

computer organizational units (OUs) in the target domain, with the extended right to migrate SID
history on the user OU. The user must be a local administrator on the computer in the target
domain on which ADMT is installed. A migration account that you use to migrate workstations and
domain controllers must have local administrator or source domain administrator credentials on
the workstations or the account must have source domain administrator credentials on the
domain controller, or both.
In the target domain, it is necessary to use an account that has delegated permissions on the
computer OU and the user OU. You might want to use a separate account for the migration of
workstations if this migration process is delegated to administrators that are in the same location
as the workstations.
The following table lists the credentials that are required in the source and target domains for
different migration objects.
Migration object

Credentials necessary in source domain

Credentials necessary in

User/managed service account/group without

SID history

Delegated Read all user information

permission on the user OU or group OU and
domain administrator credential

Delegated Create, dele

accounts, Create, dele
and Modify the memb
user OU or the group O
the computer where AD

User/managed service account/group with

SID history

Delegated Read all user information

permission on the user OU or group OU and
domain administrator credential

Delegated permission o
OU, extended permissi
local administrator on th
is installed

Computer

Domain administrator or administrator in the

source domain and on each computer

Delegated permission o
administrator on the co
installed
Note

If the computer has

account installed, y
credentials that hav
the security descrip
service account in t
Profile

Local administrator or domain administrator

Delegated permission o
administrator on the co
installed.
Note

You might need to

preparation steps if
profiles for compute
Windows Vista or W
49

Migration object

Credentials necessary in source domain

Credentials necessary in

information, see Pr
roaming profiles wi
Windows Vista and
The following procedures provide examples for creating groups or accounts to migrate accounts
and resources. Procedures differ according to whether a one-way trust or a two-way trust exists
The procedure for creating migration groups when a one-way trust exists is more complex than
the procedure for when a two-way trust exists. This is because, with a one-way trust, you must
add the migration group to the local Administrators group on local workstations.
The sample procedure for creating migration groups when a one-way trust exists involves
creating separate groups for migrating accounts and resources. However, you can combine
ACCT_MIGRATORS and RES_MIGRATORS into one group, if you do not need to separate them to
delegate different sets of permissions.
To create an account migration group when a one-way trust exists in which the source

1.

domain trusts the target domain

In the target domain, create a global group called ACCT_MIGRATORS.

2.

In the target domain, add the ACCT_MIGRATORS group to the Domain Admins group, or delegate
administration of OUs that are targets for account migration to this group.

3.

If you are migrating SID history, and you did not place the ACCT_MIGRATORS group in the Domain Admins
group, grant the ACCT_MIGRATORS group the Migrate SID History extended permission on the target
domain object. To do this, follow these steps:
a.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, right-click the domain object, and then click
Properties.

b.

Click the Security tab, click Add, and then select ACCT_MIGRATORS.
If the Security tab does not appear, in Active Directory Users and Computers, click View,
and then click Advanced Features.

c.

In Permissions for acct_migrators, click Allow for the Migrate SID History permission.

4.

In the source domain, add the ACCT_MIGRATORS group to the Builtin\Administrators group.

5.

On each computer on which you plan to translate local profiles, add the ACCT_MIGRATORS group to the
local Administrators group.
To create a resource migration group when a one-way trust exists in which the source

1.

domain trusts the target domain

In the target domain, create a global group called RES_MIGRATORS.
50

2.

In the target domain, add the RES_MIGRATORS group to the Domain Admins group, or delegate
administration of OUs that are targets for resource migration to this group.

3.

In the source domain, add the RES_MIGRATORS group to the Administrators group.

4.

On each computer that you plan to migrate or on which you plan to perform security translation, add the
RES_MIGRATORS group to the local Administrators group.
To create a resource migration account when a two-way trust exists between the source

1.

and target domains

In the source domain, create an account called RES_MIGRATOR.

2.

In the source domain, add the RES_MIGRATOR account to the Domain Admins group. (The Domain Admins
group is a member of the local Administrators group on every computer in the domain by default.
Therefore, you do not have to add it to the local Administrators group on every computer.)

3.

In the target domain, delegate permissions on OUs that are targets for resource migration to the
RES_MIGRATOR account.

ADMT also includes database administration roles that you can use to assign a subset of
database permissions to users who perform specific migration tasks. The database administration
roles and the migration tasks that they can perform are listed in the following table.
Role

Migration task

Account migrators

Account migrations tasks, such as user and

group migration.

Resource migrators

Resource migration tasks, such as computer

migrations and security translation. Account
migrators also hold the role of resource
migrators.

Data readers

Queries against that database. Account

migrators and resource migrators also hold the
role of data readers.

Users who are assigned the role of SQL Server sysadmin hold all ADMT database administration
roles. They have the credentials to do the following:

Display database roles and users who hold those roles

Add groups or users to roles

Remove groups or users from roles

51

By default, the local Administrators group is assigned the role of sysadmin and can perform all
ADMT database functions.

Configuring the Source and Target Domains

for SID History Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
You can manually configure the source and target domains to migrate the security identifier (SID)
history before you begin an interforest migration, or you can allow the Active Directory Migration
Tool (ADMT) to configure the domains automatically the first time that it runs.
To configure the source and target domains manually, complete the following procedures:

Create a local group in the source domain to support auditing.

Enable TCP/IP client support on the source domain primary domain controller (PDC) emulator.
Note
If you are migrating from a domain with domain controllers that run
Windows Server 2003 or later to another domain with domain controllers that run
Windows Server 2003 or later, the TcpipClientSupport registry entry does not have
to be modified.

Enable auditing of account management in the source and target domains. For Windows
Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008, you need to also enable auditing for directory service
access in order to migrate users with SID history between forests.
To create a local group in the source domain to support auditing

In the source domain, create a local group called SOURCEDOMAIN$$$, where SOURCEDOMAIN is the
NetBIOS name of your source domain, for example, Boston$$$. Do not add members to this group; if
you do, SID history migration will fail.
To enable TCP/IP client support on the source domain PDC emulator

1.

On the domain controller in the source domain that holds the PDC emulator operations master (also
known as flexible single master operations or FSMO) role, click Start, and then click Run.

2.

In Open, type regedit, and then click OK.

Caution
Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making
52

changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer. You can
also use the Last Known Good Configuration startup option if you encounter
problems after you make changes.
3.

In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA

4.

Modify the registry entry TcpipClientSupport, of data type REG_DWORD, by setting the value to 1.

5.

Close Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

To enable auditing in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 domains

1.

Log on as an administrator to any domain controller in the target domain.

2.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Group Policy
Management.

3.

Navigate to the following node:

Forest | Domains | DOMAIN | Domain Controllers | Default Domain Controllers Policy

4.

Right-click Default Domain Controllers Policy and click Edit.

5.

In Group Policy Management Editor, in the console tree, navigate to the following node:
Computer Configuration | Policies | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Audit
Policy

6.

In the details pane, right-click Audit account management, and then click Properties.

7.

Click Define these policy settings, and then click Success and Failure.

8.

Click Apply, and then click OK.

9.

In the details pane, right-click Audit directory service access and then click Properties.

10. Click Define these policy settings and then click Success.
11. Click Apply, and then click OK.
12. If the changes need to be immediately reflected on the domain controller, open an elevated command
prompt and type gpupdate /force.
13. Repeat steps 1 through 12 in the SOURCE domain.

53

Configuring the Target Domain OU Structure

for Administration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory design team creates the organizational unit (OU) structure for the target
domain. This team also defines the groups that are responsible for the administration of each OU
and the membership of each group. You can use that information and the following procedure to
configure the target domain for administration.
To configure the target domain OU structure for administration
1.

Log on as an administrator to any domain controller in the target domain.

2.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, and then create the OU structure that your design team
specified.

3.

Create administrative groups, and assign users to these groups.

4.

Delegate the administration of the OU structure to groups as defined by your design team.

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Use either of the following guidelines to install the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT),
depending on which version you are installing. ADMT version 3.1 provides an option to install a
preconfigured Microsoft SQL Server Express database instance. ADMT version 3.2 requires a
SQL Server database instance to be previously installed. The remaining guidelines for detaching,
reconfiguring, and removing a database file apply to either version of ADMT.

Installing ADMT v3.1

Installing ADMT v3.2

Detach an existing database file from a previous version of ADMT and SQL Server

Reconfiguring a database installation with Admtdb.exe

Reuse an existing ADMT database from a previous installation

Installing ADMT v3.1

This section covers the following issues for installing ADMT v3.1
54

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1

Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1

When you install the Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 (ADMT v3.1), it also installs
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition by default to use as its data store. As an option, you can
configure ADMT v3.1 to use a SQL Server 2000 with a Service Pack 4 (SP4) Standard or
Enterprise Edition database or SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition installation that
you have previously created.
Before you install ADMT v3.1, complete the following prerequisites:

Install Windows Server 2008.

Remove all previous versions of ADMT by using Add or Remove Programs from Control Panel. If
you attempt to install ADMT v3.1 on a server that has a previous version of ADMT installed, you
receive an error, and the installation does not proceed. If necessary, you can import the database from
the previous version of ADMT (such as ADMT v2.0 or ADMT v3.0) into ADMT v3.1 during the
installation.

If you do not plan to use the default local database installation, ensure that another SQL Server 2000 or
SQL Server 2005 database installation is configured with an ADMT instance. For more information
about creating an ADMT instance on a SQL Server database, see Installing ADMT Using a
Preconfigured SQL Database.

Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store

You can use the default database store based on SQL Server 2005 Express Edition or a
preconfigured SQL database to install ADMT. The most common and recommended installation
method is to use the default database store, which the Active Directory Migration Tool Installation
Wizard configures automatically.
To install ADMT by using the default database store

Depending on your environment, download ADMT v3.1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?

LinkId=121732) or ADMT v3.2 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=186197). For more information
about which version of ADMT to use, see Active Directory Migration Tool versions and supported
environments. From the download location, double-click admtsetup.exe, which opens the installation
wizard.

55

Wizard Page

Action

Welcome to the Active Directory Migration

Tool Installation

Click Next.

Configuring Components

The ADMT database instance (MS_ADMT) is

created on the local computer.
Although SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is
installed locally by default whether ADMT uses it
or not, ADMT disables SQL Server 2005
Express Edition if you specify another database
instance on the next wizard page.

Database Selection

Specify the database instance you want to

connect to. The recommended selection is Use
Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition, which
configures ADMT v3.1 to use the locally
installed database instance.
If you are using multiple ADMT v3.1 consoles or
have a dedicated database server where you
want to centralize your ADMT database, select
the Use an existing Microsoft SQL Server
option. Specify the server to connect to in the
form of SERVER\INSTANCE.
You should configure the SQL Server database
instance before you select this option. Although
the ADMT v3.1 installation proceeds if the
database cannot be contacted, you cannot use
ADMT to migrate accounts or resources until the
database instance is created and available.

Active Directory Migration Tool v3 Database

Import

Although you cannot upgrade an ADMT v3.0

installation to ADMT v3.1, you can import data
to an ADMT v3.1 database from an ADMT v3.0
database.
If you do not want to import data from an
ADMT v3.0 database, select No, do not import
data from an existing database (Default).
If you want to import data from ADMT v3.0 into
the new ADMT v3.1 database, select Yes,
please import data from an ADMT v3
database.
If you choose to import data, specify the path to
the ADMT v3.0 database file.
56

Wizard Page

Action

Active Directory Migration Tool v2 Database

Import

Although you cannot upgrade an ADMT v2.0

installation to ADMT v3.1, you can import data
to an ADMT v3.1 database from an ADMT v2.0
database.
If you do not want to import data from an
ADMT v2.0 database, select No, do not import
data from an ADMT v2 database.
If you want to import data from ADMT v2.0 into
the new ADMT v3.1 database, select Yes,
please import data from an ADMT v2
database.
If you choose to import data, specify the path to
the ADMT v2.0 database file.
The ADMT v2.0 database has the filename
protar.mdb, and should be located in the
directory formerly used for your ADMT v2.0
installation.

Summary

This page summarizes the options you selected.

To complete the ADMT v3.1 installation, click
Finish.

Installing ADMT v3.2

ADMT v3.2 requires a preconfigured instance of SQL Server for its underlying data store. You
should use SQL Server Express. When you use one of the following versions of
SQL Server Express, ADMT installation enforces the following service pack requirements:
SQL Server 2005 Express must be installed with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later.
SQL Server 2008 Express must be installed with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.
Note
If you use SQL Server Express, the ADMT console must be installed and run locally
on the server that hosts the SQL Server Express database instance.
As an option, you can use full versions of SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008. In this case, you
can install and run the ADMT console on a remote computer, and you can run multiple ADMT
consoles on different remote computers. If you use a full version of SQL Server, ADMT installation
does not enforce any service pack requirements.
The rest of this section covers the following installation issues:

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2

57

Install ADMT v3.2

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2

Before you install ADMT v3.2, complete the following prerequisite tasks:

In Control Panel, use Add or Remove Programs to remove all versions of ADMT earlier than
ADMT v3.2.
Although ADMT v3.2 does not support an upgrade from a previous version of ADMT, you can
reuse an existing database from a previous ADMT installation, unless it is a database from
ADMT v2 or ADMT v1. For more information, see Reuse an existing ADMT database from
a previous installation.

Install or upgrade a server computer (preferably a member server) in either your source or target
domain environment as necessary to run Windows Server 2008 R2.
Although you can use ADMT v3.2 to migrate accounts and resources from Active Directory
environments that have a domain functional level of Windows Server 2003 or later, you can
install ADMT v3.2 only on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2.
In addition to running Windows Server 2008 R2, the server computer that you use to install
ADMT v3.2 must not be installed under the Server Core installation option or be running as a
read-only domain controller (RODC).

Configure a SQL Server database installation with an ADMT instance. You can either download and
install SQL Server Express locally or create a database instance for ADMT from an existing
SQL Server database.
For more information about installing SQL Server Express, see Install ADMT v3.2. For more
information about creating an ADMT instance on an existing SQL Server database, see
Install ADMT by Reconfiguring a Database Installation with Admtdb.exe.

Install ADMT v3.2

Download SQL Server 2005 Express (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=181159), or create a
new database instance on an existing SQL Server installation to use with ADMT v3.2. During the
SQL Server installation, select Windows Authentication Mode. After you install SQL Server, use
the following procedure to install ADMT v3.2.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local
and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To install ADMT v3.2
1.

In the ADMT download package, double-click admtsetup32.exe.

2.

On the Welcome page, ensure that the recommendations are completed, and then click Next.
58

3.

On the License Agreement page, click I Agree, and then click Next.

4.

On the Database Selection page, type the SERVER\INSTANCE.

The requirement to type the server name also applies to a local database instance. You can
type a dot (.) to indicate the local server. By default, the SQL Server Express instance is
named SQLEXPRESS.
For example, to use a default SQL Server Express instance on the local server, type
.\SQLEXPRESS.

5.

If you chose a SQL Express installation and a database file ADMT.mdf is not in the default data location
%windir%\ADMT\Data, the Database Import page appears. Otherwise, ADMT Setup automatically
attaches to that database file, and the Summary page appears.
On the Database Import page, if you do not need to import data, click No, do not import data
from an existing database (Default). If you need to import data from a previous ADMT
installation, click Yes, import data from an existing ADMT v3.0 or ADMT v3.1 database, and
then, to navigate to the existing database file location, click Browse.
Before you can import the data from an existing database, you have to detach the database file
from SQL Server by using SQL Server commands. For more information, see Detach an
existing database file from a previous version of ADMT and SQL Server.
When you are finished, click Next.

6.

On the Summary page, review the results of the installation, and then click Finish.

Detach an Existing Database File from a Previous

Version of ADMT and SQL Server
If you use SQL Server Express, the database is automatically detached when you remove ADMT.
The detached SQL Server Express database can be reused as part of another ADMT installation
later. In this case, ADMT automatically attaches to the existing database that you specify during
installation.
You can detach the ADMT database file from a full SQL Server instance if you have another
application that you want to attach to the same database. For example, if you plan to move from a
full SQL Server installation to SQL Server Express, or if you have an ADMT database file from an
earlier installation that you have attached to SQL Server management tools, it needs to be
detached from that database before it can be consumed by ADMT.
To detach a database, you can use the SQL stored procedure:
sp_detach_db [ @dbname = ] 'dbname'

For more information about this stored procedure call, see SQL Server documentation. For more
information about how to use SQL Server Management Studio to detach the database, see How
to: Detach a Database (SQL Server Management Studio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=183994).

59

Reconfiguring a Database Installation with

Admtdb.exe
If you experience problems with database configuration during installation, or if you specified
SQL Server Express during the ADMT v3.2 installation but want to switch to SQL Server (or vice
versa) after installation, you can use Admtdb.exe. The command-line syntax for Admtdb.exe is in
the following table.
You can run Admtdb.exe from an elevated command prompt on any server that can target the
server computer that is running SQL Server to create the ADMT instance on that server
computer.
Syntax

Description

admtdb create /{s|server}: "SERVER\INSTANCE"

Installs a new ADMT database or prepares an

empty database.
The /server parameter specifies the name of
the SQL Server and instance to connect to for
the purpose of creating the database. This is a
required parameter.

admtdb upgrade /s|server: SERVER\INSTANCE

Upgrades a previous version of an ADMT v3.0

or ADMT v3.1 database.
The /server parameter, which is required,
specifies the name of the SQL Server and
instance to connect to for the purpose of
upgrading the ADMT v3.0 or ADMT v3.1
database.
Note
Before you upgrade the ADMT
database, first open the ADMT console
to verify that it is compatible with the
database.

admtdb attach [/{a|attach}: "V3X DATABASE PATH"

Attaches an existing ADMT database to the

local SQL Server Express 2005 or
SQL Server Express 2008 instance.
The /attach parameter, which is required,
specifies the path to a detached Admt.mdf
database file.

To see Help for all Admtdb.exe command-line options, at the command prompt, type admtdb /?.

60

If you began the migration by using a local SQL Server Express database and then configured a
remote instance of a SQL Server database, and you need to switch back to using a local
SQL Server Express database, complete the following procedure. In this case, the ADMT
database file is already attached to the SQL Express instance. Therefore, there is no need to
explicitly reattach it.
If you began the migration by using SQL Server and you want to switch to SQL Server Express,
see Reuse an existing ADMT database from a previous installation.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local
and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To reuse a local database after you configure a remote instance of a SQL Server

1.
2.

database
On the local computer, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
In the Details pane, ensure that the service hosting the SQL Server Express instance is running and that
the Startup Type is set to Automatic. If you are using ADMT v3.1 and you had ADMT setup install
SQL Server Express, the service name is MSSQL$MS_ADMT.
If the service is not started or if it is not set to start automatically at system startup, click
Started, right-click the name of the service, and then click Properties.

3.

On the General tab, in the Startup Type list, click Automatic.

4.

Under Service Status, click Start, and then click OK.

5.

Close Services.

6.

At the command prompt, type the following commands:

Note
The admtdb attach command is necessary only if you previously ran SQL commands to
detach the local SQL Server Express instance.
admtdb attach /{s | Server}:LOCAL SQL SERVER EXPRESS INSTANCE
admt config setdatabase /s:SERVER\INSTANCE.

You can now use the local database.

Reuse an Existing ADMT Database from a

Previous Installation
If you want to use an existing (detached) database from an earlier ADMT v3.0, ADMT v3.1, or
ADMT v3.2 installation with a local SQL Server instance, you can complete the following
procedure.
61

Note
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships
at Local and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To use an existing (detached) ADMT database with a local SQL Server instance
1.

On the local computer, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

2.

In the details pane, ensure that the service hosting the SQL Server Express instance is running and that
the Startup Type is set to Automatic. If you are using ADMT v3.1 and you had ADMT setup install
SQL Server Express, the service name is MSSQL$MS_ADMT.
If the service is not started or if it is not set to start automatically at system startup, click
Started, right-click the name of the service, and then click Properties.

3.

On the General tab, in the Startup Type list, click Automatic.

4.

Under Service Status, click Start, and then click OK.

5.

Close Services.

6.

At the command prompt, type the following commands:

admtdb attach /{s | Server}:LOCAL SQL SERVER EXPRESS INSTANCE /{a | Attach}:PATH TO
ADMT V3.X DATABASE FILE TO ATTACH"
admt config setdatabase /s: SERVER\INSTANCE

You can now use the existing ADMT database with the local SQL Server instance. It is not
necessary to run the ADMT installation wizard again. ADMT installation can be run only once.
You can perform any subsequent database configuration changes by using the admtdb.exe and
admt config setdatabase commands.

Enabling Migration of Passwords

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) uses the Password Export Server service version 3.1
(PES v3.1) to help you migrate passwords when you perform an interforest migration. Both
ADMT v3.1 and ADMT v3.2 use Password Export Server (PES) version 3.1. Download PES v3.1
from the Microsoft Download Center. For x86-based computers, see Password Export Server
version 3.1 (x86) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147652). For 64-bit computers, see
Password Export Server version 3.1 (x64) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147653). The
62

PES service can be installed on any writable domain controller in the source domain that
supports 128-bit encryption.
Note
The PES service cannot be installed on read-only domain controllers (RODCs).
Because ADMT does not check all settings of the target domain password policy, users need to
explicitly set their password after migration unless the Password never expires or Smartcard is
required for interactive logon flags are set.
The PES service installation in the source domain requires an encryption key. However, you must
create the encryption key on the computer running the ADMT in the target domain. When you
create the key, save it to a shared folder on your network or onto removable media so that you
can copy it to the local drive of the source domain controller where the PES service is installed.
Store it in a secure location that you can reformat after the migration is complete.
You can install the PES service after you install ADMT. The following procedures explain how to
install and use the PES service on computers running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows
Server 2008.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local
and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To create an encryption key

At a command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt key /option:create /sourcedomain:<SourceDomain> /keyfile:<KeyFilePath>
/keypassword:{<password>|*}

Value

Description

<SourceDomain>

Specifies the name of the source domain in

which the PES service is being installed. Can
be specified as either the Domain Name
System (DNS) or NetBIOS name.

<KeyFilePath>

Specifies the path to the location where the

encrypted key is stored.

{<password>|*}

A password, which provides key encryption, is

optional. To protect the shared key, type either
the password or an asterisk (*) on the
command line. The asterisk causes you to be
prompted for a password that is not displayed
on the screen.
63

After you create the encryption key, configure the PES service on a domain controller in the
source domain.
ADMT provides the option to run the PES service under the Local System account or by using the
credentials of an authenticated user in the target domain. We recommend that you run the PES
service as an authenticated user in the target domain. This way, you do not have to add the
Everyone group and the Anonymous Logon group to the PreWindows 2000 Compatible Access
group.
Note
If you run the PES service under the Local System account, ensure that the Pre
Windows 2000 Compatible Access group in the target domain contains the Everyone
group and the Anonymous Logon group.
To configure the PES service in the source domain
1.

On the domain controller that runs the PES service in the source domain, insert the encryption key disk.

2.

Run Pwdmig.msi. If you set a password during the key generation process on the domain controller in the
target domain, provide the password that was given when the key was created, and then click Next.

64

Wizard page

Action

Welcome to the ADMT Password

Migration DLL Installation Wizard

Click Next.

Encryption File

To install the ADMT Password Migration dynamiclink library (DLL), you must specify a file that
contains a valid password encryption key for this
source domain. The key file must be located on a
local drive.
You use the admt key command to generate the
key files. For more information, see the previous
procedure "To create an encryption key."

Run the service as

Specify the account that you want the PES service

to run under. You can specify either of the
following accounts:

The local System account

A specified user account

Note
If you plan to run the PES service as
an authenticated user account,
specify the account in the format
DOMAIN\USER_NAME.

Summary

Click Finish to complete the PES service

installation.
Note
To use the password migration of
ADMT, you must restart the server
where you installed the PES service.

3.

After installation completes, restart the domain controller.

4.

After the domain controller restarts, to start the PES service, point to Start, point to All Programs, point
to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

5.

In the details pane, right-click Password Export Server Service, and then click Start.
Note
Run the PES service only when you migrate passwords. Stop the PES service after you
complete the password migration.

65

Initializing ADMT by Running a Test

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Start the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) by running a test migration of a global group,
and select the option named Migrate Group SIDs to target domain. In order to migrate security
identifier (SID) history, you need to complete the preparation tasks as described in Configuring
the Source and Target Domains for SID History Migration. If you did not previously configure the
source and target domains to migrate the SID history, ADMT prompts you and provides an option
to have the following tasks completed automatically.

Creates a local group, SOURCE_DOMAIN$$$, in the source domain, which is used to audit SID history
operations. Do not add members to this group; if you do, SID history migration will fail.

If the source domain is Windows 2000 and you are using ADMT 3.1, TCP/IP client support on the
source domain primary domain controller (PDC) is enabled by setting the value of the registry entry
TcpipClientSupport to 1. This entry is located in the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
Setting TcpipClientSupport to 1 enables remote procedure calls (RPCs) over the TCP
transport, while preserving the security of the system.
This is not required for domains with domain controllers that run Windows Server 2003 or
later.

Enables audit policies in the source and target domains.

Warning
ADMT does not automatically enable auditing for directory service access, which is
required in order to migrate SID history to or from a domain that has domain
controllers that run Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Use the following procedure to initialize ADMT.

To initialize ADMT by running a test migration of a global group
1.

In the ADMT console, use the Group Account Migration Wizard by completing the steps in the following
table. Accept default settings when no information is specified.

66

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the OU, or click Browse.

In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

Select the Migrate Group SIDs to target

domain check box.
Make sure that all other options are not
selected.

2.

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

an account that has administrative rights in the
source domain.

Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and then review the migration log for any errors.

