62493: How to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 using Acronis Snap Deploy 5

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    Last update: 06-03-2019

    Introduction

    This article describes how to upgrade multiple Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 preserving user profiles and applications settings by using combination of Microsoft User State Migration Tool (USMT) and Acronis Snap Deploy 5 solutions.

    1. High-level overview

    This section contains high level description of the steps required to complete the migration process. The exact details required for automation of the process will be disclosed in corresponding later sections of this guide.

    1. Prepare Windows 7 machines which need to be upgraded by installing:
      • Microsoft USMT (USMT) from Windows ADK package.
      • Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent component.
    2. Run USMT on Windows 7 machines with /ScanState parameter to capture the current configuration and save it on some remote location, e.g. network share.
    3. Prepare Windows 10 machine by installing USMT and other required applications which apply to your environment. This machine will be used as a single “Master” image source for deployment on top of all Windows 7 machines. 
    4. Configure the deployment task and run the deployment using post-deployment scripts which will run USMT with /LoadState parameter in order to apply individual (per-machine) users’ settings after deployment. 

    2. Source Windows 7 machines preparation

    Download and install USMT

    USMT is a part of Windows ADK package and can be installed separately:

    1. Windows ADK download (includes USMT):
      https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=526803
      The same version of Windows ADK (10) should be used on all machines to ensure proper exporting and importing of the user configuration.
    2. USMT documentation:
       https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/usmt/usmt-technical-...
    3. Windows ADK documentation:
      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-offlin...

    To automate installation of USMT onto multiple Windows 7 machines you can use CLI installation option of Windows ADK with the following parameters: 

    adksetup.exe /quiet /installpath c:\