67

Identifying Service Accounts for Your

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic explains how to identify service accounts that the Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) will migrate to the target domain. A service account is a user account that provides a
security context for applications and that is granted permission to log on as a service.
ADMT does not migrate services that run in the context of the Local System account because
they are migrated when the computer is migrated. However, services that run in the context of a
user account must be updated on the computer after you have completed the account migration
process. ADMT also cannot migrate the Local Service or Network Service accounts because they
are well-known accounts that always exist in domains.

Identifying Service Accounts

The process of identifying, migrating, and updating services that run in the context of user
accounts involves three steps. First, the administrator starts ADMT from the target
Active Directory domain and runs the Service Account Migration Wizard. Second, the Service
Account Migration Wizard sends an agent to a specified computer and identifies (but does not
migrate) all of the services on the computer that are running in the context of a user account.
Third, which can occur later in the migration process, the accounts are migrated when other user
accounts are migrated with the User Account Migration Wizard.
The Service Account Migration Wizard scans an administrator-defined list of servers for services
that are configured to use a domain account to authenticate. The accounts are then flagged as
service accounts in the ADMT database. The password is never migrated when a service account
is migrated. Instead, ADMT uses a clear-text representation of the password to configure the
services after the service account migration. An encrypted version of the password is then stored
in the password.txt file in the ADMT installation folder.
An administrator of a workstation or server can install any service and configure the service to
use any domain account. If a malicious user who has administrator privileges configures a service
to authenticate without a correct password (such as a password that does not meet complexity
requirements), the service will not start. After the service account is migrated, ADMT configures
the service on the workstation or the server to use the new password, and the service will now
start using the user account in the target domain.
Therefore, you should include in the Service Account Migration Wizard only those servers that
trusted administrators manage. Do not use the wizard to detect service accounts on computers
that trusted administrators do not manage, such as workstations.
Dispatch agents to all servers that trusted administrators manage in the domain to ensure that
you do not overlook any service accounts. If you miss a service account that shares an account
with a service that has already been migrated, ADMT cannot synchronize the service accounts.
You must manually change the password for the service account and then reset the service
account password on each server that is running that service.
68

When the accounts that the Service Account Migration Wizard identifies in the ADMT database as
running in the context of a user account are migrated to the target domain, ADMT grants each
account the right to log on as a service. If the service account is assigned rights by means of its
membership in a group, the Security Translation Wizard updates the account to assign those
rights. For more information about running the Security Translation Wizard, see Transitioning
Service Accounts in Your Migration later in this guide.
You can identify service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or
a script.
To identify service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the ADMT snap-in, click Action, and then click Service Account Migration Wizard.

3.

Complete the Service Account Migration Wizard by using the information in the following table.

69

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Update Information

Click Yes, update the information.

Computer Selection Option

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Service Account
Selection page, click Add to select the
accounts in the source domain that you want to
migrate, click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Agent Dialog

In Agent Actions, select Run pre-check and

agent operation, and then click Start. A
message will appear in the Agent Summary
when the agent operations are complete. After
the agent operations finish, click Close.

Service Account Information

Select any user accounts that do not have to be

marked as service accounts in the ADMT
database, and then click Skip/Include to mark
the accounts as Skip.

Completing the Service Account Migration

Wizard

Review your selections, and then click Finish

The wizard connects to the selected computers and then sends an agent to check every service
on the remote computers. The Service Account Information page lists the services that are
running in the context of a user account and the name of that user account. ADMT notes in its
database that these user accounts have to be migrated as service accounts. If you do not want a
user account to be migrated as a service account, select the account, and then click
Skip/Include to change the status from Include to Skip.
70

You use Update SCM to update the Service Control Manager with the new information. Unless
you have a failure in reaching a computer to update the service, the Update SCM button is not
available. If you have a problem updating a service account after the account was identified and
migrated, ensure that the computer that you are trying to reach is available, and then restart the
Service Account Migration Wizard.
In the wizard, click Update SCM to try to update the service. If you ran the Service Account
Migration Wizard previously and the Update SCM button is not available, examine the ADMT log
files to determine the cause of the problem. After you correct the problem and the agent can
connect successfully, the Update SCM button becomes available.
To identify service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT SERVICE /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"
<target_domain>"

Where <computer_name1> and <computer_name2> are the names of computers in the source
domain that run service accounts.
As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT SERVICE /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for the identification of service
accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Values

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.
To identify service accounts by using a script

Create a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for identifying service accounts by using
the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension
in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="IdentifyingServiceAccounts" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

71

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objServiceAccountEnumeration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objServiceAccountEnumeration = _
objMigration.CreateServiceAccountEnumeration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

'
'Enumerate service accounts on specified computers.
'

objServiceAccountEnumeration.Enumerate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objServiceAccountEnumeration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

72

Migrating Accounts
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The process of migrating account objects from a source domain to a target domain in another
Active Directory forest involves first migrating service accounts and then migrating global groups.
After the groups are in place in the target domain, you can migrate users according to the
process that you selected, either while using the security identifier (SID) history for resource
access or without using SID history for resource access. When the account object migration
process is complete, you can instruct users from the source domain to log on to the target
domain. The following illustration shows the process for migrating accounts between domains in
different forests.

Transitioning Service Accounts in Your

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Begin the process of migrating objects by migrating service accounts that run as domain user
accounts. For information about identifying service accounts for migration, see Transitioning
Service Accounts in Your Migration. This topic does not apply to managed service accounts.
73

Managed service accounts can be migrated using the Managed Service Account Migration
Wizard and the Computer Migration Wizard.
To transition service accounts, use the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to complete the
following tasks:

Migrate the service accounts from the source domain to the target domain.

Modify the services on each server in the source domain so that the services use the service account in
the target domain instead of in the source domain.

You can transition service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option,
or a script.
To transition service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the ADMT snap-in, click Action, and then click User Account Migration Wizard.

3.

Complete the User Account Migration Wizard by using the information in the following table.

74

75

To transition service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT USER /N "<server_name1>" "<server_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"
<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /MSS:YES

Where SERVER_NAME1 and SERVER_NAME2 are the names of servers in the source domain that
run service accounts. As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is
specified at the command line, as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<server_name1>" "<server_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for transitioning service
accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Disable accounts

/DOT:ENABLETARGET

Migrate password

/PO:COMPLEX

Migrate user SIDs = YES

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Update user rights=YES

/UUR:YES

UpdateUserRights=YES

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

(default)

(default)

DisableOption=ENABLE

PasswordOption=COMPL

ConflictOptions=IGNO

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers and locate the target service account OU. Verify that the
service accounts exist in the target domain OU.
To transition service accounts by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for transitioning service accounts by
using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name
extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TransitioningServiceAccountsBetweenForests" >

76

<Script language=" VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtIgnoreConflicting

'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'

objUserMigration.MigrateSIDs = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = True

'
'Migrate specified service accounts.

77

'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("service account name1", "service account name2")

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Global Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To preserve the memberships of global groups, you must migrate global groups before you
migrate users.
Note
Do not migrate global groups during peak work hours. The global group migration
process can consume a large amount of network resources and resources on the domain
controller in the target domain.
Global group migration involves performing the following steps:
1.

The administrator selects global group objects in the source domain.

2.

A new global group object is created in the target domain, and a new primary security identifier (SID)
is created for the object in the target domain.

3.

To preserve resource access, the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) adds the SID of the global
group in the source domain to the SID history attribute of the new global group in the target domain.

After the migration, events are logged in both the source and the target domain.
Note
If the user account migration process takes place over an extended period of time, you
might have to remigrate global groups from the source to the target domain. The
objective is to propagate membership changes that are made in the source domain
before the migration process is complete. For more information about remigrating global
groups, see Remigrating All Global Groups After All Batches Are Migrated, later in this
guide.
78

You can migrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a
script.
To migrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

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Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

Click Migrate Group SIDs to target domain

Make sure that all other options are not
selected.

3.

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

an account that has administrative rights in the
source domain.

Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

80

4.

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, and then locate the target OU. Verify that the
global groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate global groups by using the ADMT command line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT Group command with the appropriate parameters, and then press
ENTER:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:" <target
domain>" /TO:" <target OU>" /MSS:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating global groups,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate GG SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNO

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in and locate the target OU. Verify that the global
groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate global groups by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating global groups by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingGlobalGroupsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

81

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objGroupMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objGroupMigration = objMigration.CreateGroupMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"

'
'Specify group migration specific options.
'

objGroupMigration.MigrateSIDs = True

'
'Migrate specified group objects.
'

objGroupMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("group name1" ,"group name2" )

82

Set objGroupMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Accounts While Using SID History

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To migrate accounts while using the security identifier (SID) history, first migrate all the user
accountsbut do not enable them in the target domainto prepopulate the target domain and
allow migration of user profiles. After all the user accounts are successfully migrated, begin
migrating users in batches by migrating first the user profile, then the workstation, and then the
user account. Before you migrate all user accounts, ensure that you have created test accounts
that you can include in each batch to verify the success of the migration for that batch.
You cannot migrate every user property when you migrate user accounts. For example, Protected
Storage (Pstore) contents for Windows NT 4.0 workstations, including Encrypting File System
(EFS) private keys, are not migrated by the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) when you
migrate user accounts. To migrate Pstore contents, you must export and import keys during the
migration process.
For clients that are running Windows 2000 Server or later, data that is protected by the Data
Protection API (DPAPI) is also not migrated. DPAPI helps protect the following items:

Web page credentials (for example, passwords)

File share credentials

Private keys that are associated with EFS, Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME),
and other certificates

Program data that is protected by using the CRYPTPROTECTDATA() function

For this reason, it is important to test user migrations. Use your test migration account to identify
any properties that did not migrate, and update user configurations in the target domain
accordingly.
Complete the following steps to migrate user accounts to the target domain:
1.

Migrate managed service accounts. Managed service accounts must be migrated before computers.

2.

Migrate all the user accounts with the account enabled in the source domain, disabled in the target
domain, with complex password selected, and with no attributes migrated.

3.

Translate local user profiles for a batch of users.

83

4.

Migrate workstations in batches that correspond to the user account batches.

5.

Before you migrate the batch of user accounts, verify that local profile and workstation migration
succeeded for all users in the batch. Do not migrate any user account for which profile or workstation
migration failed. This will result in users overwriting their existing profiles when they log on to the
target domain.

6.

Remigrate user accounts in batches with the account set to expire in the source domain in seven days,
the target account enabled, with password migration selected, and all attributes migrated.

7.

After each batch, remigrate all global groups to update any group membership changes.

8.

Notify users in the batch to log on to the target domain.

9.

After all users are migrated, run a final global group migration to update any group membership
changes.

Migrating user accounts in batches helps you to track the accounts that have been migrated and
to test the success of each migration step. If the organizational unit (OU) structure for the target
domain is the same as the OU structure for the source domain, migrate groups of users based on
OU. If the OU structures are not the same, select an alternative way to group users based on the
structure of your organization. For example, you might migrate users by business unit or by floor
to enable you to consolidate help desk resources.
If you plan to retain your source domain OU structure, migrate the OUs along with the users that
they contain. For example, if your source domain is a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory
environment that has a functional OU structure, and the target domain does not have an OU
structure, migrate OUs from the source domain.
If you created a new OU structure in the target domain, migrate batches of users without the
OUs. For example, if your source environment was a Windows NT 4.0 domain that you upgraded
to a Windows Server 2003 domain, the source domain might not have an existing OU structure;
therefore, you can migrate users without migrating OUs.
For more information about creating an OU structure, see Designing Organizational Units for
Delegation of Administration (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=76628).
Until you migrate all user and group accounts, continue to administer global group membership in
the source domain. To support a rollback strategy, manually synchronize any changes that you
make to users in the target domain with the existing user accounts in the source domain. For
more information about administering users and groups during the interforest restructure process,
see Managing Users, Groups, and User Profiles, earlier in this guide.
If you are migrating OUs when you migrate user accounts, migrate the groups that belong to
those OUs to the target domain OU during the user account migration process. When you
migrate global groups by using the global group migration process, they are placed in the target
OU in the target domain. If you migrate OUs from the source to the target domain, select the
option to move the global groups to the target domain at the same time. This way, the groups are
moved from the target OU that they were placed in during the initial global group migration to the
OU in which they belong.
84

Using ADMT to migrate user accounts preserves group memberships. Because global groups
can contain only members from the domain in which the group is located, when users are
migrated to a new domain, the user accounts in the target domain cannot be members of the
global groups in the source domain. As part of the migration process, ADMT identifies the global
groups in the source domain that the user accounts belong to, and then determines whether the
global groups have been migrated. If ADMT identifies global groups in the target domain that the
migrated users belonged to in the source domain, the tool adds the users to the appropriate
global groups in the target domain.
Using ADMT to migrate user accounts also preserves user passwords. After the user accounts
are migrated to and enabled in the target domain, the users can log on to the target domain by
using their original passwords. After they log on, the users are prompted to change the password.
If the user account migration process is successful but the password migration process fails,
ADMT creates a new complex password for the user account in the target domain. By default,
ADMT stores new complex passwords in the C:\Program Files\Active Directory Migration
Tool\Logs\Password.txt file.
If you have a Group Policy setting on the target domain that does not allow blank passwords (the
Default Domain Policy/Computer Configuration/Security Settings/Account
Policies/Password Policy/Minimum password length setting is set to any number other than
zero), password migration will fail for any user who has a blank password. ADMT generates a
complex password for that user, and writes an error to the error log.
Establish a method for notifying users who have been assigned new passwords. For example,
you can create a script to send an e-mail message to users to notify them of their new
passwords.
The following illustration shows the steps involved in migrating accounts if you are using SID
history for resource access.

85

Migrating Managed Service Accounts

A managed service account is a domain account object that is available in Windows
Server 2008 R2 Active Directory schema. A managed service account can be installed on
computers that run Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Only ADMT v3.2 can migrate
managed service accounts.
The process for identifying and migrating managed service accounts using ADMT v3.2 involves
two steps:
1.

Use the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard or admt managedserviceaccount command line
tool to migrate managed service account objects to the target domain, as explained in this topic.

2.

Use the Computer Migration Wizard or admt computer command line tool to migrate the computers
that host the managed service accounts. For more information about migrating computers as part of an
interforest migration, see Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating Workstations in Batches. For
more information about migrating computers as part of an intraforest migration, see Migrate
Workstations and Member Servers.

86

The managed service accounts that were migrated in the previous step and that were
originally installed on the migrated computers are identified during the computer migration.
After the computer migration is complete, the managed service accounts are re-installed on
the computer in the target domain (unless you request to skip them). If you have run security
translation on the member servers that have resources that grant permission to the managed
service accounts, the accounts have the same permissions for resource access in the target
domain as they had in the source domain.
Important
If you are migrating managed service accounts between domains within the same
forest, run security translation on the member servers in the source domain that have
resources that grant permission to the managed service accounts. Security
translation is not normally necessary during an intraforest migration because a SID is
moved with an account. But managed service accounts that are migrated between
domains in the same forest are copied. A new account is created in the target domain
and the account properties (excluding SID) are copied from the source domain.
Therefore, you need to run security translation.
If the resources in the source domain that grant permission to a managed service
account are hosted on the same computer as the managed service account, then you
should select security translation on the appropriate resources (Files and folders,
Local groups, and so on) on the Translate Objects page of the Computer Migration
Wizard. If the resources are on other computers that are not being migrated, then you
need to run the Security Translation Wizard on those computers and on the Security
Translation Options page, select Previously migrated objects or explicitly provide
the MSA accounts in a SID mapping file. For more information about translation
security, see Translating Security on Your Member Servers.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the ADMT snap-in, click Action, and then click Managed Service Account Migration Wizard.

3.

Complete the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard by using the information in the following
table.

87

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain to migrate managed service accounts
from the domain by using either the object
selection dialog box or an include file. This
option is best if you want to migrate all
managed service accounts from the source
domain.
Or
Click Provide computers to be queried for
any installed managed service accounts and
then click Next. On the Managed Service
Account Selection page, click Add to select
the computer accounts in the source domain
that you want to query for managed service
accounts, click OK, and then click Next. This
option is preferred if you want to migrate only
managed service accounts that are installed on
specific computers. Each computer that you
provide may have multiple managed service
accounts installed.
You can choose a combination of these options
by proceeding back and forth within the wizard.
For example, you can provide computers to be
queried and add the managed service accounts
that are installed on those computers to the list
of accounts to be migrated. Then you can click
Back in the wizard to return to this page and
select additional managed service accounts
from the domain or from an include file.
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Wizard page

Action

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain, and then click Next. On the Managed
Service Account Selection page, click Add to
select the accounts in the source domain that
you want to migrate, click OK, and then click
Next.

This page appears only if you select managed

service accounts from the domain.

Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.
Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse to specify a location for the

migrated accounts and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Options

Select the Update account rights check box

Select the Fix accounts group memberships
check box
If the account is being migrated to a different
forest, select the Migrate account SIDs to the
target domain check box. This option is not
available for an intraforest migration.
Click Next. Type the user name, password and
domain of an account that has administrative
credentials in the source domain, and click
Next.

Completing the Managed Service Account

Migration Wizard

Review your selections, and then click Finish

4.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and then review the migration log for any errors.

5.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, and then verify that the managed server accounts exist in the
appropriate OU in the target domain.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /IF:NO /SD:"<source_domain>" /TD:"<target_domain>" /UUR:YES /FGM:YES

89

/MSS:YES

Where <managed service account1_name> and <managed

of managed service accounts in the source domain.

service account2_name>

are the names

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /O:"<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for the migrating managed
service accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Values

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Interforest migration

/IF:No

Intraforest=No

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update account rights

/UUR:Yes

UpdateUserRights=

Update accounts group membership

/FGM:Yes

FixGroupMembershi

Migrate account SIDs

/MSS:Yes

MigrateSIDs=Yes

Note
You can migrate SIDs for
managed service accounts only
between forests. An error is
returned if you use this
parameter during an intraforest
migration.
3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

For managed service accounts that are hosted on member computers in the source domain, you
can include the member computer when you perform computer migration and the managed
service account will be installed on the member computer in the target domain after the computer
is migrated.

Migrating All User Accounts

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Begin the user account migration process by migrating all users. This helps you translate local
profiles and ensure that users continue to have the appropriate resource access after the
migration.
90

Note
Built-in accounts (such as Administrators, Users, and Power Users) cannot be
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) migration objects. Because built-in account
security identifiers (SIDs) are identical in every domain, migrating these accounts to a
target domain results in duplicate SIDs in a single domain. Every SID in a domain must
be unique. Well-known accounts (such as Domain Admins and Domain Users) also
cannot be ADMT migration objects.
The ADMT user account migration process includes the following steps:
1.

ADMT reads the attributes of the source user objects.

2.

ADMT creates a new user object in the target domain and a new primary SID for the new user account.

3.

ADMT adds the original SID of the user account to the SID history attribute of the new user account.

4.

ADMT migrates the password for the user account.

5.

If ADMT identifies global groups in the target domain that the migrated users belonged to in the source
domain, the tool adds the users to the appropriate global groups in the target domain.

During the migration, audit events are logged in both the source and the target domains.
You can migrate user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, by using the ADMT command-line
option, or by using a script. If you are migrating user accounts that have authentication
mechanism assurance enabled, use an include file. In the include file, specify the original user
principal names (UPNs) from the source domain as the target UPNs so that you can keep the
authentication mechanism assurance working. For more information about using an include file,
see Use an Include File.
Important
When you start a user migration with SID history from the command line or from a script,
you must perform the migration on a domain controller in the target domain.
To migrate the current batch of users by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the User Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

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Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the User Selection page, click
Add to select the users in the source domain
that you want to migrate in the current batch,
click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Ensure that ADMT lists the correct target OU. If

it is not correct, type the correct OU, or click
Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain and OU, and then click OK

Password Options

Click Do not update passwords for existing

users.
Click Generate complex passwords.

Account Transition Options

In Target Account State:, click Disable target

accounts.
In Source Account Disabling Options:, click
Days until source accounts expire:, and then
type the numbers of days you want to keep the
source account. A value of seven is commonly
used.
Select the Migrate user SIDs to target
domains check box.

92

Wizard page

Action

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

a user account that has administrative
credentials in the source domain.

User Options

Select the Translate roaming profiles check

box.
Clear the Update user rights check box.
Clear the Migrate associated user groups
check box.
Select the Fix users group memberships
check box.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.
Ensure that the Before merging remove user
rights for existing target accounts and Move
merged objects to specified target
Organizational Unit check boxes are not
selected.

3.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and then review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, and then verify that the user accounts exist in the
appropriate OU in the target domain.
To migrate user accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On a domain controller in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT
account migration account.
Important
When you start a user migration with SID history from the command line, you must
perform the migration on a domain controller in the target domain.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER.

User

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>" /MSS:YES /TRP:YES /UUR:NO

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
93

line as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Disable option

/DOT:DISABLETARGET

DISABLEOPTION=DISABL

Source expiration

/SEP:7

SOURCEEXPIRATION=7

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

Translate roaming profile

/TRP:YES

Update user rights

/UUR:NO

UpdateUserRights=NO

Password options

/PO:COMPLEX

PasswordOption=COMPL

(default)

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNO

TranslateRoamingProf

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers and locate the target OU. Verify that the users exist in the
target OU.
To migrate user accounts by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating users by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
In your script, specify the source and target container names in the relative canonical format.
For example, if the container is a child OU named Sales and its parent OU is named West,
specify West/Sales as the container name. For more information, see TemplateScripts.vbs in
the ADMT installation folder.
<Job id=" MigratingAllUserAccountsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

94

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.PasswordOption = admtComplexPassword
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtIgnoreConflicting

'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'

objUserMigration.MigrateSIDs = True
objUserMigration.TranslateRoamingProfile = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = False
objUserMigration.FixGroupMembership = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = False

'
'Migrate specified user objects.
'

95

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("user name1" , "user name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating

Workstations in Batches
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Remigrating user accounts and workstations in batches helps you track the migration process.
For each batch of users, first translate local user profiles, and then migrate workstations. Verify
that the profile and workstation migration succeeded, and then migrate the user accounts.
Remigrate global groups after each batch. For more information, see Remigrating All Global
Groups After All Batches Are Migrated, later in this guide.

Translating local user profiles

The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) translates profiles for supported computer migration
objects. For a list of which operating systems are supported for computer migration objects for
different versions of ADMT, see Active Directory Migration Tool versions and supported
environments.
User profiles are stored locally on the workstation. When a user logs on to another workstation,
he or she must create a new, unique local user profile. Translate the local user profiles for the first
batch of users immediately after migrating all user accounts.
Local profiles are translated in replace mode because if you perform the profile translation in add
mode, certain aspects of software installation that use Group Policy software deployment might
not work. Any application that is packaged with Windows Installer version 2.0 (which is included
on workstations running Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Service Pack 4 (SP4)
and Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Service Pack 2 (SP2), as well as in many common
software packages) might not function after the profile is translated. For example, the application
executable files might not be removed after the last user removed the application. When the
ADMT Security Translation Wizard is translating local profiles in replace mode, it reverts to add
mode if a profile is locked. This might result in a successful profile translation. However,
application installations might not function after the profile is translated.

96

Note
The night before you notify the users to log on by using their new accounts in the target
domain, translate the local user profiles. Translating profiles the night before ensures that
the new user profile reflects the most current user settings.
You can translate local user profiles by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option,
or a script.
To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

For each workstation in the source domain that you migrate, add the ADMT resource migration account
to the local Administrators group.

2.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

3.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

97

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection Option

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain for which you want to translate
security, click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

4.

Translate Objects

Click User Profiles.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation,

and then click Start.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log
and is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

Security

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

98

ENTER.
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TOT:Replace /TUP:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Security translation options

/TOT:REPLACE

TranslateOption=REPL

Modify local user profile security

/TUP:YES

TranslateUserProfile

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log
and is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate local user profiles by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for translating local user profiles by
using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name
extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingLocalProfilesBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.

99

'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateReplace
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

100

Migrating workstations in batches

After you migrate a batch of local user profiles, migrate the corresponding batch of user
workstations. When you migrate a workstation between domains, the Security Accounts Manager
(SAM) database is migrated along with the computer. Accounts in the local SAM database (such
as local groups) that are used to enable access to resources always move with the computer.
Therefore, these accounts do not have to be migrated.
If a workstation has managed service accounts installed and those accounts have been
previously migrated, ADMT provides an option to reinstall the migrated managed service account
on the migrated computer and update Service Control Manager. So that ADMT can perform this
operation, the account performing the computer migration needs permissions to modify the
security descriptor of the migrated managed service account.
Note
Use a low value for the RESTARTDELAY parameter to restart workstations immediately
after joining them to the target domain, or as soon as possible thereafter. Resources that
are not restarted after migration are in an indeterminate state.
You can migrate workstations and member servers by using the AMDT snap-in, ADMT commandline option, or a script.
To migrate workstations by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which you installed ADMT, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

Use the Computer Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

101

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain that you want to migrate, click
OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Information

(appears if the computer has a managed
service account installed)

Select any managed service accounts that do

not have to be installed on the migrated
computer in the target domain, and then click
Skip/Include to mark the accounts as Skip.

Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain Computers container or the
appropriate OU, and then click OK.

Translate Objects

Select the Local groups check box.

Select the User rights check box.

Security Translation Options

Click Add.

Computer Options

In the Minutes before computer restart after

wizard completion box, accept the default
value of 5 minutes or type a different value.

Object Property Exclusion

To exclude certain object properties from the

migration, select the Exclude specific object
properties from migration check box, select
102

Wizard page

Action

the object properties that you want to exclude

and move them to Excluded Properties, and
then click Next.
Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation

and then click Start.

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log
and is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and verify that the workstations exist in the appropriate OU
in the target domain.
To migrate workstations by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT Computer command with the appropriate parameters, and then
press ENTER.
ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:"<source_domain>"
/TD:"<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>" [/M: <managed service account name1> <managed
service account name2>] [/UALLMSA:Yes] /RDL:5

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for workstation migration, along
with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

103

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU="SOURCE_OU

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update all managed service accounts

/UALLMSA: YES

UpdateAllManagedServiceA

Update specified managed service

accounts

/M NAME

UPDATEMSANAME=

1 NAME 2

Note
The /M parameter takes
precedence over the
/UALLMSA parameter.
<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU="TARGET_OU

Restart delay (minutes)

/RDL:5

RestartDelay=5

Security translation option

/TOT:ADD

TranslationOption=ADD

Translate user rights

/TUR:YES

TranslateUserRights=YES

Translate local groups

/TLG:YES

TranslateLocalGroups=YES

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. The migration log lists computers,
completion status, and the path to the log file for each computer. If an error is reported for a computer,
you will have to refer to the log file for that computer to review any problems with local groups. The log
file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log and is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents
folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers and locate the target OU. Verify that the workstations and
member servers exist in the target OU.
To migrate workstations by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating workstations by using the
following sample script Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="MigratingWorkstationsBwtweenForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

104

Dim objMigration
Dim objComputerMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objComputerMigration = objMigration.CreateComputerMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "Computers"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify computer migration specific options.
'

objComputerMigration.RestartDelay = 1
objComputerMigration.TranslationOption = admtTranslateAdd
objComputerMigration.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objComputerMigration.TranslateUserRights = True
objComputerMigration.UpdateAllManagedServiceAccounts = True

'
'Migrate computer objects on specified computer objects.
'

105

objComputerMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objComputerMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Remigrating user accounts in batches

After you have verified the success of local user profile and user workstation migration for the
user batch, migrate the user accounts for that batch. You can migrate user accounts in batches
by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
You can migrate user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, by using the ADMT command-line
option, or by using a script. If you are migrating user accounts that have authentication
mechanism assurance enabled, use an include file. In the include file, specify the original user
principal names (UPNs) from the source domain as the target UPNs to keep the authentication
mechanism assurance working. For more information about using an include file, see Use an
Include File.
Important
When you start a user migration with their security identifier (SID) history from the
command line or from a script, you must perform the migration on a domain controller in
the target domain.
To migrate the current batch of user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Complete the User Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

106

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the User Selection page, click
Add to select the users in the source domain
that you want to migrate in the current batch,
click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Ensure that ADMT lists the correct target OU. If

it is not correct, type the correct OU, or click
Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain and OU, and then click OK

Password Options

Click Migrate Passwords.

In Password migration source DC:, type the
name of the password export server or accept
the default value.

Account Transition Options

In Target Account State:, click Enable target

accounts.
In Source Account Disabling Options:, click
Days until source accounts expire:, and then
type the numbers of days you want to keep the
source account. A value of seven is commonly
used.
Select the Migrate user SIDs to target
domains check box.
107

Wizard page

Action

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

a user account that has administrative
credentials.

User Options

Select the Translate roaming profiles check

box.
Select the Update user rights check box.
Clear the Migrate associated user groups
check box.
Select the Fix users group memberships
check box.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Select the Migrate and merge conflicting

objects check box.
Clear the Before merging remove user rights
for existing target accounts check box.
Clear the Move merged objects to specified
target Organizational Unit check box.

3.

When the wizard has finished, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and verify that the user accounts exist in the appropriate
OU in the target domain.
To migrate the current batch of users by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT User command with the appropriate parameters, and then press
ENTER.
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /MSS:YES /TRP:YES /UUR:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
108

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:REPLACE

ConflictOptions=REPL

Translate roaming profile

/TRP:YES

Update user rights

/UUR:YES

Password options

/PO:COPY /PS:<NAME OF

(default)

TranslateRoamingProf

UpdateUserRights=YES

PES SERVER>

PasswordOption=COPY
PasswordServer=:

Source expiration

/SEP:7

SourceExpiration=7

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the users exist in the
target OU.
To migrate the current batch of user accounts by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating users by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="MigratingUserAccountsInBatchesBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.

109

'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.PasswordOption = admtCopyPassword
objMigration.PasswordServer = "password export server name"
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtReplaceConflicting
'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'
objUserMigration.SourceExpiration = 7
objUserMigration.MigrateSIDs = True
objUserMigration.TranslateRoamingProfile = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = True
objUserMigration.FixGroupMembership = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = False

'
'Migrate specified user objects.
'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("user name1" ,"user name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing

110

</Script>
</Job>

Remigrating all global groups after user account

migration
A large user account migration might take place over an extended period of time. For this reason,
you might have to remigrate global groups from the source to the target domain after you migrate
each batch of users, to reflect changes made to the membership of groups in the source domain
after the initial global group migration occurred. For more information about, and procedures, for
remigrating global groups, see Remigrating All Global Groups After All Batches Are Migrated, later
in this guide.

Remigrating All Global Groups After All

Batches Are Migrated
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After all batches have been migrated, perform a final global group remigration to ensure that any
late changes that are made to global group membership in the source domain are reflected in the
target domain. You can remigrate global groups by using the Active Directory Migration Tool
ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
Important
When you start a global group migration with SID history from the command line or from
a script, you must perform the migration on a domain controller in the target domain.
To remigrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

111

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organization unit (OU), or

click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

Click Update user rights.

Ensure that Copy group members is not
selected.
Ensure that Update previously migrated
objects is not selected.
Click Fix membership of group.
Click Migrate Group SIDs to target domain

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

an account that has administrative rights in the
source domain.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

112

Wizard page

Action

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Select the Migrate and merge conflicting

objects check box (all other options are
cleared).

3.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the global groups exist
in the target domain OU.
To remigrate global groups by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On a domain controller in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT
account migration account

113

Important
When you start a global group migration with SID history from the command line, you
must perform the migration on a domain controller in the target domain.
2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER.

Group

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:" <target

domain>" /TO:" <target OU>" /MSS:YES /CO:REPLACE

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating global groups,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate GG SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:REPLACE

ConflictOptions=REPL

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the global groups exist
in the target domain OU.
To remigrate global groups by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating global groups by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" RemigratingGlobalGroupsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

114

Dim objMigration
Dim objGroupMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objGroupMigration = objMigration.CreateGroupMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtReplaceConflicting

'
'Specify group migration specific options.
'

objGroupMigration.MigrateSIDs = True

'
'Migrate specified group objects.
'

objGroupMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("group name1" ,"group name2" )

Set objGroupMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing

115

</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Accounts Without Using SID

History
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
If you are not using security identifier (SID) history for resource access because SID filtering is in
place between your forests, your migration process involves performing the following steps. First,
you migrate all the user accountsbut do not enable them in the target domainto prepopulate
the target domain and allow migration of user profiles. Then, you run security translation on all
resources that the users access across forests. The next step is to migrate users in batches by
migrating first the user profile, then the workstation, and then the user account. Finally, you must
remigrate the global groups to apply any changes that are made to the global groups in the
source domain and translate security in remove mode.
It is still important to migrate SID history although user accounts will not use SID history for
resource access. This ensures that operations such as Offline Files continue to function within the
forest. Migrating SID history does not present a security risk because SID filtering is in place
between the source and target forests. Before you migrate all user accounts, ensure that you
have created test accounts that you can use to verify the success of each batch.
Complete the following steps to migrate user accounts to the target domain:
1.

Migrate managed service accounts. Managed service accounts must be migrated before computers.

2.

Migrate all users. Use the Fix users group membership option both to have the Active Directory
Migration Tool (ADMT) identify global groups in the target domain that the user belonged to in the
source domain and to add the user to the appropriate global group in the target domain. For this initial
user migration, leave the user account enabled in source domain and disabled in the target domain.

3.

Translate security in add mode for files, shares, printers, local groups, and domain local groups.

4.

Translate local user profiles for a batch of users.

5.

Migrate workstations in batches that correspond to the user account batches.

6.

Before you migrate the batch of user accounts, verify that local profile and workstation migration
succeeded for all users in the batch. Do not migrate any user account for which profile or workstation
migration failed, because this will result in users overwriting their existing profiles when they log onto
the target domain.

7.

Remigrate user accounts in small batches with the accounts in the source domain that are set to expire
in seven days with the target accounts enabled, password migration selected, and all attributes selected
for migration.
116

8.

After each batch, remigrate all global groups to update any group membership changes.

9.

After all users are migrated, run a final global group migration to update any group membership
changes

10. Translate security in remove mode for files, shared folders, printers, local groups, and domain local
groups.
11. Notify users in the batch to log on to the target domain.
Until you migrate all user and group accounts, continue to administer global group membership in
the source domain.
The following illustration shows the steps involved in migrating accounts that are not using SID
history for resource access.

Migrating Managed Service Accounts

A managed service account is a domain account object that is available in Windows
Server 2008 R2 Active Directory schema. A managed service account can be installed on
computers that run Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Only ADMT v3.2 can migrate
managed service accounts.
The process for identifying and migrating managed service accounts using ADMT v3.2 involves
two steps:
1.

Use the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard or admt managedserviceaccount command line
tool to migrate managed service account objects to the target domain, as explained in this topic.

2.

Use the Computer Migration Wizard or admt computer command line tool to migrate the computers
that host the managed service accounts. For more information about migrating computers as part of an
interforest migration, see Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating Workstations in Batches. For
more information about migrating computers as part of an intraforest migration, see Migrate
Workstations and Member Servers.
The managed service accounts that were migrated in the previous step and that were
originally installed on the migrated computers are identified during the computer migration.
After the computer migration is complete, the managed service accounts are re-installed on
the computer in the target domain (unless you request to skip them). If you have run security
translation on the member servers that have resources that grant permission to the managed
service accounts, the accounts have the same permissions for resource access in the target
domain as they had in the source domain.
Important
If you are migrating managed service accounts between domains within the same
forest, run security translation on the member servers in the source domain that have
117

resources that grant permission to the managed service accounts. Security

translation is not normally necessary during an intraforest migration because a SID is
moved with an account. But managed service accounts that are migrated between
domains in the same forest are copied. A new account is created in the target domain
and the account properties (excluding SID) are copied from the source domain.
Therefore, you need to run security translation.
If the resources in the source domain that grant permission to a managed service
account are hosted on the same computer as the managed service account, then you
should select security translation on the appropriate resources (Files and folders,
Local groups, and so on) on the Translate Objects page of the Computer Migration
Wizard. If the resources are on other computers that are not being migrated, then you
need to run the Security Translation Wizard on those computers and on the Security
Translation Options page, select Previously migrated objects or explicitly provide
the MSA accounts in a SID mapping file. For more information about translation
security, see Translating Security on Your Member Servers.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the ADMT snap-in, click Action, and then click Managed Service Account Migration Wizard.

3.

Complete the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard by using the information in the following
table.

118

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain to migrate managed service accounts
from the domain by using either the object
selection dialog box or an include file. This
option is best if you want to migrate all
managed service accounts from the source
domain.
Or
Click Provide computers to be queried for
any installed managed service accounts and
then click Next. On the Managed Service
Account Selection page, click Add to select
the computer accounts in the source domain
that you want to query for managed service
accounts, click OK, and then click Next. This
option is preferred if you want to migrate only
managed service accounts that are installed on
specific computers. Each computer that you
provide may have multiple managed service
accounts installed.
You can choose a combination of these options
by proceeding back and forth within the wizard.
For example, you can provide computers to be
queried and add the managed service accounts
that are installed on those computers to the list
of accounts to be migrated. Then you can click
Back in the wizard to return to this page and
select additional managed service accounts
from the domain or from an include file.
119

Wizard page

Action

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain, and then click Next. On the Managed
Service Account Selection page, click Add to
select the accounts in the source domain that
you want to migrate, click OK, and then click
Next.

This page appears only if you select managed

service accounts from the domain.

Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.
Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse to specify a location for the

migrated accounts and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Options

Select the Update account rights check box

Select the Fix accounts group memberships
check box
If the account is being migrated to a different
forest, select the Migrate account SIDs to the
target domain check box. This option is not
available for an intraforest migration.
Click Next. Type the user name, password and
domain of an account that has administrative
credentials in the source domain, and click
Next.

Completing the Managed Service Account

Migration Wizard

Review your selections, and then click Finish

4.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and then review the migration log for any errors.

5.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, and then verify that the managed server accounts exist in the
appropriate OU in the target domain.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /IF:NO /SD:"<source_domain>" /TD:"<target_domain>" /UUR:YES /FGM:YES

120

/MSS:YES

Where <managed service account1_name> and <managed

of managed service accounts in the source domain.

service account2_name>

are the names

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /O:"<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for the migrating managed
service accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Values

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Interforest migration

/IF:No

Intraforest=No

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update account rights

/UUR:Yes

UpdateUserRights=

Update accounts group membership

/FGM:Yes

FixGroupMembershi

Migrate account SIDs

/MSS:Yes

MigrateSIDs=Yes

Note
You can migrate SIDs for
managed service accounts only
between forests. An error is
returned if you use this
parameter during an intraforest
migration.
3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

For managed service accounts that are hosted on member computers in the source domain, you
can include the member computer when you perform computer migration and the managed
service account will be installed on the member computer in the target domain after the computer
is migrated.

Migrating All User Accounts

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Begin the user account migration process by migrating all users. You can then translate security
on all files, printers, shared folders, local groups, and domain local groups. This ensures that
users continue to have the appropriate resource access after the migration.
121

Note
Built-in accounts (such as Administrators, Users, and Power Users) cannot be
Active Directory Migration Tools (ADMT) migration objects. Because built-in account
security identifiers (SIDs) are identical in every domain, migrating these accounts to a
target domain results in duplicate SIDs in a single domain. Every SID in a domain must
be unique. Well-known accounts (such as Domain Admins and Domain Users) also
cannot be ADMT migration objects.
The ADMT user account migration process includes the following steps:
1.

ADMT reads the attributes of the source user objects.

2.

ADMT creates a new user object in the target domain and a new primary SID for the new user account.

3.

ADMT adds the original SID of the user account to the SID history attribute of the new user account.

4.

ADMT migrates the password for the user account.

5.

If ADMT identifies global groups in the target domain that the migrated users belonged to in the source
domain, the tool adds the users to the appropriate global groups in the target domain.

During the migration, audit events are logged in both the source and the target domains.
You can migrate user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a
script. If you are migrating user accounts that have authentication mechanism assurance
enabled, use an include file. In the include file, specify the original user principal names (UPNs)
from the source domain as the target UPNs to keep the authentication mechanism assurance
working. For more information about using an include file, see Use an Include File.
To migrate user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the User Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

122

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the User Selection page, click
Add to select the users in the source domain
that you want to migrate in the current batch,
click OK, and then click Next.
Or
On the computer in the target domain on which
ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT
account migration account.

Organizational Unit Selection

Ensure that ADMT lists the correct target

organizational unit (OU). If it is not correct, type
the correct OU, or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain and OU, and then click OK

Password Options

Click Do not update passwords for existing

users.
Click Generate complex passwords.

Account Transition Options

In Target Account State:, click Disable target

accounts.
In Source Account Disabling Options:, click
Days until source accounts expire:, and then
type the numbers of days you want to keep the
source account. A value of 7 is commonly used.
Select the Migrate user SIDs to target
domains check box.

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

123

Wizard page

Action

a user account that has administrative

credentials in the source domain.
User Options

Select the Translate roaming profiles check

box.
Select the Update user rights check box.
Clear the Migrate associated user groups
check box.
Select Fix users group memberships.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Select the Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain
check box.
Ensure that the Before merging remove user
rights for existing target accounts and Move
merged objects to specified target
Organizational Unit check boxes are not
selected.

3.

When the wizard finishes, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and verify that the user accounts exist in the appropriate
OU in the target domain.
To migrate user accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

User

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /MSS:YES /TRP:YES /UUR:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
124

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

Translate roaming profile

/TRP:YES

Update user rights

/UUR:YES

Password options

/PO:COMPLEX

(default)

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNO

TranslateRoamingProf

UpdateUserRights=YES

(default)

PasswordOption=COMPL

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers and locate the target OU. Verify that the users exist in the
target OU.
To migrate user accounts by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating users by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingAllUserAccountsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

125

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.PasswordOption = admtComplexPassword
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtIgnoreConflicting

'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'

objUserMigration.MigrateSIDs = True
objUserMigration.TranslateRoamingProfile = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = True
objUserMigration.FixGroupMembership = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = False

'
'Migrate specified user objects.
'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("user name1" , "user name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

126

Translating Security in Add Mode

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Translate security on servers to add the security identifiers (SIDs) of the user accounts and group
accounts in the target domain to the access control lists (ACLs) of the resources. After objects are
migrated to the target domain, the objects contain the ACL entries from both the source and the
target domains. Use the Security Translation Wizard in the Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) to add the target domain SIDs from the migrated objects. Run the Security Translation
Wizard on all files, shares, printers, local groups, and at least one domain controller (to translate
security on shared local groups).
You can translate security in Add mode on objects by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT
command-line option, or a script.
To translate security in Add mode on objects by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

127

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers for
which you want to translate security, click OK
and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Translate Objects

Clear the User Profiles check box.

Select all other check boxes.

3.

Security Translation Options

Click Add.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation,

and then click Start.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,
and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate security in Add mode on objects by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT Security command with the appropriate parameters, and then press
128

ENTER::
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TOT:Add

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT SECURITY /N " <computer_name1>" " <computer_name2>" /O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Security translation options

/TOT:Add

TranslateOption=ADD

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,
and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate security in Add mode on objects by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for translating security in Add mode on
objects by using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file
name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingSecurityInAddModeOnObjectsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

129

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateAdd
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateFilesAndFolders = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslatePrinters = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateRegistry = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateShares = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = False
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserRights = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing

130

</Script>
</Job>

Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating

Workstations in Batches
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Remigrating user accounts and workstations in batches helps you track the migration process.
For each batch of users, first translate local user profiles and then migrate workstations. Verify
that the profile and workstation migration succeeded, and then migrate the user accounts.
Remigrate global groups after each batch. For more information, see Remigrating All Global
Groups After All Batches Are Migrated, later in this guide.

Translating local user profiles

The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) translates profiles for supported computer migration
objects. For a list of the operating systems that are supported for computer migration objects for
different versions of ADMT, see Active Directory Migration Tool versions and supported
environments.
Local profiles are translated in replace mode because if you perform the profile translation in add
mode, software installation by means of Group Policy software deployment might not work. Any
application that is packaged with Windows Installer version 2.0 (which is used on workstations
that are running Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Service Pack 4 (SP4),
Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Service Pack 2 (SP2), and in many common software
packages) might not function after the profile is translated. When the ADMT Security Translation
Wizard is translating local profiles in replace mode, it reverts to add mode if a profile is locked.
This might result in a successful profile translation. However, application installations might not
function after the profile is translated.
Before you start the local user profile translation, allow enough time for the workstations to restart
after you move them to the target domain. Allow for the ADMT time delay factor (five minutes by
default) plus the time required for a restart cycle for your workstations.
Note
The night before you notify the users to log on by using their new accounts in the target
domain, translate the local user profiles. Translating profiles the night before ensures that
the new user profile reflects the most current user settings.
You can translate local user profiles by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option,
or a script.
To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT snap-in
131

1.

For each workstation in the source domain that you are migrating, add the ADMT resource migration
account to the local Administrators group.

2.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

3.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain for which you want to translate
security, click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

4.

Translate Objects

Click User Profiles.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation,

and then click Start.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,

132

and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT command-line option
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Security

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TOT:Replace /TUP:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" " <computer_name2>" /O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Security translation options

/TOT:REPLACE

TranslateOption=REPL

Modify local user profile security

/TUP:YES

TranslateUserProfile

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log
and is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate local user profiles by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for translating local user profiles by
using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name
extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingLocalProfilesBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

133

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateReplace
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

134

Set objMigration = Nothing

</Script>
</Job>

Migrating workstations in batches

After you migrate a batch of local user profiles, migrate the corresponding batch of user
workstations. When you migrate a workstation between domains, the Security Accounts Manager
(SAM) database is migrated along with the computer. Accounts located in the local SAM
database (such as local groups) that are used to enable access to resources always move with
the computer. Therefore, they do not have to be migrated.
If a workstation has managed service accounts installed and those accounts have been
previously migrated, ADMT provides an option to reinstall the migrated managed service account
on the migrated computer and update Service Control Manager. So that ADMT can perform this
operation, the account performing the computer migration needs permissions to modify the
security descriptor of the migrated managed service account.
Note
To restart workstations immediately after joining them to the target domain, or as soon as
possible thereafter, use a low value for the ADMT RESTARTDELAY parameter. Resources
that are not restarted after migration are in an indeterminate state.
You can migrate workstations by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a
script.
To migrate workstations by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which you installed ADMT, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

Use the Computer Migration Wizard by following the steps in the following table.

135

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain that you want to migrate, click
OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Information

(appears if the computer has a managed
service account installed)

Select any managed service accounts that do

not have to be installed on the migrated
computer in the target domain, and then click
Skip/Include to mark the accounts as Skip.

Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain Computers container or the
appropriate organizational unit (OU), and then
click OK.

Translate Objects

Select the Local groups check box.

Select the User rights check box.

Security Translation Options

Click Add.

Computer Options

In the Minutes before computer restart after

wizard completion box, accept the default
value of 5 minutes or type a different value.

Object Property Exclusion

To exclude certain object properties from the

migration, select the Exclude specific object
136

Wizard page

Action

properties from migration check box, select

the object properties that you want to exclude
and move them to the Excluded Properties
box, and then click Next.
Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation,

and then click Start.

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTaskID.log,
and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and verify that the workstations exist in the appropriate OU
in the target domain.
To migrate workstations by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Computer

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:"<source_domain>"

/TD:"<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>" [/M: <managed service account name 1>
<managed service account name 2>] [/UALLMSA:Yes] /RDL:5

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for workstation migration, along
with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

137

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU="SOURCE_OU

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update all managed service accounts

/UALLMSA: YES

UpdateAllManagedServiceAc

Update specific managed service

accounts

/M: NAME

UPDATEMSANAME=

1 NAME 2

Note
The /M parameter takes
precedence over the
/UALLMSA parameter.
<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU="TARGET_OU

Restart delay (minutes)

/RDL:5

RestartDelay=5

Security translation option

/TOT:ADD

TranslationOption=ADD

Translate user rights

/TUR:YES

TranslateUserRights=YES

Translate local groups

/TLG:YES

TranslateLocalGroups=YES

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors. The migration log lists computers, completion
status, and the path to the log file for each computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have
to refer to the log file for that computer to review any problems with local groups. The log file for each
computer is named MigrationTASKID.log, and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the workstations exist
in the target OU.
To migrate workstations by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating workstations by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="MigratingWorkstationsBwtweenForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

138

Dim objMigration
Dim objComputerMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objComputerMigration = objMigration.CreateComputerMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "Computers"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify computer migration specific options.
'

objComputerMigration.RestartDelay = 1
objComputerMigration.TranslationOption = admtTranslateAdd
objComputerMigration.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objComputerMigration.TranslateUserRights = True
objComputerMigration.UpdateAllManagedServiceAccounts = True

'
'Migrate computer objects on specified computer objects.
'

139

objComputerMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objComputerMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>

Remigrating user accounts in batches

After you have verified the success of your migration of local user profiles and user workstations
for the user batch, migrate the user accounts for that batch.
You can migrate user accounts in batches by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line
option, or a script. If you are migrating user accounts that have authentication mechanism
assurance enabled, use an include file. In the include file, specify the original user principal
names (UPNs) from the source domain as the target UPNs to keep the authentication mechanism
assurance working. For more information about using an include file, see Use an Include File.
To remigrate the current batch of user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the User Account Migration Wizard by following the steps in the following table.

140

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the User Selection page, click
Add to select the users in the source domain
that you want to migrate in the current batch,
click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Ensure that ADMT lists the correct target OU. If

it is not correct, type the correct OU, or click
Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain and OU, and then click OK

Password Options

Click Migrate Passwords.

In Password migration source DC:, type the
name of the password export server or accept
the default value.

Account Transition Options

In Target Account State:, click Enable target

accounts.
In Source Account Disabling Options:, click
Days until source accounts expire:, and then
type the number of days that you want to keep
the source account. A value of 7 is commonly
used.
Select the Migrate user SIDs to target
domains check box.
141

Wizard page

Action

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

a user account that has administrative
credentials.

User Options

Select the Translate roaming profiles check

box.
Select the Update user rights check box.
Select the Migrate associated user groups
check box.
Select Fix users group memberships check
box.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Click Migrate and merge conflicting objects

Clear the Before merging remove user rights
for existing target accounts check box.
Clear the Move merged objects to specified
target Organizational Unit check box.

3.

When the wizard finishes, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers and verify that the user accounts exist in the appropriate OU
in the target domain.
To remigrate the current batch of users by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

User

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /MSS:YES /TRP:YES /UUR:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>"

/O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

142

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:REPLACE

ConflictOptions=REPL

Translate roaming profile

/TRP:YES

Update user rights

/UUR:YES

Password options

/PO:COPY /PS:<NAME OF

(default)

TranslateRoamingProf

UpdateUserRights=YES

PES SERVER>

PasswordOption=COPY
PasswordServer=:

Source expiration

/SEP:30

SourceExpiration=30

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the users exist in the
target OU.
To remigrate the current batch of user accounts by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating users by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="MigratingUserAccountsInBatchesBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

143

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.PasswordOption = admtCopyPassword
objMigration.PasswordServer = "password export server name"
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtReplaceConflicting
'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'
objUserMigration.SourceExpiration = 7
objUserMigration.MigrateSIDs = True
objUserMigration.TranslateRoamingProfile = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = False
objUserMigration.FixGroupMembership = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = False

'
'Migrate specified user objects.
'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("user name1" ,"user name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>

144

</Job>

Remigrating all global groups after user account

migration
A large user account migration might take place over an extended period of time. For this reason,
you may have to remigrate global groups from the source to the target domain after you migrate
each batch of users. The objective is to reflect changes that are made to group membership in
the source domain after the initial global group migration has occurred. For more information
aboutand procedures forremigrating global groups, see Remigrating All Global Groups After
All Batches Are Migrated, later in this guide.

Remigrating All Global Groups After All

Batches Are Migrated
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After all batches have been migrated, perform a final global group remigration to ensure that any
late changes that are made to global group membership in the source domain are reflected in the
target domain.
You can remigrate global groups by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT)snap-in, the
ADMT command-line option, or a script.
To remigrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

145

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

Select the Update user rights check box.

Ensure that the Copy group members check
box is not selected.
Ensure that the Update previously migrated
objects check box is not selected.
Select the Fix membership of group check
box.
Select the Migrate Group SIDs to target
domain check box.

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

an account that has administrative rights in the
146

Wizard page

Action

source domain.
Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Select the Migrate and merge conflicting

objects (all other options are cleared) check
box.

3.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the global groups exist
in the target domain OU.
To remigrate global groups by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Group

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:" <target

domain>" /TO:" <target OU>" /MSS:YES /CO:REPLACE

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating global groups,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate GG SIDs

/MSS:YES

MigrateSIDs=YES

Conflict management

/CO:REPLACE

ConflictOptions=REPL

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.
147

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the global groups exist
in the target domain OU.
To remigrate global groups by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating global groups by using the
following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in
the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" RemigratingGlobalGroupsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objGroupMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objGroupMigration = objMigration.CreateGroupMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"
objMigration.ConflictOptions = admtReplaceConflicting

'
'Specify group migration specific options.

148

'

objGroupMigration.MigrateSIDs = True

'
'Migrate specified group objects.
'

objGroupMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("group name1" ,"group name2" )

Set objGroupMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Translating Security in Remove Mode

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Translate security on objects to remove the security identifiers (SIDs) of the accounts in the
source domain from the access control lists (ACLs) of the migrated objects. Do this only after all
of the source accounts are disabled. Run the Security Translation Wizard on all files, shared
folders, printers, and local groups, and at least one domain controller (to translate security on
shared local groups).
When you translate security in Remove mode, the SIDs in the source domain for the user are no
longer present or available if the target user account has been migrated successfully and the
SIDs are added there. This process enables administrative cleanup, and it ensures that users use
their "new" target domain account and stop using the "old" source domain account.
You can translate security in Remove mode on objects by using the Active Directory Migration
Tool (ADMT) snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
To translate security in Remove mode on objects by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by following the steps in the following table.

149

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers for
which you want to translate security, click OK
and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Translate Objects

Clear the User Profiles check box.

Select all the other check boxes.

Security Translation Options

Click Remove.

To translate security in Remove mode on objects by using the ADMT command-line

1.

2.

option
On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.
At the command line, type the ADMT Security command with the appropriate parameters, and then press
ENTER:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TOT:Remove

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
150

To translate security in Remove mode on objects by using a script

Prepare
a script that
incorporates ADMT commands
and options for
security in remove mode
ADMT SECURITY
/N "<computer_name1>"
"<computer_name2>"
/O translating
"<option_file>.txt"
on objects by using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf
The
following
tableinlists
the common
that are used
file name
extension
the same
folder asparameters
the AdmtConstants.vbs
file. for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
<Job id=" TranslatingSecurityInRemoveModeOnObjectsBetweenForests" >

Parameters
<Script language="VBScript"

<Source
<Scriptdomain>
language="VBScript"

Command-line syntax />

src="AdmtConstants.vbs"

Option file syntax

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

Option
Explicit
<Target
domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Security translation options

/TOT:Remove

TranslateOption=REMO

>

Dim objMigration

3.

Review
theobjSecurityTranslation
results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Dim
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review'any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,
and it is
stored in
the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents
folder.
'Create
instance
of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.

151

'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateRemove
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateFilesAndFolders = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslatePrinters = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateRegistry = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateShares = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = False
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserRights = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

152

Migrating Resources
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The process of migrating resources between Active Directory domains in different forests involves
completing the migration of the following:

Workstation accounts and member servers

Domain and shared local groups

Domain controllers

When you have successfully migrated all resource objects to the target domain, you can
decommission the source domain.
The following illustration shows the process for migrating resource objects between
Active Directory domains in different forests.

Migrating Workstations and Member Servers

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrate the remaining workstations that you did not migrate during the user account migration
process, along with member servers, in small batches of up to 100 computers. Workstation
account and member server migration is a straightforward process. Workstations and member
servers have their own Security Accounts Manager (SAM) account database. When you migrate
153

a workstation between domains, the SAM database is migrated along with the computer.
Accounts in the local SAM database (such as local groups) that are used to enable access to
resources always move with the computer. Therefore, they do not have to be migrated.
If a workstation has managed service accounts installed and those accounts have been
previously migrated, the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) provides an option to reinstall the
migrated managed service account on the migrated computer and update Service Control
Manager. So that ADMT can perform this operation, the account performing the computer
migration needs permissions to modify the security descriptor of the migrated managed service
account.
Because the migration requires that workstations and member servers be restarted, it is important
to schedule the migration for a time when the server is not servicing requests.
Note
Restart workstations immediately after you join them to the target domain, by selecting a
low number (such as 1) for the RESTARTDELAY parameter. Resources that are not
restarted after migration are in an indeterminate state.
You can migrate workstations and member servers by using the Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which you installed ADMT, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

Use the Computer Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

154

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain that you want to migrate, click
OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Information

(appears if the computer has a managed
service account installed)

Select any managed service accounts that do

not have to be installed on the migrated
computer in the target domain, and then click
Skip/Include to mark the accounts as Skip.

Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain Computers container or the
appropriate organizational unit (OU), and then
click OK.

Security Translation Options

Select the Local groups check box.

Select the User rights check box.

Translate Objects

Click Add.

Computer Options

In Minutes before computer restart after

wizard completion , accept the default value
of 5 minutes, or type a different value.

Object Property Exclusion

To exclude certain object properties from the

migration, select the Exclude specific object
155

Wizard page

Action

properties from migration check box, select

the object properties that you want to exclude
and move them to Excluded Properties, and
then click Next.
Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation

and then click Start.

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,
and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and verify that the workstations exist in the appropriate OU
in the target domain.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT installed, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Computer

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:"<source_domain>"

/TD:"<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>" [/M: <managed service account name 1>
<managed service account name 2>] [/UALLMSA:Yes] /RDL:5

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for workstation migration, along
with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

156

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU="SOURCE_OU

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update managed service accounts

/UALLMSA: YES

UpdateAllManagedServiceAc

Update specific managed service

accounts

/M NAME

UPDATEMSANAME=

1 NAME 2

Note
The /M parameter takes
precedence over the
/UALLMSA parameter.

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU="TARGET_OU

Restart delay (minutes)

/RDL:5

RestartDelay=5

Security translation option

/TOT:ADD

TranslationOption=ADD

Translate user rights

/TUR:YES

TranslateUserRights=YES

Translate local groups

/TLG:YES

TranslateLocalGroups=YES

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors. The migration log lists computers, completion
status, and the path to the log file for each computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have
to refer to the log file for that computer to review any problems with local groups. The log file for each
computer is named MigrationTASKID.log, and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target OU. Verify that the workstations exist
in the target OU.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating workstations and member
servers by using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file
name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id="MigratingWorkstationsMemberServersBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

157

Dim objMigration
Dim objComputerMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objComputerMigration = objMigration.CreateComputerMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "Computers"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify computer migration specific options.
'

objComputerMigration.RestartDelay = 1
objComputerMigration.TranslationOption = admtTranslateAdd
objComputerMigration.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objComputerMigration.TranslateUserRights = True
objComputerMigration.UpdateAllManagedServiceAccounts = True

'
'Migrate computer objects on specified computer objects.
'

158

objComputerMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objComputerMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Domain and Shared Local Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Shared local groups are local groups in Windows NT 4.0 and Active Directory domains that can
be used in the access control lists (ACLs) on domain controllers. When a domain is configured to
operate either in Windows 2000 native mode or at the Windows Server 2003 domain functional
level, shared local groups are automatically changed to domain local groups. These groups can
then be used in ACLs on member servers and workstations. If domain local groups or shared
local groups are used in ACLs on either domain controllers or member servers, you have to
migrate them to the target domain before the server is migrated.
It is not necessary to change any ACLs as part of the migration process. The ACLs continue to
reference the domain local groups or shared local groups in the source domain. Because the
domain local groups or shared local groups can be migrated to the target domain while using
security identifier (SID) history, users maintain access to the resources. ADMT retains the
membership of the local group during the migration.
You can migrate domain or shared local groups by using the Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) snap-in or a script.
To migrate domain and shared local groups by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which you installed ADMT, log on by using the ADMT resource
migration account.

2.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

159

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

Select the Migrate Group SIDs to target

domain check box.
Ensure that all other options are not selected.

User Account

Type the user name, password, and domain of

an account that has administrative rights in the
source domain.

Object Property Exclusion

Clear the Exclude specific object properties

from migration check box.

Conflict Management

Select the Migrate and merge conflicting

objects check box. (All other options are
cleared.)
160

3.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log. Review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, locate the target organizational unit (OU), and then verify
that the shared local groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate domain and shared local groups by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating domain and shared local
groups by using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file
name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingDomainAndSharedLocalGroupsBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objGroupMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objGroupMigration = objMigration.CreateGroupMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"

'

161

'Specify group migration specific options.

'

objGroupMigration.MigrateSIDs = True

'
'Migrate specified group objects.
'

objGroupMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("local group name1" ,"local group name2" )

Set objGroupMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Domain Controllers

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
In Active Directory or Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), you can migrate domain
controllers between domains. To do this, you must perform the following actions:

Remove Active Directory or AD DS from the domain controller.

Migrate the domain controller as a member server to the target domain.

Reinstall Active Directory or AD DS.

If the server is running Windows 2000 Server, you cannot install Active Directory or AD DS in the
target domain if the target domain is already at the Windows Server 2003 functional level. In this
case, you must upgrade the server to Windows Server 2003 before installing Active Directory or
AD DS.
The same steps are required to migrate an RODC as are required for a writeable domain
controller.

162

Completing the Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After you migrate all the accounts and resources from the source domain to the target domain,
perform the following tasks to complete the restructuring process:

Transfer the administration of user accounts and group accounts from the source domain to the target
domain.

Ensure that at least two domain controllers continue to operate in the source domain until the resource
migration process is complete.

Back up the two domain controllers in the source domain.

After you complete these steps, you can translate security on the member servers in the target
domain and decommission the source domain. The following illustration shows the process for
completing the migration of Active Directory domains between forests.

Translating Security on Your Member Servers

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
163

Translate security on member servers to clean up the access control lists (ACLs) of the
resources. After objects are migrated to the target domain, resources contain the ACL entries of
the source domain objects. If you are using security identifier (SID) history to provide access to
resources during the migration, the SIDs from the source domain remain in the ACLs so that
users can access resources while the migration is in progress. After the migration is complete, the
SIDs from the source domain are no longer needed. Use the Security Translation Wizard in the
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to replace the source domain SIDs with the target domain
SIDs.
You do not have to perform this procedure if you are not using SID history for resource access,
because you should have already run security translation in remove mode after the user
migration.
You can translate security on member servers by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT commandline option, or a script.
To translate security on member servers by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

164

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers for
which you want to translate security, click OK
and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Translate Objects

Clear the User Profiles check box.

Select all other options.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.

To translate security on member servers by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Security

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>"

/SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TOT:Replace

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O "<option_file>.txt"

165

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for migrating user accounts,
along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Security translation options

/TOT:Replace

TranslateOption=REPL

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
Migration Log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each
computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to
review any problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log,
and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To translate security on member servers by using a script

Prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for translating security on member
servers by using the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file
name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingSecurityOnMemberServersBetweenForests" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.

166

'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateReplace
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateFilesAndFolders = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslatePrinters = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateRegistry = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateShares = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = False
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserRights = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

167

Decommissioning the Source Domain

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After you complete the migration of the accounts and resources in your source domain,
decommission the source domain. Ensure that you retain a full system state backup of a domain
controller so that you can bring the domain back online at any time.
To decommission the source domain
1.

Remove all trust relationships between the source domain and the target domain.

2.

Repurpose any remaining domain controllers in the source domain that you did not migrate to the target
domain.

3.

Disable all accounts that you created during the migration process, including those accounts to which you
assigned administrative permissions.
Note
When you decommission the source domain, shared local groups and local groups that
you have not translated by using the Security Translation Wizard display group
members as "account unknown." This is because member names from the source
domain do not resolve. Those group memberships still exist, however, and this does not
affect users. Do not delete "account unknown" entries because this disables the access
that is facilitated by security identifier (SID) history. Run the Security Translation Wizard
to remove these entries.

Intraforest Active Directory Domain

Restructure
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Reducing the number of Active Directory domains in your forest in turn reduces or simplifies the
following:

Administration requirements for your organization

Replication traffic

User and group administration

Implementation of Group Policy

168

If users are frequently reassigned to locations that are part of different domains, you might also
migrate objects between domains on a regular basis. The process for restructuring
Active Directory domains within a forest differs from the process for restructuring Active Directory
domains between forests. This process requires careful planning and testing.

Checklist: Performing an Intraforest

Migration
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Reducing the number of Active Directory domains in your forest simplifies the following tasks or
reduces the time that is required to complete them:

Managing administration requirements for your organization

Handling replication traffic

Administering users and groups

Implementing Group Policy

If you frequently reassign users to different domains, you might also migrate objects between
domains on a regular basis. Restructuring Active Directory domains within a forest differs from
migration between forests, and it requires careful planning and testing.
Task

Reference

Review Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT)

installation instructions.

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

To migrate computers that are running

Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003,
Windows Vista (without Service Pack 1 (SP1)),
Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000 (by using
ADMT 3.1) to a target domain with domain controllers
running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows
Server 2008, first set the following registry key on the
target domain controllers:

For more information about making this

change using Group Policy, see Known
Issues for Installing and Removing
AD DS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=119321).

Note
This registry key does not need to be set for
migrating computers that run
Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, or Windows
Server 2008 R2.
Registry path:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon
169

Task

Reference

\Parameters
Registry value: AllowNT4Crypto
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1
Note
This registry setting corresponds to the Allow
cryptography algorithms compatible with
Windows NT 4.0 setting in Group Policy.
For any migration tasks that use agent deployment and
where Windows Firewall is in use, enable the File and
Printer Sharing exception. This can include migration for
the following situations:

Migrating workstation computers and member servers

that are running under Windows Server 2008 R2,
Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, or Windows Vista.

Migrating security settings or performing security

translation

Prepare to restructure Active Directory domains within a

forest. This task has the following subtasks:

Evaluate the new Active Directory domain structure.

Assign domain object roles and locations.

Plan for group and text migration.

Create a rollback plan and a user communication plan.

Create migration account groups.

Install ADMT.

Plan to transition service accounts.

For more information, see Enable or

Disable the File and Printer Sharing
Exception
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkID=119315).

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

Preparing to Restructure Active
Directory Domains Within a Forest

Migrate universal and global groups using either the

Group Account Migration Wizard or the admt group
command-line tool.

Migrate Groups

Migrate service accounts using either the Service

Account Migration Wizard or ADMT command-line tools,
such as admt service to identify service accounts in the

Migrate Service Accounts

170

Task

Reference

source domain and admt user to migrate service

accounts that you specify.
Migrate managed service accounts using the Managed
Service Account Migration Wizard or the admt
managedserviceaccount command-line tool.

Migrating Managed Service Accounts

Migrate user accounts using either the User Account

Migration Wizard or the admt user command-line tool.

Migrate User Accounts

Translate local user profiles using either the Security

Translation Wizard or the admt security command-line
tool.

Translate Local User Profiles

Migrate workstation computers and member servers

using either the Computer Migration Wizard or the admt
computer command-line tool.

Migrate Workstations and Member

Servers

Migrate domain local groups using either the Group

Account Migration Wizard or the admt group commandline tool.

Migrate Domain Local Groups

Complete post-migration tasks. This task has the

following subtasks:

Examine migration logs for errors.

Verify group types.

Translate security on member servers.

Decommission the source domains.

Examine Migration Logs for Errors

Verify Group Types

Translate Security on Member Servers

Decommission the Source Domain

Overview of Restructuring Active Directory

Domains Within a Forest
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The most efficient Active Directory design includes the smallest possible number of domains. By
minimizing the number of domains in your forest, you can reduce administrative costs and
increase the efficiency of your organization.
You might have to restructure domains in your forest if, for example, your organization closes a
regional office location, and the regional domain for that location is no longer needed. To simplify

171

your Active Directory logical structure, in the following cases, you might also restructure domains
in your forest:

If you have upgraded your network infrastructure.

If you have increased network bandwidth and replication capacity.

The process of restructuring Active Directory domains in a forest is similar to the process of
migrating accounts between domains. When you migrate accounts and resources between
domains, you migrate objects from the source domain to the target domain without
decommissioning the source domain. When you restructure Active Directory domains, you
eliminate the source domain from the forest after you complete the migration of all domain
objects.
Before you begin the process for restructuring Active Directory domains in a forest, ensure that
the source and target domains are operating at the minimum domain functional level that is
required for the version of ADMT that you are using. If you are using ADMT v3.1, the minimum
domain functional level is Windows 2000 native. If you are using ADMT v3.2, the minimum
domain functional level is Windows Server 2003.
After you complete the process for restructuring Active Directory domains in a forest, you can
decommission the source domain to help reduce overhead and simplify domain functional level
administration in your organization.

Restructuring Active Directory Domains

Within a Forest Using ADMT v3.1
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To maintain user access to resources during the process of restructuring domains, you must
perform the migration steps in a specific order. The following illustration shows the process for
restructuring Active Directory domains in a forest.

172

Background Information for Restructuring

Active Directory Domains Within a Forest
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Restructuring Active Directory domains within a forest involves migrating accounts and resources
from the source domains to the target domains. Unlike the process for restructuring
Active Directory domains between forests, when you restructure domains in a forest, the migrated
objects no longer exist in the source domain.
Note
For intraforest migration, computer accounts are treated differently than user and group
accounts. To facilitate rollback, a new computer account is created in the target domain,
and the source computer account remains enabled in the source domain after the
migration.
In addition, migrating user accounts, resources, and groups requires special consideration when
you restructure Active Directory domains within a forest because of the containment rules that
apply to Active Directory groups. For these reasons, the challenge when you restructure
Active Directory domains in a forest is to ensure that users have continuous access to resources
during the migration process.

Closed sets and open sets

When you restructure Active Directory domains within a forest, you must be concerned with two
types of closed sets:

Users and groups

Resources and local groups

Users and groups

The first type of closed set includes the following:

User accounts

All the global groups to which the users belong

All the other members of the global groups

Global groups are limited to members of the domain where the global group exists. Therefore, if
you migrate a user account to a new domain but you do not migrate the global groups to which
the user belongs, the user is no longer a valid member of those global groups and the user
cannot access resources that are based on membership in those global groups. Therefore, when
you are moving accounts between domains in a forest, it is necessary to move closed sets so that
users retain access to their resources.
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Although built-in accounts (such as Administrators, Users, and Power Users) and well-known
accounts (such as Domain Admins and Domain Users) cannot be Active Directory Migration Tool
(ADMT) migration objects, migrating these groups in closed sets is not a common problem. Using
them in access control lists (ACLs) or membership in domain local groups is not an effective way
to assign resource permissions.
When you migrate users, ADMT makes the user a member of the domain users group in the
target domain. However, it does not maintain permissions for other built-in groups (such as
Server Operators and Backup Operators) or well-known groups (such as Domain Admins). If you
have used built-in or well-known groups to assign resource permissions, you must reassign those
permissions to a new domain local group before you begin the migration. Reassigning
permissions includes performing the following steps:
1.

Create a new domain local group in the source domain.

2.

Create a new global group in the source domain that contains users who need access to the resource.

3.

Add the new global group to the domain local group.

4.

Run security translation by using a security identifier (SID) mapping file that maps the well-known
group to the new domain local group (created in the first step) on all resources that assign permissions
using well-known groups. For information about performing a security translation by using a SID
mapping file, see Translate Security by Using a SID Mapping File, later in this guide.

In small domain environments that have few global groups, you might be able to identify closed
sets of users and groups. If you can identify closed sets, you can migrate users and groups at the
same time. In a large domain environment, a user can belong to a number of global groups.
Therefore, it is difficult to identify and migrate only closed sets of users and groups. For this
reason, it is best to migrate groups before you migrate user accounts.
For example, User 1 belongs to global groups Global A and Global B and is a member of
Domain 1. If an administrator moves User 1 and Global A to Domain 2 in the same forest, these
accounts no longer exist in Domain 1. They exist only in Domain 2 in the same forest. Global B
group remains in Domain 1. This creates an open set, or a set that includes users and groups in
more than one domain. Because global groups can only contain members from the domain where
the global group exists, the membership of User 1 in Global B is no longer valid, and User 1 can
no longer access resources based on membership in Global B. Therefore, it is best to migrate
both global groups before you migrate User 1.
If you are migrating an open set of objects in an environment where the functional level for both
the source domain and the target domain is Windows 2000 native or higher, ADMT transforms the
global group into a universal group so that it can contain users from other domains and retain the
group membership. When the set becomes a closed set, ADMT changes the group back to a
global group. The benefit of this process is that ADMT ensures that all closed set problems are
resolved. However, replication of the global catalog is increased while the groups are universal
groups because membership is copied to the global catalog.
Note

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If the functional level of the source domain is Windows 2000 mixed, ADMT cannot
transform the global group into a universal group because universal groups cannot exist
at that functional level. Even if the target domain is in native mode, however, users in
mixed mode domains would not get the SIDs of universal groups in their access tokens, if
the groups are from outside the domain. Therefore, ADMT creates a copy of the global
group in the target domain and adds all migrated users to the copy of that group. This
group has a new SID and no SID history. This method does not preserve access to
resources unless you run the ADMT Security Translation Wizard in Add mode to update
permissions, which delays and complicates the migration process. For this reason, we do
not recommend that you restructure domains that are operating at the Windows 2000
mixed domain functional level or the Windows Server 2003 interim domain functional
level.

Resources and local groups

The second type of closed set is resources and local groups. In most cases, resources have
permissions assigned to computer local groups or domain local groups. Because computer local
groups are migrated when you migrate the computer, these groups are a natural closed set.
However, domain local groups can be used on multiple computers to assign permissions.
In this case, you can either migrate all the computers that use the domain local group at the same
time that the domain local group is migrated to the target domain or you can manually change the
domain local group to a universal group and then migrate the universal group. Changing the
domain local group to a universal group is a manual process because ADMT does not
automatically perform this task. Although this change can increase the size of your global catalog,
over a limited time period, it is an effective way to migrate resources and domain local groups as
a closed set.

SID history
SID history helps you to maintain user access to resources during the process of restructuring
Active Directory domains. When you migrate an object to another domain, the object is assigned
a new SID. Because you assign permissions to objects based on SIDs, when the SID changes,
the user loses access to that resource until you can reassign permissions. When you use ADMT
to migrate objects between domains in the same forest, the SID history is automatically retained.
In this way, the SID from the source domain remains as an attribute of the object after the object
is migrated to the target domain.
For example, an organization that is restructuring its Active Directory domains moves universal
and global groups from a source domain to the target domain before moving user accounts.
Because this is a migration within a forest and the functional level of the source domain is
Windows 2000 native, these groups cease to exist in the source domain and exist only in the
target domain. Because the SID history of both users and groups is migrated, the users continue
to have access to resources in the source domain based on their membership in a group that
exists in the target domain.

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Assigning resource access to groups

The most effective way to assign permissions to resources is to perform the following actions:
1.

Assign users to global groups

2.

Place global groups within domain local groups

3.

Assign permissions to the domain local groups

Assigning permissions to resources in this way simplifies the migration process.

Preparing to Restructure Active Directory

Domains Within a Forest
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
By carefully preparing before you restructure Active Directory domains, you can reduce the effect
that migrating objects from source to target domains has on users. The following illustration
shows the steps that are involved in preparing to restructure Active Directory domains within a
forest.

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Evaluate the New Active Directory Forest

Structure
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Evaluate the domain structure of your existing Active Directory forest, and then identify the
domains that you want to restructure by consolidating them with other domains. You will also
need to:

Identify the source domains from which you will migrate objects.

Identify and evaluate the organizational unit (OU) structure of the target domain where you will place
those objects.
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Identify the source domains

The source domains are the domains that you want to migrate objects from and that you plan to
decommission. When you restructure Active Directory domains, it is best to migrate the smallest
possible number of objects. When you select source domains, identify the domains that have the
fewest objects to migrate.

Identify and evaluate the OU structure of the

target domain
Identify the OUs from the source domain that you need in the target domain, and then determine
whether you have to create new OUs in the target domain.
If you are using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) in command-line or scripting mode,
you can migrate the OU structure when you migrate users, groups, or computers. The OUs are
always copied between the domains, and they are not deleted in the source domain. To
successfully migrate an OU, you must specify a source OU and a target OU in ADMT, and the
target OU must exist. All objects in the source OU and all subordinate OUs are migrated to the
target OU. The specified source OU itself is not migrated.
For more information about creating an OU structure, see Designing Organizational Units for
Delegation of Administration (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=76628).

Assign Domain Object Roles and Locations

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Create an object assignment table that lists the roles and locations for all the objects that you are
migrating. Create one table for account objects, such as users, groups, and service accounts,
and one table for resource objects, such as workstations, profiles, and domain controllers. In your
tables, list the source and target locations for all objects to be migrated.
Before you create your account object assignment table, determine whether the domain
organizational unit (OU) structures for the source and target domains are the same. If they are
not the same, you must identify the source and target OU in your object assignment tables.
For a worksheet to assist you in creating an account object assignment table, see "User and
Group Object Assignment Table" (DSSREER_1.doc) in the
Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services download of the Job Aids
for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of an object assignment table for users and groups.

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To create a resource object assignment table, identify the source and target OU for each object
and note the physical location and role in the target domain. For a worksheet to assist you in
creating a resource object assignment table, see Resource Object Assignment Table
(DSSREER_2.doc) in the Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services
download of the Job Aids for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of a resource object assignment table.

179

Plan for Group Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Unless you can identify closed sets when you are restructuring Active Directory domains within a
forest, you should migrate groups and users separately. This ensures that users continue to have
access to required resources.
The following table lists each type of group and where the group is physically located.
Group type

Location

Global group

Active Directory

Universal group

Active Directory

Domain local group

Active Directory

Computer local group

Database of the local computer

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Each type of group is migrated differently based on the groups physical location and its rules for
group membership. You can migrate universal groups and global groups by using the
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT). You can transform them into universal groups for the
duration of the migration, if you are not migrating closed sets. You can update computer local
group membership by using the Security Translation Wizard.
Each group type has different rules for membership, and each group type serves a different
purpose. This affects the order that the groups are migrated from the source to the target
domains. The following table summarizes the groups and their membership rules.
Group type

Rules and membership

Universal groups

Universal groups can contain members from

any domain in the forest, and they can replicate
group membership to the global catalog.
Therefore, you can use them for administrative
groups. When you restructure domains, migrate
universal groups first.

Global groups

Global groups can include only members from

the domain to which they belong. ADMT
automatically changes the global group in the
source domain to a universal group when it is
migrated to the target domain, if the functional
level of both domains is Windows 2000 native
or higher. ADMT automatically changes
universal groups back to global groups after all
members of the group are migrated to the
target domain.

Domain local groups

Domain local groups can contain users from

any domain. They are used to assign
permissions to resources. When you restructure
domains, you must migrate domain local
groups when you migrate the resources to
which they provide access, or you must change
the group type to universal group. This
minimizes the disruption in user access to
resources.
ADMT does not automatically convert domain
local groups to universal groups as it does for
global groups.

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Plan for Test Migrations

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) does not include a test migration option. Develop a
test plan to assist you in systematically testing each object after it is migrated to the new
environment, and identifying and correcting any problems that might occur. Testing to verify that
your migration is successful helps ensure that users who are migrated from the source to the
target domain can log on, access resources based on group membership, and access resources
based on user credentials. Testing also helps ensure that users can access the resources that
you migrate.
After your testing is complete, you can proceed with migrating small pilot groups and then
gradually increase the size of each batch of migration objects in your production environment.
Use the following process to test the migration of your account object and resource objects:
1.

Create a test user in the source domain. Include this test user with your migrations.

2.

Join that user to the appropriate global groups to enable resource access.

3.

Log on to the source domain as the test user, and verify that you can access resources as appropriate.

4.

After you migrate the user account, translate the user profile, and migrate the workstation of the user,
log on to the target domain as the test user, and verify that the user has retained all necessary access
and functionality. For example, you might test to verify that:

The user can log on successfully.

The user has access to all appropriate resources, such as file and print shares; access to services
such as messaging; and access to line-of-business (LOB) applications. It is especially important to
test access to internally developed applications that access database servers.

The user profile was successfully translated, and the user retains desktop settings, desktop
appearance, shortcuts, and access to the My Documents folder. Also, verify that applications
appear in and start from the Start menu.
You cannot migrate every user property when you migrate user accounts. For more
information about user properties that cannot be migrated, see Migrate User Accounts,
later in this guide.

After you migrate resources, log on as the test user in the target domain, and verify that you can
access resources as appropriate.
If any steps in the test process fail, identify the source of the problem, and determine whether you
can correct the problem before the object has to be accessible in the target domain. If you cannot
correct the problem before access to the object is required, roll back to your original configuration
to ensure access to the user or resource object. For more information about creating a rollback
plan, see Creating a Rollback Plan, later in this guide.
As part of your test plan, create a migration test matrix. Complete a test matrix for each step that
you complete in the migration process. For example, if you migrate 10 batches of users, complete
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the test matrix 10 times, once for each batch that you migrate. If you migrate 10 member servers,
complete the test matrix for each of the 10 servers.
For a worksheet to assist you in creating a test matrix, see Migration Test Matrix
(DSSREER_3.doc) in the Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services
download of the Job Aids for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14384).
The following illustration shows an example of a completed migration test matrix.

Create a Rollback Plan

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After you begin the migration process, you cannot roll back the changes that you make to the
Active Directory domains in your forest. Because accounts are moved and not copied from one
domain to another when you restructure domains, the changes are not reversible. If your plans
change after you begin the migration process, the only way to return accounts to your source
domain is to remigrate the accounts. Create a rollback plan in case you have to remigrate
accounts after you have begun to restructure your domains. To create a rollback plan, select the
method that you will use to remigrate accounts.
Note
To ensure a successful rollback of an intraforest migration, do not attempt to delete the
objects in the target domain and then restore them in the source domain. You will not be
able to recover the objects in the source domain because they are automatically deleted
by the cross-domain move proxy if a restore is attempted.
You can use the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) to remigrate accounts from the target
domain back to the source domain. In this case, the original target domain becomes the new
source domain, and the original source domain becomes the new target domain. Follow the same
steps in the wizards that you used earlier to migrate the accounts. If you remigrate the accounts,
the objects that have been migrated to the target domain and then remigrated to the source
domain will have new security identifiers (SIDs). However, they will have the original SID in their
SID history. Therefore, they will not be identical to the accounts before the migration, but they will
have the same functionality.
If you want to reverse a service account migration, you must enumerate the services again, and
then remigrate the service accounts by reversing the target and source domains.
If you use scripts to perform the original migration, using scripts to remigrate accounts is the
fastest method to roll back the changes. Simply reverse the objects used for the source and
target domains in the script to remigrate the objects.
After you create your rollback plan, make sure to test it to identify and correct any problems
before you begin to restructure your Active Directory domains.

183

Create an End-User Communication Plan

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Develop a plan to inform all affected users about the upcoming account migration, to ensure that
they understand their responsibilities, the impact of the migration, and who to contact for help and
support.
Before you begin the user migration process, send a notice to all users who are scheduled to be
migrated. Because you typically migrate users in batches of approximately 100 users at a time, it
is also helpful to send a final notice to the users in each batch two to three days before their batch
is scheduled. If your organization maintains an intranet, publish the account migration schedule
and the information contained in the user mail on an easily accessible Web page.
Include the following information in your end-user communication.

General information
Alert users to the fact that their user accounts are scheduled to be migrated to a new domain.
Point users to a Web page or internal resource where they can find additional information, and
view a migration schedule.
Inform users of their new domain name. Be sure to let them know that their account passwords
will not change. Let users know that the original domain account will be disabled immediately
following the migration, and the disabled account will be deleted after a specified period of time.
This is not needed if they log on with user principal names (UPNs).

Impact
Make sure that users understand that when their account is migrated, they might be unable to
access some resources, such as Web sites, shared folders, or resources that individuals in their
group or division do not widely use.
Provide information to users about whom to contact for assistance in regaining access to required
resources.

Logon status during migration

Make sure that users understand that, during the migration process, they will not be able to log on
to the domain or access e-mail or other resources. Be sure to specify the period of time for which
they will be unable to log on.

Premigration steps
Alert users to any steps that they need to complete before the migration process begins. For
example, they must decrypt files encrypted by means of Encrypting File System (EFS). Failure to
decrypt encrypted files will result in loss of access to encrypted files following the migration.
184

Users must also ensure that their computers are connected to the network when their account is
scheduled to be migrated.

Expected changes
Describe other changes that users can expect to experience following the migration, such as
changes in use of smart cards, secure e-mail, or instant messaging, if applicable.

Scheduling and support information

Provide information about where users can go to find more information, for example, an internal
Web site where you post information about the migration. Also, provide information about whom
to contact if a user has a conflict with the date that is scheduled for the migration.

Create Migration Account Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To migrate accounts and resources within a forest, you can create an account migration group
and a resource migration group with the appropriate credentials. You must then add the accounts
that will be performing the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) migrations to the account
migration and resource migration groups, as appropriate. Because ADMT requires only a limited
set of permissions, creating separate migration groups makes it possible for you to simplify
administration by creating the groups, assigning the appropriate permissions, and then adding the
necessary administrators to those groups. If the migration tasks for your organization are
distributed across more than one administrative group, create separate migration groups for each
administrative group that performs the migration.
Assign the required permissions to modify objects, such as users, global groups, and local
profiles, according to the following table. The user who is running ADMT must be an administrator
on the computer where ADMT is installed.
In the target domain, use a group with delegated control of the computer organizational unit (OU)
and the user OU. You might want to use a separate group for the migration of workstations if this
migration process is delegated to administrators who are in the same location as the
workstations.
Use the information in the following table to determine the credentials that are required for your
migration.
Migration object

Credentials necessary in the source domain

Credentials necessary

User/managed service account/group

Local administrator, domain administrator,

and delegated Read all user information
for the source OU

Delegated Create, de
accounts, Create, de
and Modify the memb
user OU or the group

Note
Managed service accounts do not
preserve security identifier (SID)

185

Migration object

Credentials necessary in the source domain

Credentials necessary

history in an intraforest migration.

Computer

the computer where A

Domain administrator or delegated rights to
delete the objects in the source OU and
member of Administrators group on each
computer

Delegated permission
local administrator on
is installed
Note

If the computer ha
account installed,
permission to upd
descriptor of the m
in the target doma
Profile

Local administrator or domain administrator;

for roaming profiles, Administrator of the
computer that hosts the roaming profile
shared folder

Delegated Create, de
accounts for the com
administrator on the co
installed
Note

You might need to

preparation steps
profiles for compu
Windows Vista or
information, see P
roaming profiles w
Windows Vista an
ADMT also includes database administration roles that you can use to assign a subset of
database permissions to users who perform specific migration tasks. The database administration
roles and the migration tasks that they can perform are listed in the following table.
Role

Migration task

Account migrators

Account migration tasks, such as user and

group migration

Resource migrators

Resource migration tasks, such as computer

migration and security translation; account
migrators also hold the role of resource
migrators

Data readers

Queries against that database; account

migrators and resource migrators also hold the
role of data readers

186

Users who are assigned the role of SQL Server sysadmin hold all ADMT database administration
roles. They have permissions to:

Display database roles and users who hold those roles.

Add groups or users to roles.

Remove groups or users from roles.

By default, the local Administrators group is assigned the role of sysadmin. This group can
perform all ADMT database functions.

Installing ADMT in the Target Domain

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Use either of the following guidelines to install the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT),
depending on which version you are installing. ADMT version 3.1 provides an option to install a
preconfigured Microsoft SQL Server Express database instance. ADMT version 3.2 requires a
SQL Server database instance to be previously installed. The remaining guidelines for detaching,
reconfiguring, and removing a database file apply to either version of ADMT.

Installing ADMT v3.1

Installing ADMT v3.2

Detach an existing database file from a previous version of ADMT and SQL Server

Reconfiguring a database installation with Admtdb.exe

Reuse an existing ADMT database from a previous installation

Installing ADMT v3.1

This section covers the following issues for installing ADMT v3.1

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1

Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.1

When you install the Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 (ADMT v3.1), it also installs
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition by default to use as its data store. As an option, you can
configure ADMT v3.1 to use a SQL Server 2000 with a Service Pack 4 (SP4) Standard or
Enterprise Edition database or SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition installation that
you have previously created.
Before you install ADMT v3.1, complete the following prerequisites:
187

Install Windows Server 2008.

Remove all previous versions of ADMT by using Add or Remove Programs from Control Panel. If
you attempt to install ADMT v3.1 on a server that has a previous version of ADMT installed, you
receive an error, and the installation does not proceed. If necessary, you can import the database from
the previous version of ADMT (such as ADMT v2.0 or ADMT v3.0) into ADMT v3.1 during the
installation.

If you do not plan to use the default local database installation, ensure that another SQL Server 2000 or
SQL Server 2005 database installation is configured with an ADMT instance. For more information
about creating an ADMT instance on a SQL Server database, see Installing ADMT Using a
Preconfigured SQL Database.

Installing ADMT v3.1 using the default database store

You can use the default database store based on SQL Server 2005 Express Edition or a
preconfigured SQL database to install ADMT. The most common and recommended installation
method is to use the default database store, which the Active Directory Migration Tool Installation
Wizard configures automatically.
To install ADMT by using the default database store

Depending on your environment, download ADMT v3.1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?

LinkId=121732) or ADMT v3.2 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=186197). For more information
about which version of ADMT to use, see Active Directory Migration Tool versions and supported
environments. From the download location, double-click admtsetup.exe, which opens the installation
wizard.

188

Wizard Page

Action

Welcome to the Active Directory Migration

Tool Installation

Click Next.

Configuring Components

The ADMT database instance (MS_ADMT) is

created on the local computer.
Although SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is
installed locally by default whether ADMT uses it
or not, ADMT disables SQL Server 2005
Express Edition if you specify another database
instance on the next wizard page.

Database Selection

Specify the database instance you want to

connect to. The recommended selection is Use
Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition, which
configures ADMT v3.1 to use the locally
installed database instance.
If you are using multiple ADMT v3.1 consoles or
have a dedicated database server where you
want to centralize your ADMT database, select
the Use an existing Microsoft SQL Server
option. Specify the server to connect to in the
form of SERVER\INSTANCE.
You should configure the SQL Server database
instance before you select this option. Although
the ADMT v3.1 installation proceeds if the
database cannot be contacted, you cannot use
ADMT to migrate accounts or resources until the
database instance is created and available.

Active Directory Migration Tool v3 Database

Import

Although you cannot upgrade an ADMT v3.0

installation to ADMT v3.1, you can import data
to an ADMT v3.1 database from an ADMT v3.0
database.
If you do not want to import data from an
ADMT v3.0 database, select No, do not import
data from an existing database (Default).
If you want to import data from ADMT v3.0 into
the new ADMT v3.1 database, select Yes,
please import data from an ADMT v3
database.
If you choose to import data, specify the path to
the ADMT v3.0 database file.
189

Wizard Page

Action

Active Directory Migration Tool v2 Database

Import

Although you cannot upgrade an ADMT v2.0

installation to ADMT v3.1, you can import data
to an ADMT v3.1 database from an ADMT v2.0
database.
If you do not want to import data from an
ADMT v2.0 database, select No, do not import
data from an ADMT v2 database.
If you want to import data from ADMT v2.0 into
the new ADMT v3.1 database, select Yes,
please import data from an ADMT v2
database.
If you choose to import data, specify the path to
the ADMT v2.0 database file.
The ADMT v2.0 database has the filename
protar.mdb, and should be located in the
directory formerly used for your ADMT v2.0
installation.

Summary

This page summarizes the options you selected.

To complete the ADMT v3.1 installation, click
Finish.

Installing ADMT v3.2

ADMT v3.2 requires a preconfigured instance of SQL Server for its underlying data store. You
should use SQL Server Express. When you use one of the following versions of
SQL Server Express, ADMT installation enforces the following service pack requirements:
SQL Server 2005 Express must be installed with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later.
SQL Server 2008 Express must be installed with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.
Note
If you use SQL Server Express, the ADMT console must be installed and run locally
on the server that hosts the SQL Server Express database instance.
As an option, you can use full versions of SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008. In this case, you
can install and run the ADMT console on a remote computer, and you can run multiple ADMT
consoles on different remote computers. If you use a full version of SQL Server, ADMT installation
does not enforce any service pack requirements.
The rest of this section covers the following installation issues:

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2

190

Install ADMT v3.2

Prerequisites for installing ADMT v3.2

Before you install ADMT v3.2, complete the following prerequisite tasks:

In Control Panel, use Add or Remove Programs to remove all versions of ADMT earlier than
ADMT v3.2.
Although ADMT v3.2 does not support an upgrade from a previous version of ADMT, you can
reuse an existing database from a previous ADMT installation, unless it is a database from
ADMT v2 or ADMT v1. For more information, see Reuse an existing ADMT database from
a previous installation.

Install or upgrade a server computer (preferably a member server) in either your source or target
domain environment as necessary to run Windows Server 2008 R2.
Although you can use ADMT v3.2 to migrate accounts and resources from Active Directory
environments that have a domain functional level of Windows Server 2003 or later, you can
install ADMT v3.2 only on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2.
In addition to running Windows Server 2008 R2, the server computer that you use to install
ADMT v3.2 must not be installed under the Server Core installation option or be running as a
read-only domain controller (RODC).

Configure a SQL Server database installation with an ADMT instance. You can either download and
install SQL Server Express locally or create a database instance for ADMT from an existing
SQL Server database.
For more information about installing SQL Server Express, see Install ADMT v3.2. For more
information about creating an ADMT instance on an existing SQL Server database, see
Install ADMT by Reconfiguring a Database Installation with Admtdb.exe.

Install ADMT v3.2

Download SQL Server 2005 Express (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=181159), or create a
new database instance on an existing SQL Server installation to use with ADMT v3.2. During the
SQL Server installation, select Windows Authentication Mode. After you install SQL Server, use
the following procedure to install ADMT v3.2.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local
and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To install ADMT v3.2
1.

In the ADMT download package, double-click admtsetup32.exe.

2.

On the Welcome page, ensure that the recommendations are completed, and then click Next.
191

3.

On the License Agreement page, click I Agree, and then click Next.

4.

On the Database Selection page, type the SERVER\INSTANCE.

The requirement to type the server name also applies to a local database instance. You can
type a dot (.) to indicate the local server. By default, the SQL Server Express instance is
named SQLEXPRESS.
For example, to use a default SQL Server Express instance on the local server, type
.\SQLEXPRESS.

5.

If you chose a SQL Express installation and a database file ADMT.mdf is not in the default data location
%windir%\ADMT\Data, the Database Import page appears. Otherwise, ADMT Setup automatically
attaches to that database file, and the Summary page appears.
On the Database Import page, if you do not need to import data, click No, do not import data
from an existing database (Default). If you need to import data from a previous ADMT
installation, click Yes, import data from an existing ADMT v3.0 or ADMT v3.1 database, and
then, to navigate to the existing database file location, click Browse.
Before you can import the data from an existing database, you have to detach the database file
from SQL Server by using SQL Server commands. For more information, see Detach an
existing database file from a previous version of ADMT and SQL Server.
When you are finished, click Next.

6.

On the Summary page, review the results of the installation, and then click Finish.

Detach an Existing Database File from a Previous

Version of ADMT and SQL Server
If you use SQL Server Express, the database is automatically detached when you remove ADMT.
The detached SQL Server Express database can be reused as part of another ADMT installation
later. In this case, ADMT automatically attaches to the existing database that you specify during
installation.
You can detach the ADMT database file from a full SQL Server instance if you have another
application that you want to attach to the same database. For example, if you plan to move from a
full SQL Server installation to SQL Server Express, or if you have an ADMT database file from an
earlier installation that you have attached to SQL Server management tools, it needs to be
detached from that database before it can be consumed by ADMT.
To detach a database, you can use the SQL stored procedure:
sp_detach_db [ @dbname = ] 'dbname'

For more information about this stored procedure call, see SQL Server documentation. For more
information about how to use SQL Server Management Studio to detach the database, see How
to: Detach a Database (SQL Server Management Studio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=183994).

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Reconfiguring a Database Installation with

Admtdb.exe
If you experience problems with database configuration during installation, or if you specified
SQL Server Express during the ADMT v3.2 installation but want to switch to SQL Server (or vice
versa) after installation, you can use Admtdb.exe. The command-line syntax for Admtdb.exe is in
the following table.
You can run Admtdb.exe from an elevated command prompt on any server that can target the
server computer that is running SQL Server to create the ADMT instance on that server
computer.
Syntax

Description

admtdb create /{s|server}: "SERVER\INSTANCE"

Installs a new ADMT database or prepares an

empty database.
The /server parameter specifies the name of
the SQL Server and instance to connect to for
the purpose of creating the database. This is a
required parameter.

admtdb upgrade /s|server: SERVER\INSTANCE

Upgrades a previous version of an ADMT v3.0

or ADMT v3.1 database.
The /server parameter, which is required,
specifies the name of the SQL Server and
instance to connect to for the purpose of
upgrading the ADMT v3.0 or ADMT v3.1
database.
Note
Before you upgrade the ADMT
database, first open the ADMT console
to verify that it is compatible with the
database.

admtdb attach [/{a|attach}: "V3X DATABASE PATH"

Attaches an existing ADMT database to the

local SQL Server Express 2005 or
SQL Server Express 2008 instance.
The /attach parameter, which is required,
specifies the path to a detached Admt.mdf
database file.

To see Help for all Admtdb.exe command-line options, at the command prompt, type admtdb /?.

193

If you began the migration by using a local SQL Server Express database and then configured a
remote instance of a SQL Server database, and you need to switch back to using a local
SQL Server Express database, complete the following procedure. In this case, the ADMT
database file is already attached to the SQL Express instance. Therefore, there is no need to
explicitly reattach it.
If you began the migration by using SQL Server and you want to switch to SQL Server Express,
see Reuse an existing ADMT database from a previous installation.
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local
and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To reuse a local database after you configure a remote instance of a SQL Server

1.
2.

database
On the local computer, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
In the Details pane, ensure that the service hosting the SQL Server Express instance is running and that
the Startup Type is set to Automatic. If you are using ADMT v3.1 and you had ADMT setup install
SQL Server Express, the service name is MSSQL$MS_ADMT.
If the service is not started or if it is not set to start automatically at system startup, click
Started, right-click the name of the service, and then click Properties.

3.

On the General tab, in the Startup Type list, click Automatic.

4.

Under Service Status, click Start, and then click OK.

5.

Close Services.

6.

At the command prompt, type the following commands:

Note
The admtdb attach command is necessary only if you previously ran SQL commands to
detach the local SQL Server Express instance.
admtdb attach /{s | Server}:LOCAL SQL SERVER EXPRESS INSTANCE
admt config setdatabase /s:SERVER\INSTANCE.

You can now use the local database.

Reuse an Existing ADMT Database from a

Previous Installation
If you want to use an existing (detached) database from an earlier ADMT v3.0, ADMT v3.1, or
ADMT v3.2 installation with a local SQL Server instance, you can complete the following
procedure.
194

Note
Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this
procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships
at Local and Domain Default Groups (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).
To use an existing (detached) ADMT database with a local SQL Server instance
1.

On the local computer, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

2.

In the details pane, ensure that the service hosting the SQL Server Express instance is running and that
the Startup Type is set to Automatic. If you are using ADMT v3.1 and you had ADMT setup install
SQL Server Express, the service name is MSSQL$MS_ADMT.
If the service is not started or if it is not set to start automatically at system startup, click
Started, right-click the name of the service, and then click Properties.

3.

On the General tab, in the Startup Type list, click Automatic.

4.

Under Service Status, click Start, and then click OK.

5.

Close Services.

6.

At the command prompt, type the following commands:

admtdb attach /{s | Server}:LOCAL SQL SERVER EXPRESS INSTANCE /{a | Attach}:PATH TO
ADMT V3.X DATABASE FILE TO ATTACH"
admt config setdatabase /s: SERVER\INSTANCE

You can now use the existing ADMT database with the local SQL Server instance. It is not
necessary to run the ADMT installation wizard again. ADMT installation can be run only once.
You can perform any subsequent database configuration changes by using the admtdb.exe and
admt config setdatabase commands.

Plan for Service Account Transitioning

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Most services run within the context of the Local System account. Consequently, they do not
need any maintenance when they are migrated to a different domain. Some services, however,
run in the context of a user account instead of the Local System account.
Service account transitioning refers to the process of identifying, migrating, and updating services
that run in the context of user accounts. This process has three steps. First, the administrator
starts the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) from the target Active Directory domain
controller and runs the Service Account Migration Wizard. Second, the Service Account Migration
195

Wizard sends an agent to a specified computer and identifies (but does not migrate) all the
services on the computer that are running in the context of a user account. The third step, which
can occur later in the migration process, is to migrate the accounts when other user accounts are
migrated with the User Account Migration Wizard.
The Service Account Migration Wizard checks every service on a computer to identify services
that run in the context of a user account. You can create a security hole during the migration of
service accounts if someone who is not a service administrator enters an account with
administrative permissions in the source domain but uses an invalid password on their computer
to start the service. The service will not start before the account migrationbecause the
password is not correctbut it will work after migration because ADMT resets the password of
the service account and configures all services that are using that service account with the new
password.
To eliminate this possible security problem, it is important to include in the Service Account
Migration Wizard only those servers that are managed by trusted administrators. Do not use the
Service Account Migration Wizard to detect service accounts on computers that are not managed
by trusted administrators, such as workstations.
If you do not identify and transition a trusted computer that therefore does not get its service
account updated, you will have to manually set the new password that ADMT creates. To do this,
obtain the password from the Password.txt file, and then manually enter that account and
password information for the service on the computer that did not get transitioned.
When the accounts that the Service Account Migration Wizard identifies in the ADMT database as
running in the context of a user account are migrated to the target domain, ADMT grants each
account the right to log on as a service.
To run the service account migration wizard
1.

In ADMT, start the Service Account Migration Wizard.

2.

Use the wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

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Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master role is always used as
the source domain controller, regardless of your
selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Update Information

Click Yes, update the information.

Computer Selection Option

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Service Account
Selection page, click Add to select the
accounts in the source domain that you want to
migrate, click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Agent Dialog

In Agent Actions, select Run pre-check and

agent operation, and then click Start. A
message will appear in the Agent Summary
when the agent operations are complete. After
the agent operations finish, click Close.

Service Account Information

Select any user accounts that do not have to be

marked as service accounts in the ADMT
database, and then click Skip/Include to mark
the accounts as Skip.

The wizard connects to the selected computers, and then sends an agent to check every
service on the remote computers. The Service Account Information page lists the services that
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are running in the context of a user account and the name of that user account. ADMT notes in
its database that these user accounts have to be migrated as service accounts. If you do not
want a user account to be migrated as a service account, select the account, and then click
Skip/Include to change the status from Include to Skip.
3.

You use Update SCM to update the Service Control Manager with the new information. Unless you have
a failure in reaching a computer to update the service, the Update SCM button is not available. If you
have a problem updating a service account after the account was identified and migrated, ensure that the
computer that you are trying to reach is available, and then restart the Service Account Migration Wizard.
In the wizard, click Update SCM to try to update the service. If you ran the Service Account Migration
Wizard previously and the Update SCM button is not available, examine the ADMT log files to
determine the cause of the problem. After you correct the problem and the agent can connect successfully,
the Update SCM button becomes available.
To identify service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT SERVICE /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:"<source_domain>" /TD:"
<target_domain>"

Where <COMPUTER_NAME1> and <COMPUTER_NAME2> are the names of computers in the

source domain that run service accounts.
As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT SERVICE /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for the identification of service
accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.
To identify service accounts by using a script

Create a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for identifying service accounts by using
the following sample script. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension
in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
198

<Job id="IdentifyingServiceAccounts" >

<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objServiceAccountEnumeration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objServiceAccountEnumeration = _
objMigration.CreateServiceAccountEnumeration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"

'
'Enumerate service accounts on specified computers.
'

objServiceAccountEnumeration.Enumerate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objServiceAccountEnumeration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

199

Example: Preparing to Restructure Active

Directory Domains
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Contoso Corporation upgraded its hardware to increase its network bandwidth and the amount of
replication traffic that it can support. As a result, the company is consolidating its Africa domain
into its EMEA domain.
The Africa domain is the source domain, and the EMEA domain is the target domain for the
migration. The organization has to migrate a total of 1,800 users from the Africa domain to the
EMEA domain. In addition to the user accounts, the organization must also migrate resources,
such as workstations, servers, and groups.
Because Contoso Corporation is a large organization with many global groups, closed sets are
difficult to identify. Therefore, the company decided to migrate global groups as universal groups.
The company can do this because the infrastructure of the corporation can handle the increased
replication of the universal groups and because both the Africa and EMEA domains are operating
at the Windows 2000 native functional level. The company created identical organizational unit
(OU) structures in the Africa and EMEA domains. Therefore, they do not have to create a new OU
structure or migrate OUs.
Contoso Corporation created a list of computers that run service accounts, so that it can use the
Service Account Migration Wizard to identify services that run in the context of user accounts.
The company is most concerned about a set of accounts that access a SQL Server database.
Access to this database is an important part of their business.
The company decided to use Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) as its migration tool and to
use the wizards. The company installs ADMT and creates two account migration groups to use for
the migration process. The company assigns high-level permissions to the first group and then
adds the appropriate deployment team members to that group. The centralized deployment team
will use this account to migrate users. The company assigns workstation and local resource
permissions to the second group. The deployment team will use the second group to migrate
resources at the remote locations.

Migrating Domain Objects Between Active

Directory Domains
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Restructuring Active Directory domains in a forest involves migrating domain objects in a specific
order to ensure that users maintain access to resources. The following illustration shows the
process for migrating domain objects between Active Directory domains.

200

Migrate Groups
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To protect your system against the problem of open sets when you restructure Active Directory
domains within a forest, migrate groups before you migrate the user accounts that are members
of those groups. If you migrate groups simultaneously with migrating users, you might not migrate
nested groups, which creates an open set.
In addition, follow these guidelines for migrating groups:

Migrate universal groups first, followed by global groups.

Migrate domain local groups when you migrate the resources (domain controllers and member servers)
on which they are used to assign permissions.

You can choose to migrate computer local groups when you migrate the computer later in the
restructure process.

201

Migrate Universal Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrate universal groups, without migrating users who are members of these groups at the same
time, from the source domain to the target domain. Migrating universal groups without the users
helps to protect against the problem of open sets. The security identifier (SID) history allows
group members to continue to have access to resources based on universal group membership.
When you migrate universal groups to the target domain, they cease to exist in the source
domain.
Note
If you are migrating a small number of universal groups, you can migrate universal
groups at the same time that you migrate global groups.
You can migrate universal groups by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) snap-in,
the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
To migrate universal groups by using the ADMT snap-in

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

202

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller,
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection Option

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the universal groups into, and then
click OK.

Group Options

The Migrate Group SIDs to target domain

and Fix Group Membership check boxes are
selected and appear dimmed.
Ensure that no other options are selected.

Conflict Management

Select Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.
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To migrate universal groups by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.
Note
When you start a group migration with sIDHistory migration from the command line, the
command must be run on a domain controller in the target domain.

2.

At a command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Group

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>"

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for migrating universal groups, the
command-line parameters, and option file equivalents. For a complete list of all available
parameters, see ADMT v3.1 Help.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intra-forest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGN

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the
universal groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate universal groups by using a script

Use the following sample to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for
migrating groups within a forest. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name
extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
Note
When you start a group migration with sIDHistory migration from a script, you must run
the script on a domain controller in the target domain.
204

<Job id="MigratingGroupsWithinForest" >

<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objGroupMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objGroupMigration = objMigration.CreateGroupMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"

'
'Migrate specified group objects.
'

objGroupMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("group name1" ,"group name2" )

Set objGroupMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>

205

</Job>

Migrate Global Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrate global groups, without members, from the source domain to the target domain to protect
against the problem of open sets. (For more information about open sets, see Background
Information for Restructuring Active Directory Domains Within a Forest, earlier in this guide.) After
global groups are migrated to the target domain, they cease to exist in the source domain if the
source domain has a functional level of Windows 2000 native mode or higher.
Because global groups only contain members from their own domain, you cannot migrate them
from one domain to another. The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) changes global groups
to universal groups when they are migrated. The universal group in the target domain retains the
security identifier (SID) history of the global group in the source domain, which makes it possible
for users to continue to access resources in the source domain after the global groups are
migrated. ADMT changes the universal groups back to global groups after all members of the
global group are migrated from the source domain to the target domain.
You do not have to include built-in and well-known global groups in your migration because these
groups already exist in the target domain. If you select a built-in group or well-known global group
for migration, ADMT does not migrate it. Instead, ADMT makes a note in the log and continues to
migrate other global groups.
The procedure for using the Group Account Migration Wizard to migrate global groups is the
same as that for migrating universal groups. For more information about the procedure for
migrating global groups and universal groups, see Migrate Universal Groups, earlier in this guide.
After you complete the global group migration process, use Active Directory Users and
Computers to verify that the global groups migrated successfully. Verify that the global groups no
longer exist in the source domain and that the groups appear in the target domain in the
organizational unit (OU) that you specified during the migration process. The global groups are
listed as universal groups in the target domain if they still have members in the source domain. To
view a list of members of the universal group, right-click the group, click Properties, and then
click the Members tab. The original members of the global group are listed. Note, however, that
user accounts have not yet been migrated.
If you are migrating user accounts during the intraforest migration but you are not migrating the
global groups in the source domain that the user accounts are members of, ADMT updates the
global groups in the source domain, regardless. ADMT removes the migrated user accounts from
the membership of the global group in the source domain because the global group can only
include members from the source domain. As a result, it is possible that users do not continue to
access resources in the source domain after the migration because they are no longer members
of those groups.

206

You can migrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a
script.
To migrate global groups by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

207

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller,
no matter what your selection is.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the OU, or click Browse.

In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the global groups into, and then click
OK.

Group Options

The Migrate Group SIDs to target domain

and Fix Group Membership check boxes are
selected and appear dimmed.
Ensure that no other options are selected.

Conflict Management

Select Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

208

3.

After the wizard runs, click View Log, and review the migration log for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the global
groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate global groups by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.
Note
When you start a group migration with sIDHistory migration from the command line, you
must run the command on a domain controller in the target domain.

2.

At a command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Group

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target domain>" /TO:" <target OU>"

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for migrating global groups, the
command-line parameters, and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intra-forest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGN

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the global
groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate global groups by using a script

1.

Use a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating universal groups. For more
information about migrating universal groups, see Migrate Universal Groups, earlier in this guide.
Note
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When you start a group migration with sIDHistory migration from a script, the script
must be run on a domain controller in the target domain.
2.

After completing the global group migration by using a script, view the migration log. The migration.log
file is stored in the folder where you installed ADMT, typically Windows\ADMT\Logs.
Note
Because universal groups are replicated to the global catalog, converting global groups
to universal groups can affect replication traffic. When the forest is operating at the
Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 functional level, this impact is reduced
because only changes to the universal group membership are replicated. However, if
the forest is not operating at the Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008
functional level, the entire group membership replicates every time that the universal
group membership changes.

Migrate Service Accounts

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrate the service accounts that you identified earlier in the intraforest restructure process by
using the Service Account Migration Wizard. This wizard marked the accounts as service
accounts in the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) database. For more information about
using ADMT to identify service accounts that are running in the context of a user account, see
Plan for Service Account Transitioning, earlier in this guide.
You can migrate service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or
a script.
To migrate service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

Use the User Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

210

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the User Selection page, click
Add to select the accounts in the source
domain that you want to migrate, click OK, and
then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, find
the container in the target domain that you want
to move the accounts into, and then click OK.

User Options

Select the Update user rights check box.

Ensure that no other settings are selected,
including the Migrate associated user groups
option. A warning box will appear to inform you
that if the global groups to which the user
accounts belong are not also migrated, users
will lose access to resources. Select OK to
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Wizard page

Action

continue with the migration.

Conflict Management

Select Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

Service Account Information

Click Migrate all service accounts and

update SCM for items marked include. The
wizard presents you with a list of the service
accounts that you are migrating (if you are
migrating accounts that are not service
accounts, they will be migrated but they will not
be listed). By default, the accounts are marked
as Include. To change the status of the
account, select the account, and then click
Skip/Include.
Click Next to migrate the accounts.

A Migration Progress dialog box updates you on the status of the migration. During this time,
ADMT moves the accounts to the target domain, generates a new password for the accounts,
assigns the accounts the right to log on as a service, and provides this new information to the
services that use the accounts. When the status is listed as Completed in the Migration
Progress dialog box, you can continue with the rest of the intraforest migration.
Before the migration of the service accounts is completed, users might experience interruptions
when they use the services. This is because, until the service is restarted, it still uses the
account that has been migrated. For any services that continually use credentials, such as
search services, manually restart the services to ensure optimal results.
To migrate service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT USER /N "<server_name1>" "<server_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"
<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /MSA:YES

Where <Server_name1> and <Server_name2> are the names of servers in the source domain that
run service accounts. As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is
specified at the command line, as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<server_name1>" "<server_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for migrating service accounts, the
command-line syntax, and option file equivalents.
212

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intra-forest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Migrate service accounts

/MSA:YES

MigrateServiceAccoun

Update user rights

/UUR:YES

UpdateUserRights=YES

Ignore conflicting accounts

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNO

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and locate the target domain OU. Verify that the service
accounts exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate service accounts by using a script

Use the following listing to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating
service accounts. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension in the same
folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingServiceAccountsWithinForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'

213

'Specify general migration options.

'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"

'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'

objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = True

'
'Migrate specified service accounts.
'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("service account name1", "service account name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrating Managed Service Accounts

A managed service account is a domain account object that is available in Windows
Server 2008 R2 Active Directory schema. A managed service account can be installed on
computers that run Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Only ADMT v3.2 can migrate
managed service accounts.
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The process for identifying and migrating managed service accounts using ADMT v3.2 involves
two steps:
1.

Use the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard or admt managedserviceaccount command line
tool to migrate managed service account objects to the target domain, as explained in this topic.

2.

Use the Computer Migration Wizard or admt computer command line tool to migrate the computers
that host the managed service accounts. For more information about migrating computers as part of an
interforest migration, see Remigrating User Accounts and Migrating Workstations in Batches. For
more information about migrating computers as part of an intraforest migration, see Migrate
Workstations and Member Servers.
The managed service accounts that were migrated in the previous step and that were
originally installed on the migrated computers are identified during the computer migration.
After the computer migration is complete, the managed service accounts are re-installed on
the computer in the target domain (unless you request to skip them). If you have run security
translation on the member servers that have resources that grant permission to the managed
service accounts, the accounts have the same permissions for resource access in the target
domain as they had in the source domain.
Important
If you are migrating managed service accounts between domains within the same
forest, run security translation on the member servers in the source domain that have
resources that grant permission to the managed service accounts. Security
translation is not normally necessary during an intraforest migration because a SID is
moved with an account. But managed service accounts that are migrated between
domains in the same forest are copied. A new account is created in the target domain
and the account properties (excluding SID) are copied from the source domain.
Therefore, you need to run security translation.
If the resources in the source domain that grant permission to a managed service
account are hosted on the same computer as the managed service account, then you
should select security translation on the appropriate resources (Files and folders,
Local groups, and so on) on the Translate Objects page of the Computer Migration
Wizard. If the resources are on other computers that are not being migrated, then you
need to run the Security Translation Wizard on those computers and on the Security
Translation Options page, select Previously migrated objects or explicitly provide
the MSA accounts in a SID mapping file. For more information about translation
security, see Translating Security on Your Member Servers.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the ADMT snap-in, click Action, and then click Managed Service Account Migration Wizard.
215

3.

Complete the Managed Service Account Migration Wizard by using the information in the following
table.

216

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain to migrate managed service accounts
from the domain by using either the object
selection dialog box or an include file. This
option is best if you want to migrate all
managed service accounts from the source
domain.
Or
Click Provide computers to be queried for
any installed managed service accounts and
then click Next. On the Managed Service
Account Selection page, click Add to select
the computer accounts in the source domain
that you want to query for managed service
accounts, click OK, and then click Next. This
option is preferred if you want to migrate only
managed service accounts that are installed on
specific computers. Each computer that you
provide may have multiple managed service
accounts installed.
You can choose a combination of these options
by proceeding back and forth within the wizard.
For example, you can provide computers to be
queried and add the managed service accounts
that are installed on those computers to the list
of accounts to be migrated. Then you can click
Back in the wizard to return to this page and
select additional managed service accounts
from the domain or from an include file.
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Wizard page

Action

Managed Service account Selection Option

Click Select managed service accounts from

domain, and then click Next. On the Managed
Service Account Selection page, click Add to
select the accounts in the source domain that
you want to migrate, click OK, and then click
Next.

This page appears only if you select managed

service accounts from the domain.

Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.
Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse to specify a location for the

migrated accounts and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Options

Select the Update account rights check box

Select the Fix accounts group memberships
check box
If the account is being migrated to a different
forest, select the Migrate account SIDs to the
target domain check box. This option is not
available for an intraforest migration.
Click Next. Type the user name, password and
domain of an account that has administrative
credentials in the source domain, and click
Next.

Completing the Managed Service Account

Migration Wizard

Review your selections, and then click Finish

4.

When the wizard has finished running, click View Log, and then review the migration log for any errors.

5.

Start Active Directory Users and Computers, and then verify that the managed server accounts exist in the
appropriate OU in the target domain.
To migrate managed service accounts by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /IF:NO /SD:"<source_domain>" /TD:"<target_domain>" /UUR:YES /FGM:YES

218

/MSS:YES

Where <managed service account1_name> and <managed

of managed service accounts in the source domain.

service account2_name>

are the names

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line as follows:
ADMT MANAGEDSERVICEACCOUNT /N "<managed service account1_name>" "<managed service
account2_name>" /O:"<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used for the migrating managed
service accounts, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.
Values

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Interforest migration

/IF:No

Intraforest=No

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update account rights

/UUR:Yes

UpdateUserRights=

Update accounts group membership

/FGM:Yes

FixGroupMembershi

Migrate account SIDs

/MSS:Yes

MigrateSIDs=Yes

Note
You can migrate SIDs for
managed service accounts only
between forests. An error is
returned if you use this
parameter during an intraforest
migration.
3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

For managed service accounts that are hosted on member computers in the source domain, you
can include the member computer when you perform computer migration and the managed
service account will be installed on the member computer in the target domain after the computer
is migrated.

Migrate User Accounts

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Domains can include a large number of user accounts. To make the migration of user accounts
manageable, use a technique called phased transitioning, by which you place your user accounts
219

into smaller batches and migrate each of the smaller batches individually. You can group the
users in any way that you prefer.
You cannot migrate every user property when you migrate user accounts. For example, data that
is protected by the Data Protection API (DPAPI) is not migrated. DPAPI helps protect the following
items:

Web page credentials (for example, passwords)

File share credentials

Private keys that are associated with EFS, Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME),
and other certificates

Program data that is protected by using the CryptProtectData() function

For this reason, it is important to test user migrations. Use your test migration account to identify
any properties that did not migrate, and update user configurations in the target domain
accordingly.
If you are using Group Policy objects to manage software installation, remember that some
Windows Installer files require access to the original source for certain operations, such as repair
and uninstall. The administrator must reassign permissions to the software distribution point to
provide access to any account.
To retain software distribution access, perform these tasks:
1.

Migrate users by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT).

2.

Run the Security Translation Wizard on the software distribution point.

Migrating OUs and Subtrees of OUs

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
If you want to copy organizational units (OUs) and subtrees of OUs to your target domain, you
can use either the command-line or scripting option and substitute the appropriate parameters.
You must specify a source OU and a target OU, and the target OU must exist. All objects in the
source OU and all subordinate OUs are migrated to the target OU, but the specified source OU
itself is not migrated.
If you are using the command-line option to migrate your accounts, groups, or computers, and
you also want to migrate OUs, modify the command line to use the /D option. Instead of using the
/N (/IncludeName) option, you must use the /D (/IncludeDomain) option with RECURSE and
MAINTAIN, as follows:
ADMT /D:RECURSE+MAINTAIN /O "<option_file.txt>"

If you are migrating accounts, groups, or computers by using the scripting option and you also
want to migrate OUs, modify your script to use the admtDomain option. Instead of using the

220

admtData or admtFile option, you must use the admtDomain option with admtRecurse and
admtMaintainHierarchy, as follows:
objUserMigration.Migrate admtDomain + admtRecurse + admtMaintainHierarchy

Migrate Accounts
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
You can migrate each batch of user accounts by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT)
snap-in, the ADMT command-line option, or a script. If you are migrating user accounts that have
the authentication mechanism assurance enabled, use an include file. In the include file, specify
the original user principal name (UPNs) from the source domain as the target UPNs to keep the
authentication mechanism assurance working. For more information about using an include file,
see Use an Include File.
To migrate user accounts by using the ADMT snap-in

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

Use the User Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

221

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

User Selection

Click Select users from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the users in the source domain
that you want to migrate in the current batch,
click OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Ensure that ADMT lists the correct target

organizational unit (OU). If it is not correct, type
the correct OU, or click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, locate
the target domain and OU, and then click OK

User Options

Select the Translate roaming profiles check

box.
Select the Update user rights check box.
Clear the Migrate associated user groups
check box. A warning box appears that states
that if the global groups to which the user
accounts belong are not also migrated, users
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Wizard page

Action

will lose access to resources. Click OK to

continue with the migration.
Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

After you click Finish in the User Account Migration Wizard, the Migration Progress dialog box
appears. After the status changes to Completed, view the migration log to determine whether any
errors occurred in the migration process. In the Migration Progress dialog box, click Close.
The migrated user accounts can log on only to the target domain, and they are prompted to change
the password the first time that they log on to the target domain.
To migrate the user accounts by using the ADMT command-line option
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.
Note
When you start a user migration with sIDHistory migration from the command line, you
must run the command on a domain controller in the target domain.

2.

At a command line, type the ADMT

User

command with the appropriate parameters, for example:

ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>" /TRP:YES /UUR:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified on the command
line, as follows:
ADMT USER /N "<user_name1>" "<user_name2>" /O "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for migrating user accounts, the
command-line parameters, and option file equivalents.

223

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intraforest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Source OU> location

/SO:"SOURCE_OU"

SourceOU=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

Translate roaming profile

/TRP:YES

Update user rights

/UUR:YES

(default)

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNO

TranslateRoamingProf

UpdateUserRights=YES

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the users
exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate user accounts by using a script

Note
When you start a user migration with sIDHistory migration from a script, the script must
be run on a domain controller in the target domain.
Use the following sample to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for
migrating user accounts within a forest. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf
file name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingUserAccountsWithinForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objUserMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

224

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objUserMigration = objMigration.CreateUserMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.SourceOu = "source container"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "target container"

'
'Specify user migration specific options.
'

objUserMigration.TranslateRoamingProfile = True
objUserMigration.UpdateUserRights = True
objUserMigration.FixGroupMembership = True
objUserMigration.MigrateServiceAccounts = False

'
'Migrate specified user objects.
'

objUserMigration.Migrate admtData, Array("user name1" ,"user name2" )

Set objUserMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

225

Translate Local User Profiles

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Translate local user profiles after you migrate the user accounts. To minimize the disruption to
users, translate local user profiles immediately after you migrate a batch of users. If your source
domain includes only a small number of preActive Directory clients, migrate them as a group,
and then translate their user profiles before you migrate the next batch of users.
Typically, no action is required to translate a local profile on clients between domains in the same
forest because the GUID of the user remains the same. The local profile can use the SID-toGUID mapping that it preserves in the registry to reassign the profile of the user, and then
reassociate it with the new security identifier (SID).
If you are migrating the user account to a domain within the forest, and the path for the local
profile is different, the user profile is modified, and a new profile folder is created on the server
with the correct access control lists (ACLs). The administrator must make sure that the user has
access to the profile folder.
You can translate local user profiles by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) snap-in,
the ADMT command-line option, or a script.
Caution
Verify that user profile translation succeeds for each user before that user is allowed to
log on. If the user profile translation fails for a user, that user must not log on to the target
domain. In this case, roll back the user account manually by disabling the user account in
the target domain and enabling the user account in the source domain.
To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

In the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) snap-in, click Action, and then click Security
Translation Wizard.

3.

Complete the Security Translation Wizard by using the information in the following table.

226

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller,
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain that have user profiles that you
want to migrate, click OK, and then click Next
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Translate Objects

Click User Profiles.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.

To translate local user profiles by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER.

Security

command with the appropriate parameters and then press

ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

227

<target_domain>"

/TOT:REPLACE /TUP:YES

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O "option_file.txt "

The following table lists the parameters that are required for translating local user profiles,
command-line parameters, and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intraforest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target domain>

/TOT:REPLACE

TranslateOption=REPL

Modify local user profile security

/TUP:YES

TranslateUserProfile

Review the results that appear in the migration log for any errors.
To translate local user profiles by using a script

Use the following sample to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for
translating local user profiles. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name
extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingLocalProfilesWithinForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration")

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

228

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateReplace
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrate Workstations and Member Servers

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

229

Migrate workstations and member servers from the source domain to the target domain. When
you migrate computers, the changes do not take effect until the computer is restarted. Restart the
computers that you are migrating as soon as possible to complete the migration process.
Note
Restart member workstations and servers immediately after you join them to the target
domain by selecting a low number for the RESTARTDELAY parameter. Resources that are
not restarted after migration are in an indeterminate state.
Firewalls, such as Windows Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP 2), can prevent the
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) computer account migration from completing. Thoroughly
test your computer migration in a lab environment to uncover any potential issues before you
perform the migration in the production environment. For more information about configuring
Windows Firewall, see Some programs seem to stop working after you install
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=76705) and Service overview
and network port requirements for the Windows Server system (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?
LinkId=58432).
Computer accounts are treated differently than user and group accounts during a migration
between domains in an Active Directory forest. Where user and group accounts in the source
domain are deleted during an intraforest migration, computer accounts are left enabled in the
source domain, and a new computer account is created in the target domain.
This makes it possible for you to roll back the computer migration, if necessary. After the
migration is complete and your testing verifies that the computer is functioning as expected, you
can safely delete the computer account in the source domain.
If a workstation has managed service accounts installed and those accounts have been
previously migrated, ADMT provides an option to reinstall the migrated managed service account
on the migrated computer and update Service Control Manager. So that ADMT can perform this
operation, the account performing the computer migration needs permissions to modify the
security descriptor of the migrated managed service account.
You can migrate workstations and member servers by using the ADMT snap-in, the ADMT
command-line option, or a script.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using the ADMT snap-in
1.

On the computer in the target domain where ADMT is installed, log on by using a user account that is a
member of the ADMT resource migration group.

2.

Use the Computer Account Migration Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

230

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller,
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Computer Selection
page, click Add to select the computers in the
source domain that you want to migrate, click
OK, and then click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Managed Service Account Information

(appears if the computer has a managed
service account installed)

Select any managed service accounts that do

not have to be installed on the migrated
computer in the target domain, and then click
Skip/Include to mark the accounts as Skip.

Organizational Unit Selection

Click Browse.
In the Browse for Container dialog box, click
the organizational unit (OU) in the target
domain to which the computers are migrating,
and then click OK.

Translate Objects

Select the Local groups check box.

Select the User rights check box.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.
231

Wizard page

Action

When you perform an intraforest migration,

ADMT migrates the security identifier (SID)
history and deletes the source object.
Therefore, when you perform an intraforest
migration, ADMT allows security translation only
in replace mode.

3.

Computer Options

In the Minutes before computer restart after

wizard completion box, accept the default
value of 5 minutes or type a different value.

Object Property Exclusion

To exclude certain object properties from the

migration, select the Exclude specific object
properties from migration check box, select
the object properties that you want to exclude
and move them to Excluded Properties, and
then click Next.

Conflict Management

Click Do not migrate source object if a

conflict is detected in the target domain.

ADMT Agent Dialog

Select Run pre-check and agent operation,

and then click Start.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors. After the wizard completes, click View
log to see the list of computers, completion status, and the path to the log file for each computer. If an
error is reported for a computer, you will have to refer to the log file on that computer to review any
problems with local groups. The log file for each computer is named MigrationTASKID.log, and it is
stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain where ADMT is installed, log on by using a user account that is a
member of the ADMT resource migration group.

2.

At the command line, type the ADMT

ENTER.

Computer

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:"<source_domain>"

/TD:"<target_domain>" /TO:"<target_OU>" [/M: managed service account name 1 managed
service account name 2] [/UALLMSA:Yes] /RDL:1

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
232

ADMT COMPUTER /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for workstation and member server
migration, the command-line parameters, and option file equivalents.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intraforest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Update specified managed service

accounts

/M:MANAGED SERVICE ACCOUNT

UpdateMSAName=

NAME

Note
The /M parameter takes
precedence over the
/UALLMSA parameter.
Update all managed service accounts

/UALLMSA: YES

UpdateAllManagedServiceA

Update specific managed service

accounts

/M NAME

UPDATEMSANAME=

1 NAME 2

Note
The /M parameter takes
precedence over the
/UALLMSA parameter.
<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU="TARGET_OU

Restart delay (minutes)

/RDL:5

RestartDelay=5

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

Security translation options

/TOT:ADD

TranslationOption=YES

Translate user rights

/TUR:YES

TranslateUserRights=YES

Translate local groups

/TLG:YES

TranslateLocalGroups=YES

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGNORE

3.

Review the results that appear on the screen for any errors. The migration log lists computers, completion
status, and the path to the log file for each computer. If an error is reported for a computer, you will have
to refer to the log file for that computer to review any problems with local groups. The log file for each
computer is named MigrationTASKID.log, and it is stored in the Windows\ADMT\Logs\Agents folder.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the
workstations and member servers exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate workstations and member servers by using a script
233

Use the following listing to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating
workstations and member servers within a forest. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf
file name extension in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" MigratingWorkstationsMemberServersWithinForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objComputerMigration

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objComputerMigration = objMigration.CreateComputerMigration

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.SourceOu = "Computers"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify computer migration specific options.
'

objComputerMigration.TranslationOption = admtTranslateAdd
objComputerMigration.TranslateLocalGroups = True

234

objComputerMigration.TranslateUserRights = True
objComputerMigration.UpdateAllManagedServiceAccounts = True
objComputerMigration.RestartDelay = 1

'
'Migrate computer objects on specified computer objects.
'

objComputerMigration.Migrate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2")

Set objComputerMigration = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing
</Script>
</Job>

Migrate Domain Local Groups

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Migrate the domain local groups that exist in the Active Directory domain. You can migrate
domain local groups by using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) snap-in, the ADMT
command-line option, or a script.
To migrate domain local groups by using the ADMT snap-in

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

Use the Group Account Migration Wizard by following the steps in the following table.

235

Wizard page

Action

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master (also known as flexible
single master operations or FSMO) role is
always used as the source domain controller,
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Group Selection

Click Select groups from domain, and then

click Next. On the Group Selection page, click
Add to select the groups in the source domain
that you want to migrate, click OK, and then
click Next.
Or
Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Organizational Unit Selection

Type the name of the organizational unit (OU),

or click Browse.
In Browse for Container, locate the OU in the
target domain to which the domain local groups
are migrating, and then click OK.

Group Options

The Migrate Group SIDs to target domain

and Fix Group Membership check boxes are
selected and appear dimmed.
Ensure that no other options are selected.

Naming Conflicts

Click Ignore conflicting accounts and dont

migrate.

236

To migrate domain local groups by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

2.

At a command line, type the ADMT

ENTER:

Group

command with the appropriate parameters, and then press

ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /IF:YES /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"

<target_domain>" /TO:" <target_OU>"

As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT GROUP /N "<group_name1>" "<group_name2>" /O: "<option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the parameters that are required for migrating domain local groups, the
command-line parameters, and option file equivalents. For a complete list of all available
parameters, see ADMT v3.1 Help.
Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

Intra-forest

/IF:YES

IntraForest=YES

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

<Target OU> location

/TO:"TARGET_OU"

TargetOU=

Conflict management

/CO:IGNORE

(default)

ConflictOptions=IGN

3.

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.

4.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers, and then locate the target domain OU. Verify that the
domain local groups exist in the target domain OU.
To migrate domain local groups by using a script

Use a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options for migrating domain local groups. You can
use the same script that you used to migrate universal groups. For more information about migrating
universal groups, see Migrate Universal Groups, earlier in this guide.

237

Example: Restructuring Active Directory

Domains
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Contoso Corporation wants to migrate the Africa domain objects to the EMEA domain. To
minimize the impact on users and reduce the time that network traffic is affected, Contoso
decided to complete the migration of domain objects in as little time as possible. During the
migration, all global groups that are migrated become universal groups until each user who
belongs to the group is migrated to the target domain. Because the forest includes domains
running at the Windows Server 2003 functional level, only incremental membership changes to
the universal groups are replicated to the global catalog.
Contoso administrators set up an extensive test lab to test the migration process before
proceeding. They determined by testing the procedures that they could complete the migration
process in two weeks. Global and universal groups will be migrated on Monday and Tuesday of
the first week. Service accounts will be migrated and services updated on Wednesday. Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday are reserved for migrating user accounts. Servers will be migrated on
Sunday of the first week. The second week is reserved for migrating servers and workstations.
Domain local groups will be migrated at the end of the second week.

Completing Post-Migration Tasks

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After you complete all the migration tasks that are required to restructure your Active Directory
domains in a forest, you must verify that the migration occurred as planned and complete a few
post-migration tasks. The following illustration shows the process for completing post-migration
tasks.

238

Examine Migration Logs for Errors

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) keeps a detailed log of every action that you perform
when you migrate resources between Active Directory domains. Errors that occur during the
migration process are noted in the migration log, although they might not produce a warning
message in ADMT. Examining the migration log after a migration is a good way to verify that all
the tasks were completed successfully. Because it is important to complete the steps of the
migration in a specific order, it is best to check the migration log after each step, so that you can
discover any failures in time to fix them.
Note
Log files are created in the Windows\ADMT\Logs folder on the computer where ADMT is
installed.

Accessing ADMT log files

ADMT logs each migration task and stores the logs in the ADMT database. The logs for the last
20 migration tasks are stored on the local computer. You can view log information that is stored in
the ADMT database from the ADMT snap-in, or you can use the admt task command to retrieve
and store that information in a specified location.
239

When you perform interforest migrations, you can choose to log the attributes for each user,
group, and computer object that is migrated. This is called verbose logging, and you do it with the
admt config logging command.
For more information and examples of commands related to accessing ADMT log files, search for
"admt config logging" or "admt task" in the ADMT Help.

Verify Group Types

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) changes global groups to universal groups when you
migrate them from the source domain to the target domain. The change occurs automatically
because global groups can contain only members of their own domain. Therefore, they cannot
continue to be global groups when they are migrated to another domain until the group members
are migrated. ADMT changes the universal groups back to global groups when the last member
of the group is migrated to the target domain. Because universal groups replicate their
membership to the global catalog, it is important to verify that the universal groups correctly
changed back to global groups.
Use the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in to verify that universal groups migrated
successfully. If you changed domain local groups into universal groups manually, make sure that
you switch them back to domain local groups when all resources have been migrated.

Translate Security on Member Servers

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Translate security on member servers to clean up the access control lists (ACLs) of the
resources. After objects are migrated to the target domain, resources contain the ACL entries of
the source domain objects. Although the security identifier (SID) history provides access to
resources during the migration, ACLs should be cleaned up after the migration to contain the new
primary SID of the migrated groups. Use the Security Translation Wizard in ADMT to replace the
source domain SIDs with the target domain SIDs.
Important
If you migrated managed service accounts between domains within the same forest, run
security translation on the member servers in the source domain that have resources that
grant permission to the managed service accounts. Managed service accounts that are
migrated between domains in the same forest are copied. A new account is created in the
target domain and the account properties (excluding SID) are copied from the source
domain. Therefore, you need to run security translation. For more information, see
Migrating Managed Service Accounts.
To translate security on member servers by using the ADMT snap-in
240

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
migration account.

Use the Security Translation Wizard by performing the steps in the following table.

241

Wizard page

Action

Security Translation Options

Click Previously migrated objects.

If you plan to use a SID mapping file, click
Other objects specified in a file, and then
provide the location of the SID mapping file that
you have created.

Domain Selection

Under Source, in the Domain drop-down list,

type or select the NetBIOS or Domain Name
System (DNS) name of the source domain. In
the Domain controller drop-down list, type or
select the name of the domain controller, or
select Any domain controller.
When you perform an intraforest migration, the
domain controller that holds the relative ID
(RID) operations master role (also known as
flexible single master operations or FSMO) is
always used as the source domain controller,
regardless of your selection.
Under Target, in the Domain drop-down list,
type or select the NetBIOS or DNS name of the
target domain. In the Domain controller dropdown list, type or select the name of the domain
controller, or select Any domain controller,
and then click Next.

Computer Selection

Click Select computers from domain, and

then click Next. On the Service Account
Selection page, click Add to select the
accounts in the source domain that you want to
migrate, click OK, and then click Next.
- or Click Read objects from an include file, and
then click Next. Type the location of the include
file, and then click Next.

Translate Objects

Click File and folders, Shares, Printers, User

rights, and Registry.

Security Translation Options

Click Replace.

To translate security on member servers by using the ADMT command-line option

1.

On the computer in the target domain on which ADMT is installed, log on by using the ADMT account
242

migration account.
2.

At the command line, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADMT Security /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /SD:" <source_domain>" /TD:"
<target_domain>"

Where <Computer_name1> and <computer_name2> are the names of computers for which you want
to translate security.
As an alternative, you can include parameters in an option file that is specified at the command
line, as follows:
ADMT Security /N "<computer_name1>" "<computer_name2>" /O:" <option_file>.txt"

The following table lists the common parameters that are used to translate security on member
servers, along with the command-line parameter and option file equivalents.

3.

Parameters

Command-line syntax

Option file syntax

<Source domain>

/SD:"SOURCE_DOMAIN"

SourceDomain=

<Target domain>

/TD:"TARGET_DOMAIN"

TargetDomain=

Review the results that are displayed on the screen for any errors.
To translate security on member servers by using a script

Use the following sample to prepare a script that incorporates ADMT commands and options to translate
security on member servers. Copy the script to Notepad, and save the file with a .wsf file name extension
in the same folder as the AdmtConstants.vbs file.
<Job id=" TranslatingSecurityOnMemberServersWithinForest" >
<Script language="VBScript"

src="AdmtConstants.vbs" />

<Script language="VBScript" >

Option Explicit

Dim objMigration
Dim objSecurityTranslation

'
'Create instance of ADMT migration objects.
'

243

Set objMigration = CreateObject("ADMT.Migration" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = objMigration.CreateSecurityTranslation

'
'Specify general migration options.
'

objMigration.IntraForest = True
objMigration.SourceDomain = "source domain"
objMigration.TargetDomain = "target domain"
objMigration.TargetOu = "Computers"

'
'Specify security translation specific options.
'

objSecurityTranslation.TranslationOption = admtTranslateReplace
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateFilesAndFolders = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateLocalGroups = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslatePrinters = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateRegistry = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateShares = True
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserProfiles = False
objSecurityTranslation.TranslateUserRights = True

'
'Perform security translation on specified computer objects.
'

objSecurityTranslation.Translate admtData, _
Array("computer name1" ,"computer name2" )

Set objSecurityTranslation = Nothing

Set objMigration = Nothing

244

</Script>
</Job>

Translate Security by Using a SID Mapping

File
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
If you have to translate security so that permissions that are granted to the source account or
group are now granted to the target account or group, use a security identifier (SID) mapping file
to associate the two accounts. The SID mapping file is a comma-separated values (CSV)
formatted file that lists pairs of accounts, in either Windows NT account name (domain\name)
format or SID format. The account on the left is the source account, and the account on the right
is the target account. The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) security translation translates
security from the source account to the target account.
You can reference the SID mapping file in the Security Translation Wizard or from the command
line. The option is /SMF so that the full command line looks similar to the following:
ADMT SECURITY /N "<computer_name>" /SMF:"<sid_mapping_file_path>"

Decommission the Source Domain

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
After you have migrated all the objects from the source domain to the target domain, including all
the computers and member servers, only the domain controllers remain in the source domain. To
decommission the source domain, run the Active Directory Installation Wizard to remove
Active Directory or Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) from the domain controllers in the
source domain.
Migrate the domain controllers from the source domain to the target domain as member servers.
If necessary, depending on the new role that is planned for the servers in the target domain, use
the Active Directory Installation Wizard to install Active Directory or AD DS on the member
servers to return them to domain controller status in the target domain. Run security translation
on domain controllers, if resources reside on the computer that will be used as the new domain
controller.

Example: Completing Post-Migration Tasks

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2

245

The post-migration team of Contoso Corporation starts the post-migration tasks during the first
week of the migration. The members of the team examine the migration log after the first group of
migrations is completed on the first day. They analyze the migration log and define the action that
is required to migrate any accounts for which they find errors. This way, the migration team can
continue the migration without interruption.
During the second week of the migration process, the deployment team verifies that global
groups have returned from universal group to global group status after the migration of users has
completed. After the member servers are migrated, the deployment team runs the Security
Translation Wizard to remove the source domain security identifiers (SIDs) from the access
control lists (ACLs) of the member servers. Finally, the members of the deployment team
decommission the Africa domain at the end of the second week by removing Active Directory or
AD DS from the domain controllers in the Africa domain. They then migrate the domain
controllers to the EMEA domain as member servers.

Appendix: Advanced Procedures

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The following are advanced procedures that you can use to perform various tasks that are helpful
when you restructure domains using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT).

Configure a Preferred Domain Controller

Rename Objects During Migration

Use an Include File

Use an Option File

Configure a Preferred Domain Controller

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) provides the option for you to select the source and
target domain controller to be used for a migration instead of relying on the domain controller
Locator (DC Locator) to select them.
The Domain Selection page, which all ADMT wizards contain, now provides a way for you to
select explicit source and target domain controllers. Only a writable domain controller can be
selected as preferred domain controller.
As an alternative, you can select Any domain controller in the drop-down list. If you specify a
domain controller, that domain controller will be used if it is available. If you select Any domain
controller, ADMT queries for a preferred domain controller. If a preferred domain controller has
not been configured, ADMT uses DC Locator to locate a domain controller in the specified
domain.
246

You can also specify a preferred domain controller by using the admt config command-line option.
You must configure source and target domain controllers independently. After you configure a
preferred domain controller, ADMT determines its validity and availability and uses it automatically
every time that you run ADMT.
Note
When you perform an intraforest migration, the domain controller that holds the relative
ID (RID) operations master (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO)
role is always used by default. If you select a domain controller other than the RID master
as the preferred domain controller, ADMT overrides your selection and always uses the
RID master.
To configure a preferred domain controller in the source domain

At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt config setdomaincontroller /Domain:<DomainName> /sdc:<SourceDomainController>

Value

Description

DomainName

Specifies the name of an Active Directory

domain.

SourceDomainController

Specifies the computer name of a domain

controller in the source domain.

To configure a preferred domain controller in the target domain

At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt config setdomaincontroller /Domain:<DomainName> /tdc:<TargetDomainController>

Value

Description

DomainName

Specifies the name of an Active Directory

domain.

TargetDomainController

Specifies the computer name of a domain

controller in the target domain.

You can also clear the preferred domain controller that you have configured in the source or
target domain.
To clear preferred domain controllers in a specified domain
247

At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt config cleardomaincontrollers /Domain:<DomainName>

Value

Description

DomainName

Specifies the name of an Active Directory

domain.

You can also display the preferred domain controllers that you have configured in the source or
target domain.
To display preferred domain controllers that you have configured

At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt config getdomaincontrollers

Rename Objects During Migration

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
In the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT), you can use an include file to rename source
domain objects so that they get a new name after they are migrated to the target domain.
For more information about how to use an include file during a migration, see Use an Include File.
Use the following format in an include file to rename computer, user, or group objects during
migration.
To rename objects using an include file

Use SourceName, TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN as column headings at the top of the
include file. SourceName is the name of the source account, and it must be listed as the first column
heading.
Note
If the target user principal name (UPN) for a user requires you to specify a domain
name that is different from the target domain UPN, use this format to ensure that the
user name is preserved and not altered by ADMT during migration.

You must specify the account name as user name, relative distinguished name, or canonical name. If you
specify the account name as a relative distinguished name, you must also specify the source
organizational unit (OU).
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The TargetRDN, TargetSAM, and TargetUPN column headings are optional, and you can list them in
any order.
Note
The TargetUPN column heading is only relevant during user account migrations
because group and computer accounts do not have a UPN.

The following are examples of valid include files in which the rename option is used:
SourceName,TargetSam
abc,def
This include file entry changes the TargetSam account name for user "abc" to "def." The
TargetRDN and the TargetUPN, which you did not specify in the include file, does not change as
a result of the migration.
SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetUPN
abc,CN=def,[email protected]
This include file entry changes the TargetRDN for user abc to CN=def and the TargetUPN to
[email protected]. The TargetSAM for user abc does not change as a result of the migration.
Important
You must specify CN= before you use an RDN value.

Use an Include File

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
When you migrate a large number of users, groups, or computers, it is more efficient to use an
include file. An include file is a text file in which you list the user, group, and computer objects that
you want to migrate, with each object on a separate line. You can list users, groups, and
computers together in one file or you can create a separate file for each object type.
After you create the include file (or files), specify the name of the file during migration. The
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) accesses the file for the appropriate information.

To specify an include file

From an ADMT wizard
From the command line
To specify an include file from an ADMT wizard

On the:

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Computer Selection Option page of the Computer Migration Wizard

User Selection Option page of the User Account Migration Wizard

Group Selection Option page of the Group Account Migration Wizard

Click Read objects from an include file. When the prompt appears, specify the location of
the include file.

To specify an include file from the command line

At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
admt computer /sd:<SourceDomain> /td:<TargetDomain> /F:<IncludeFileName>

Note
For the appropriate command-line syntax for migrating users and groups, search for
"admt user" and "admt group" in ADMT version 3.1 (v3.1) Help.
The following information describes the fields of an include file and provides examples of each
field:
SourceName Field
The SOURCENAME field specifies the name of the source object. You can specify either an account
name or a relative distinguished name. If you only specify source names, it is optional to define a
header on the first line in the file.
The following example includes a header line indicating the SOURCENAME field and a source
object name that is specified in several formats. The second line specifies an account name. The
third line specifies an account name in Windows NT 4.0 account name format. The fourth line
specifies a relative distinguished name.
SourceName
NAME
DOMAIN\NAME

CN=NAME
TargetName Field
You can use the TARGETNAME field to specify a base name which is used to generate a target
relative distinguished name, a target Security Accounts Manager (SAM) account name and a
target user principal name (UPN). The TARGETNAME field cannot be combined with other target
name fields that are discussed below.
Note
The target UPN is generated only for user objects, and only a UPN prefix is generated. A
UPN suffix is appended using an algorithm that depends on whether a UPN suffix is

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defined for the target organizational unit (OU) or for the target forest. If the object is a
computer, the target SAM account name includes a "$" suffix.
Given the following example input, the target relative distinguished name, target SAM account
name, and target UPN generated are "CN=NEWNAME", "NEWNAME" and "NEWNAME" respectively.
SourceName,TargetName
OLDNAME, NEWNAME

TargetRDN, TargetSAM and TargetUPN Fields

You can use the TARGETRDN, TARGETSAM, and TARGETUPN fields to specify the different target
names independently of each other. You can specify any combination of these fields in any order.
The TARGETRDN specifies the target relative distinguished name for the object.
The TARGETSAM specifies the target SAM account name for the object. Note that for computers
the name must include a "$" suffix in order to be a valid SAM account name for a computer.
The TARGETUPN specifies the target user principal name (UPN) for the object. You can specify
either just the UPN prefix or a complete UPN name ( PREFIX@SUFFIX). If the name that you specify
contains " "or "," characters, you must enclose the name in double quotation marks ("). In
addition, a "," character must be preceded with a "\" escape character or the operation will fail and
ADMT will record an invalid syntax error in the log file.
SourceName,TargetRDN
OLDNAME,

CN=NEWNAME

SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetSAM
OLDNAME,

"CN=NEW RDN", NEWSAMNAME

SourceName,TargetRDN,TargetSAM,TargetUPN
OLDNAME,

"CN=LAST, FIRST", NEWSAMNAME, NEWUPNNAME

SourceName,TargetSAM,TargetUPN,TargetRDN
Note
Use this format when you are renaming user objects, for example, to accommodate
specifying a target domain of a different domain for the target UPN. For more information,
see Rename Objects During Migration.
OLDNAME, NEWSAMNAME, [email protected],

"CN=NEW NAME"

Note
You can also rename objects during migration by using an include file. For more
information about how to use an include file, see Rename Objects During Migration.

Use an Option File

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
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You can use option files to specify one or more parameters for migration tasks. An option file
eliminates the need to provide parameters each time that you run a task from the command line.
You have two options to create an option file. You can:

Create a single option file that contains sections for each type of migration task.

Create separate option files with unique settings for each type of migration task.

The Migration section in the option file specifies parameters that apply to all tasks. Subsequent
sections specify parameters that are task specific.
Use the following option file as a reference to customize the option file for your migration.
[Migration]
IntraForest=No
SourceDomain=SOURCEDOMAINNAME
SourceOu=SOURCEOUPATH
TargetDomain=TARGETDOMAINNAME
TargetOu=TARGETOUPATH
PasswordOption=Complex
PasswordServer=""
PasswordFile=""
ConflictOptions=Ignore
UserPropertiesToExclude=""
InetOrgPersonPropertiesToExclude=""
GroupPropertiesToExclude=""
ComputerPropertiesToExclude=""
[User]
DisableOption=EnableTarget
SourceExpiration=None
MigrateSIDs=Yes
TranslateRoamingProfile=No
UpdateUserRights=No
MigrateGroups=No
UpdatePreviouslyMigratedObjects=No
FixGroupMembership=Yes
MigrateServiceAccounts=No
UpdateGroupRights=No
[Group]
MigrateSIDs=Yes
UpdatePreviouslyMigratedObjects=No
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FixGroupMembership=Yes
UpdateGroupRights=No
MigrateMembers=No
DisableOption=EnableTarget
SourceExpiration=None
TranslateRoamingProfile=No
MigrateServiceAccounts=No
[Security]
TranslationOption=Add
TranslateFilesAndFolders=No
TranslateLocalGroups=No
TranslatePrinters=No
TranslateRegistry=No
TranslateShares=No
TranslateUserProfiles=No
TranslateUserRights=No
SidMappingFile=SIDMAPPINGFILE
You can comment out options by a adding a semicolon at the beginning of a line.
Note
When a parameter is not specified, the default setting is used.

Troubleshooting ADMT
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
To troubleshoot your migration process, follow these troubleshooting recommendations:

Troubleshooting ADMT Installation Issues

Troubleshooting User Migration Issues

Troubleshooting Group Migration Issues

Troubleshooting Service Account Migration Issues

Troubleshooting Managed Service Account Migration Issues

Troubleshooting Computer Migration Issues

Troubleshooting Password Migration Issues

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Troubleshooting Security Translation Issues

Troubleshooting Intraforest Migration Issues

Troubleshooting ADMT Log File Issues

Troubleshooting ADMT Command-Line Issues

Troubleshooting Agent Operations

Troubleshooting ADMT Installation Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to installing the Active Directory Migration Tool.
ADMT fails to start after installation succeeds and database version is 0.0
In situations where ADMT setup can locate the SQL Server Express Edition database instance
but is unable to create the ADMT database because of access denied or any other reason, the
ADMT installation can succeed but the Finish page indicates Database Version: 0.0. The
database version can also be obtained from the log file at %windir%\ADMT\Logs\admtsetup.log.
In this situation, you can see the following error when you try to start ADMT:
Unable to check for failed actions Login failed for user. The user is not associated with a trusted
SQL Server connection.
To resolve this error:
1.

Uninstall ADMT.

2.

Make sure user has write access on specified instance and can create database.
The SQL Server Express Edition service account group that is created during SQL Server
installation is granted permissions to the ADMT database folder. The user installing ADMT
needs to be added to the service account group. However, if the account being used to install
ADMT is the same as the one used to install SQL Server Express Edition, the account is
added to this group as part of the SQL Server installation.
For SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, the service account group is
SQLServer2005MSSQLUser$MACHINE NAME$INSTANCE NAME.
For SQL Server 2008 Express Edition, the service account group is
SQLServerMSSQLUser$MACHINE NAME$INSTANCE NAME.

3.

Reinstall ADMT.

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Note
If you observe this behavior with the full version of SQL Server, ensure the account
installing ADMT has permissions to create and connect to the database on the SQL
Server instance.

Troubleshooting User Migration Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to migrating users with the Active Directory Migration
Tool.
Special characters are replaced when account names are migrated
ADMT replaces the following characters with an underscore character _ in the pre
Windows 2000 name Security Accounts Manager (SAM) account name and user principal name
(UPN):
"*+,/:;<=>?[\]|
The period character . is replaced with an underscore character _ if it is the last character of a
name.
Group membership of target accounts is updated after subsequent user migrations
When you migrate a user who has been previously migrated, the Migrate associated user
groups option in the User Account Migration Wizard updates the group membership of the
migrated account. During subsequent user migrations, any new groups that the source user
account is a member of are appended to the group membership of the user in the target account.
Example: Bob is a user in the domain HB-ACCT-WC. He is a member of the group HB-ACCT-WC
\Writers and he is migrated, along with the Writers group, to the target domain hay-buv.tld
(NetBIOS name HAY-BUV). After the first migration, Bob is a member of HAY-BUV\Writers. Bob is
also added to the following groups in the source domain after this first migration:
1.

HB-ACCT-WC\Bob is added to the group HB-ACCT-WC\Editors.

2.

HAY-BUV\Bob is added to HAY-BUV\TechEditors.

When HB-ACCT-WC\Bob is migrated again to fix his group accounts, HAY-BUV\Bob will be a
member of HAY-BUV\Writers, HAY-BUV\Editors, and HAY-BUV\TechEditors.
To reset the account to only the groups of the source user, you must delete the target account
and then repeat the migration of the source account.
It is also possible to remigrate groups with the Remove existing members option.
Permissions on a user that is migrated from an Active Directory domain are reset to
default values during migration

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When you migrate a user from one Active Directory domain to another, the User Account
Migration Wizard creates a new security descriptor on migrated user objects by using settings
from the target domain. The Security tab is only visible if you select View\Advanced Features.
This is by design, because the target domain, not the source domain, dictates security settings on
the migrated user account.
Incorrect error message is displayed during user group fix-up if a user account is deleted
After a migration, if you delete a user account in the target domain and a group that contained the
user account in the source domain (as a member of another group), is migrated between the
same domains, ADMT logs the following wrong error message:
Cannot add <account> to <group>, because <account> has not been migrated to the target
domain.
If you receive this error message, remigrate the user account to the target domain.
Exclusion of the useraccountcontrol property is ignored
The user property userAccountControl is always copied when you migrate from
Windows NT 4.0 domains. Even if you choose to exclude this property on the Object Property
Exclusion wizard page, the exclusion is ignored and the property is migrated.
However, when you migrate from Active Directory domains, the exclusion of this property is
honored and it is not be copied during user migration.
The Remove existing user rights option did not work
Cause: If the Group Policy template that is associated with a user whose user rights are being
removed contains the non-domain-qualified name of the user (for example, if it contains User1
instead of DomainA\User1), the remove operation fails.
Solution: Correct the user name entry in the Group Policy template.
You receive the following error when you try to migrate users with SID history
Unable to migrate users. The following configuration required for SID history has not been
performed. Auditing has not been enabled in the target domain. Unspecified error (0x80004005)
This error can occur because some subcategories for the Directory Service Audit Policy are not
enabled by default in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. All subcategories
must be enabled to migrate users with their SID history. For more information about how to
enable them, see Configuring the Source and Target Domains for SID History Migration.

Troubleshooting Group Migration Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to migrating groups with the Active Directory Migration
Tool.
Local group contains both source and target accounts when that account is migrated after
you migrate the local group

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When you migrate a member of a previously migrated local group, the source account for that
member is not removed when the target member is added. If the member is migrated before you
migrate the local group, only the target account member is added.
This is by design and applies to interforest migrations only.
Group member list is not updated for a group that includes a migrated group from a third
domain
If you migrate a group, any groups in a third domain that include that original group as a member
still refer to the group in the source domain. When you perform an intraforest migration, group
members retain access to resources because the security identifier (SID) history is migrated
automatically. When you perform an interforest migration, group membership must be fixed
unless SID history is migrated.
Use the group migration wizard to migrate users that belong to nested groups
If Migrate associated user groups is selected, the User Account Migration Wizard only migrates
the groups that the user is directly a member of. It does not migrate groups that the user is a
member of through group nesting.
When you migrate groups by using the Group Account Migration Wizard, if Copy group
members is selected, the wizard recursively migrates all users and groups that are members of
that group, including groups that are members through group nesting.
Where the source domain is running Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003, with group nesting,
we recommend that you migrate the objects that are affected by using the Group Account
Migration Wizard, if you want to preserve group membership that is gained through such nesting.

Troubleshooting Service Account Migration

Issues
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to migrating service accounts with the Active Directory
Migration Tool.
You must have the appropriate rights to update a service account on a remote computer
when you migrate an account
The user account that is running ADMT must have Logon Locally rights to any remote computer
to which the tool dispatches an agent. This also applies to any remote computer whose Service
Control Manager (SCM) is modified while a service account is migrated with the User Account
Migration Wizard. If this account does not have the right to change the SCM, the service account
is still migrated to the target domain, but the service on the remote computer is not updated to
use the target domain account. To update the service on the remote computer, run the Service
Account Migration Wizard and select No, use the previously collected information on the
Update Information page. Because the users lack of access is not always flagged as an error in
Migration Progress, it is a good practice to check the migration log file for any errors after you
migrate service accounts.
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Services must be identified on all computers before service accounts are migrated
If you identify services on servers using the Service Account Migration Wizard after user
migration has taken place, the configuration of these services with the migrated account and
password information will fail. To configure these services you have to rerun the user migration.
Service account migration on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista takes longer than
expected
If you are running service account migration at a computer that is running Windows Server 2008
or Windows Vista and it is taking much longer than expected, you might increase performance by
enabling a Windows Firewall exception for Remote Service Management on the computer that is
being used. For more information, see the following procedure.
To add a Windows Firewall exception for Remote Service Management
1.

Open Control Panel (Classic View), and then open Windows Firewall.

2.

Click the Exceptions tab.

3.

Make sure that the Remote Service Management check box is selected.

4.

Click OK.

Troubleshooting Managed Service Account

Migration Issues
This topic describes known issues related to migrating managed service accounts with the
Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT). Only ADMT v3.2 can migrate managed service accounts.
You may need to revoke changes to the security descriptor of a managed service account
if the Computer Migration Wizard crashes
If you migrate a computer that has managed service accounts installed and you have migrated
the managed service accounts, ADMT installs the managed service accounts on the computer
after it is migrated to the target domain. Before ADMT installs a managed service account, it
changes the security descriptor on the account to grant permissions to the target computer to
reset the password and modify the userAccountControl attribute. The change to the security
descriptor is necessary for installing the managed service accounts.
Security
While the computer has the elevated permissions, a network service on the computer
may now have the ability to disable a managed service account. Therefore, it can launch
a denial-of-service attack on the services that are running under the security context of
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that managed service account. The attacker may also use the managed service account
credentials to access other data.
To mitigate this risk, ADMT logs changes to the security descriptors of the migrated managed
service accounts for reference. If the Computer Migration Wizard crashes, check the log file for
the migrated computer. For each managed service account, verify that the permission was
revoked. If it was not, manually revoke these changes in Active Directory Domain Services
(AD DS) to prevent the target computers from being granted elevated permissions to reset
passwords and enable and disable the managed service accounts.
The changes to the security descriptors are logged in the computer migration log file that is
named Migration<TaskID>.log. The log file is located in the %windir%\ADMT\Logs folder on the
computer that runs ADMT. The log messages and their descriptions are listed in the following
table.
Log message

The message is logged when

Security descriptor for managed service

account '%1' now allows computer '%2' to reset
its password and modify its userAccountControl
attribute.

ADMT successfully modifies the security

descriptor of a managed service account.

Security descriptor for managed service

account '%1' was restored.

ADMT successfully restores the security

descriptor of a managed service account.

Unable to modify security descriptor for

managed service account '%1', hr=%2!lx!.
Subsequent installation of this managed service
account on computer '%3' will fail.

ADMT fails to modify the security descriptor of

a managed service account.

Failed to restore security descriptor for

managed service account '%1', hr=%2!lx!.

ADMT fails to restore the security descriptor of

a managed service account.

To manually revoke the changes to the security descriptor, complete the following procedure.
To revoke changes to the security descriptor of a migrated managed services account
1.

Open Active Directory Users and Computers. To open Active Directory Users and Computers, click
Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Active Directory
Users and Computers.

2.

Click View, and then click Advanced Features.

3.

Navigate to the container that has the managed service account, right-click the account, and then click
Properties.
By default, managed service accounts are created in the Managed Service Accounts
container.
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4.

Click the Security tab, and then click the access control entry for the computer object.

5.

For Reset password, clear the Allow check box.

6.

Click Advanced.

7.

Click the access control entry for the computer object, click Edit, and then for Write
userAccountCntrol, clear the Allow check box.

8.

Click OK twice, click Apply, and then click OK again to close the Properties dialog box.

Troubleshooting Computer Migration Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to migrating computers with the Active Directory
Migration Tool (ADMT).
Intraforest computer migration does not disable the computer account in the source
domain
After an intraforest computer migration, the migrated computer account in the source domain is
neither disabled nor deleted. This is by design.
To disable or delete the accounts of migrated computers in the source domain, write a simple
Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) script.
Computer account is created even if migration fails
If a computer migration fails as the result of an agent-related error, the computer account that is
created for the computer in the target domain is not deleted.
Note
If you select Migrate and merge conflicting objects on the Conflict Management page
of the Computer Account Migration Wizard, you do not have to delete the computer
account that was created in the target domain before you attempt to migrate the
computer again.
Migrate computers before any groups in an intraforest migration
When you perform an intraforest migration, if you have any computers that are members of
groups (other than the Domain Computers group), you must migrate those computers before you
migrate the groups to which they belong. This is a condition for intraforest migrations, and it
prevents those computers from losing their group membership.
Intermittent failure of ADMT remote agent service
If a failure occurs when you deploy the ADMT remote agent service on a remote computer as part
of a computer migration, security translation, service account identification, or account reference
report, it is possible that the agent might fail to stop or uninstall itself. If this occurs, you receive
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the message An instance of the agent is already running with each subsequent agent
deployment until either the ADMT agent process is closed or the remote computer is rebooted.
Computer migration may fail if a computer account with the same NetBios name already
exists in the target domain
When you migrate a computer back and forth between two domains, the agent dispatch might fail
if a computer account with the same NetBIOS name as the computer that is being migrated from
the source domain already exists in the target domain.
ADMT could not change the domain affiliation of a particular computer. This failure caused
the computer to lose affiliation with any domain.
Cause: This can be caused by an incorrect migration environment configuration or some
malfunction with either the source computer or target computer.
Solution: Join the computer to a domain and create the computer account in the domain as
described in the following procedures.
To join a domain, you must enter credentials of an account with administrative permissions on the
domain that you want the computer to join. You must restart the computer to complete the joining
of the computer to the domain.
To change the domain membership of a computer that is running Windows 2000 (for

1.

ADMT v3.1) or Windows Server 2003

Log on to the computer that is using an account with local administrator credentials.

2.

On the desktop, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.

3.

On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

4.

In Computer Name Changes, select Domain:, and then type the name of the domain that you want the
computer to join. Click OK, and when you are prompted to restart the computer, click OK again.
To change the domain membership of a computer that is running Windows Vista,

1.

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2

Log on to the computer that is using an account with local administrator credentials.

2.

Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

3.

Click Change settings.

4.

On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

5.

In Computer Name Changes, select Domain, and then type the name of the domain that you want the
computer to join. Click OK, and when you are prompted to restart the computer, click OK again.

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Troubleshooting Password Migration Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes a known issue related to migrating passwords with the Active Directory
Migration Tool.
Migrated passwords may not conform to the password policy of the target domain
Password migration in ADMT bypasses password policy checks. If a password policy is set, it is
not enforced until the password is changed. For this reason, ADMT always requires migrated
users to change their passwords the next time that they log on.
After an interforest migration, users cannot log on to their new domain.
Cause: When you perform an interforest migration, ADMT always sets the User Must Change
Password option for migrated users. If the user account has the User Cannot Change
Password option set, the target account cannot log on until one or both options have been
changed.
Solution: Change the options by using one of the following procedures:
To enable the ability to change the user password
1.

In Active Directory Users and Computers, on the View menu, click Advanced Features.

2.

Right-click the user, and then click Properties.

3.

On the Security tab, allow the Change Password permission for Everyone and for the user.
To remove the User Must Change Password flag

In Active Directory Users and Computers, right-click the user, and then click Reset Password.

After an intraforest migration, users cannot log on to their new domain.

Cause: The user account passwords that were used in the old domain might violate the
password restrictions in the new domain.
In an intraforest migration, user account passwords from the source domain are migrated to the
target domain. If the source domain user accounts have passwords that violate password
restrictions (such as minimum length) in the target domain, the affected migrated users cannot
log on until their password has been set to a value that fits the target domain password policy.
If the users try to use the invalid passwords, their new user accounts might be locked. If you
selected the Disable target accounts option in the User Account Migration Wizard, the new user
accounts are disabled. As a result, the migrated users might not be able to log on until their
accounts have been unlocked or marked as enabled.

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Solution: Reset the user account passwords to a value that fits the new domain's password
policy, and enable the user accounts if they were disabled as a result of repeated password
failure.
Migrated users receive an error indicating that their user name or password is incorrect.
Cause: Migrated users cannot log on because of password policy, even though password
policies appear to be disabled.
During a migration, some administrators may choose to disable their password policies on the
target domain. If they try to accomplish this by turning off the minimum password length policy
without setting the policy to zero, it is possible that the users cannot log on because a password
policy is still in effect.
Solution: Set the minimum password length policy to zero. After the zero length policy is in
effect, the minimum password length policy can be turned off.

Troubleshooting Security Translation Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes a known issue related to security translation using the Active Directory
Migration Tool (ADMT).
Security translation does not affect the Outlook profile
When you select User Profiles on the Translate Objects page of the Security Translation Wizard,
security is not translated on Microsoft Office Outlook profiles. To fix Outlook profiles for migrated
accounts, use the Microsoft Exchange Server Migration Wizard. The Exchange Server Migration
Wizard ships with and is installed with Exchange Server beginning with Exchange Server 2003.
Security translation on native registry keys is not available when you are running 64-bit
versions before Windows Vista
This is a known issue that occurs because of inconsistencies in how the Windows-on-Windows
64-bit (WoW64) subsystem handles registry redirection differently in Windows Vista and earlier
versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. This issue does not affect running security
translation on native registry locations for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 or
Windows Vista.
After migration, new user accounts in the target domain cannot access resources where
the source domain accounts have permissions.
Cause: The settings that are necessary to run ADMT have not been correctly established.
Most migration problems are caused by an incorrectly configured migration environment.
Solution: Open the migration log file, and find the account that you migrated with the security
identifier (SID) history. If SID history was added to the account, you should see an entry similar to
the following:
2005-10-06 18:28:50-SID for USERACCOUNTNAME added to the SID history of
USERACCOUNTNAME

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If you receive an error message, it is almost certain that you have not configured the environment
correctly, and you should review the configuration topics before you try the migration again.
SID history migration is not working.
Cause: There are a number of conditions that must be satisfied for SID history migration to work.
Solution: Configure the migration environment correctly before you run ADMT, and review the
configuration topics before you proceed with the migration.
Note
When you migrate a previously migrated security principal to a new domain, the criteria
for migrating SID history should be in place for all three domains.
For example, say that you have the following three domains: DomainA, DomainB, and DomainC.
User1 in DomainA (DomainA\User1) is migrated to DomainB as DomainB\User1 and SID history
is translated. DomainB\User1 now has the primary SID for DomainB\User1 and the SID history
value for DomainA\User1. If an administrator wants to migrate DomainB\User1 to DomainC\User1
and preserve all of DomainB\User1's SIDs, the proper configuration settings must be in place to
allow migration from DomainA to DomainC and from DomainB to DomainC. If DomainA has been
decommissioned, or if proper configuration cannot be satisfied between DomainA and DomainC,
ADMT migrates the SID for DomainB\User1 to DomainC\User1 and logs the fact that it could not
migrate the DomainA\User1 SID.
If DomainA does not exist, ADMT writes an error message to the log, but migration still succeeds.
You can ignore this error message.
After migration, new user accounts in the target domain cannot access resources where
the source domain accounts have permissions.
Cause: The settings that are necessary to run ADMT have not been correctly established.
Most migration problems are caused by an incorrectly configured migration environment.
Solution: Open the migration log file, and find the account that you migrated with SID history. If
SID history was added to the account, you should see an entry similar to the following:
2005-10-06 18:28:50-SID for USERACCOUNTNAME added to the SID history of
USERACCOUNTNAME
If you receive an error message, it is almost certain that you have not configured the environment
correctly, and you should review the configuration topics before you try the migration again.
I am receiving the following error: "The Recycle Bin on C:\ is corrupt or invalid. Do you
want to empty the Recycle Bin for this drive?"
Cause: This is by design. For security reasons, each user who logs on to a Windows 2000 or
Windows Server 2003 computer receives their own, user-specific Recycle Bin. The access
control list (ACL) for each instance of the Recycle Bin can contain only one user-specific SID.
When you migrate a user's profile using the Add option, the SID of the source domain user is
added to the SID history of the Recycle Bin. This places two user-specific SIDs in the Recycle
Bin's ACL. This problem does not occur if you migrate the profiles by using the Replace option.
Solution: On the error message, click Yes, and the Recycle Bin is emptied without a problem. If
you click No, the error continues to appear until you empty the Recycle Bin.
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Users in domains that are not trusted cannot access Distributed File System (DFS) shares
in Active Directory domains.
Cause: This is by design.
Solution: If you plan to use DFS shares in your domain, migrate the computers that belong to
users who access DFS shares first or migrate the computers and users in the same migration
session.

Troubleshooting Intraforest Migration Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This topic describes known issues related to intraforest migrations using the Active Directory
Migration Tool (ADMT).
Domain-wide user and group rights are not migrated to the target domain
When you check User Rights in the User and Group Account Migration Wizards, you migrate
only the local rights on the source domain controller. Domain-wide rights are not migrated.
Global Group migration and mixed mode source domains
When global groups are migrated between a mixed mode source domain and a native mode
target domain and the groups are not empty, ADMT creates copies of the global groups in the
target domain and does not add the security identifier (SID) of the source domains global group
to the SID history attribute. This is by design.
In this situation, ADMT cannot convert the global group to a universal group because mixed mode
domains do not recognize universal groups and cannot add them to the access token of the user.
Therefore, the users would lose access to resources.
Important
We strongly recommend that you migrate users and groups between native mode
domains only.
Global Groups are copied without SID history for intraforest migrations if they are not
migrated with group members and the source domain is in mixed mode
When you migrate a global group in a mixed mode domain for an intraforest migration by using
the Group Account Migration Wizard, if you do not select the Copy Group Members option, that
global group is copiednot migratedwithout SID history, instead of being moved. This behavior
is a result of the rules of global group membership.
If ADMT moves, rather than copies, the global group, the group members are "orphaned" from the
group and lose any resource access that is granted through membership of the group because
global groups cannot contain members from other domains.
When that global groups members are later migrated, the group membership is restored.
However, because SID history is not migrated with the group, you must run the Security
Translation Wizard to update the access control lists (ACLs), just as you would do in an
interforest migration without SID history.
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Important
We strongly recommend that you migrate users and groups only between native mode
domains only.
Migrated objects table does not sync
If the administrator in the target domain deletes a migrated group after the migration, the entries
for the migrated group are not removed from the migrated object table. If a group with the same
name as the group that is deleted in the target domain is migrated from the source domain, an
error can occur. This error occurs only if users are migrated with the group. The error message is
as follows:
ERR2:7422 Failed to move object <object_RDN>, hr=80070057 The parameter is incorrect.

Troubleshooting ADMT Log File Issues

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
This section describes a known issue related to the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) log
files.
I cannot find the ADMT log files.
Solution: All the ADMT log files are stored in the ADMT database. However, the last 20 migration
logs are also stored in the Logs folder under the ADMT folder on the computer on which ADMT is
installed. You can access all ADMT logs in the database by using the admt task command at a
command line.
I cannot read the event log entries for the ADMT agent.
Cause: You are not on a computer on which ADMT has been installed.
Solution: The agent may write event log entries to the computer on which it runs. However, the
agent software is removed when the agent's task is finished. You can view the event log entries
on the computer to which the agent was dispatched by running Event Viewer from the computer
on which ADMT is installed.
I need more information from the ADMT logs.
Cause: Incorrect logging level setting.
By default, ADMT writes summary information to its log files. You can increase the level of detail
by changing the registry entry that controls the logging level.
Solution: On the computer on which ADMT is installed, set the value of the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ADMT\TranslationLogLevel registry key to 7.
You can use verbose logging mode for problem diagnosis and troubleshooting. Verbose logging
mode can create very large log files, particularly in cases where large numbers of files, or other
objects whose access control lists (ACLs) must be updated, exist on the target computer.
Because the agent logs are written to the folder that is specified by the %TEMP% environment
variable, the volume to which that environment variable points should have ample disk space.
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When you log in with verbose mode, you may have to change the value of the %TEMP%
environment variable before you dispatch an agent.
Generated reports do not show up in the ADMT.
Cause: When ADMT generates reports, it does not update the console automatically.
Solution: To view the reports, close and then reopen ADMT.
Running multiple instances of ADMT in multiple languages
When you run multiple instances of ADMT where different instances are using different
languages, the log files are generated in the language that the instance is being run in. This does
not affect the functionality of ADMT in any way. However, we recommend that you use a unified
language when you run multiple instances of ADMT.

Troubleshooting ADMT Command-Line

Issues
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
Note that the command-line tool uses the scripting component, and, therefore, scripting issues
are also applicable to the command-line tool.
Duplicate command-line parameters override any previous occurrences
If a command-line parameter is specified more the once, the last value overrides the previous
value. This is by design.
Extended characters are not displayed by command-line interface
The ADMT command-line interface does not convert Unicode. Therefore, extended characters
such as the German "umlaut" do not display correctly.
Enable source account option not disabled in intraforest migrations
When you perform intraforest migrations, accounts are moved and not copied between domains.
The source account is removed as part of the move. However, the option to enable a source
account is available through the ADMT command-line interface. When you use this option, you
will receive the following warning:
WRN1:

7362: <object_name> - Could not enable source account.

The parameter is wrong

Troubleshooting Agent Operations

Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
I am receiving an error message that the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) could not
verify auditing and TcpipClientSupport on domains
Cause: The agent is dispatched with invalid credentials or the migration environment is not
configured correctly.
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Solution: An agent is dispatched to a remote computer that uses the credentials of the account
that is used to run ADMT. After the agent is installed on the remote computer, it runs under the
Local System account. The credentials that you provide to the wizard, before the agent is
dispatched to the remote computer, are used to write results back to a share that is created on
the computer on which ADMT is running. The agent must have the right to log on locally to the
remote computer, and, if the agent is used to migrate computers, it must have administrative
rights in the source domain and be a local administrator on all workstations.
To ensure that you have the correct credentials, create trusts so that the source and target
domain trust each other. Add the Domain Admins group of the target domain (target\Domain
Admins) to the built-in Administrators group of the source domain (source\Administrators). Log on
by using the target\Domain Admins account, and supply a set of credentials for the
source\Administrators account when you are prompted. This provides you with administrative
permissions on both the source domain and target domain.
Agent dispatch operations fail with credentials conflict errors
Cause: You have an active connection, such as a mapped drive or a printer, to a computer on
which an agent is being installed. The dispatch operation fails because the credentials of the
agent installation conflict with the existing set of credentials.
Solution: Remove any active connections between the computer that is running ADMT and the
computer to which the agent is being dispatched.
When I try to view the results of a remote agent operation, I receive the following error:
"Cannot open the \\ComputerName\(%SystemRoot%)$\temp\dctlog.txt file."
Cause: The default administrative share for the system volume of the computer to which the
agent was dispatched is not enabled.
Because the default share is not enabled, ADMT cannot read the log file.
Solution: Re-enable the default share of the system volume.
When generating reports, I receive IDispatch error 3107
Cause: This error may occur when the Agent Monitor is closed before all agents have finished
writing their results back to the ADMT reporting database.
Solution: To prevent this problem, wait until all agents have completed their tasks before closing
the Agent Monitor.
I need to know which protocols and ports ADMT uses to establish console communication
with domain controllers and ADMT agents running on workstations
Cause: When you run ADMT in environments that have a firewall, you might have to make
firewall port exceptions to support ADMT-related traffic on your network.
Solution: The ADMT console uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) port 389 to
communicate with domain controllers and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) to communicate with
ADMT agents. For RPC communication, any available RPC port in the range between 1024 and
5000 might be used. For more information, see 836429 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122010).
Why are files that ADMT generates for agent deployment not removed after use?

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Files that are generated on client computers where the ADMT agent service was run for security
translation of local groups are placed in %windir%\onepointdomainagent.
Files at this location can remain after reboot for the following reasons:

If the computer still has ADMT installed.

If after you remove ADMT from the computer, you do not perform registry cleanup to remove any
entries from the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ADMT path.

If you reboot the computer without waiting for ADMT agent processes to exit or complete. To verify
that ADMT processes have been exited, you can use Task Manager to verify that ADMTAgnt.exe and
DctAgentServices.exe are no longer listed on the Processes tab. If either of these processes is listed,
use Task Manager to end them first before you perform a reboot.

Additional Resources
Applies to: Active Directory Migration Tool 3.1 (ADMT 3.1) and ADMT 3.2
These resources contain additional information, tools, and job aids that are related to this guide.

Related information

Designing and Deploying Directory and Security Services (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?

LinkId=76005)

Related tools

Article 295758 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=77553)

Related job aids

The Job_Aids_Designing_and_Deploying_Directory_and_Security_Services download of the Job Aids

for Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14384)
This package includes worksheets and sample scripts that you can customize for your own
migration.

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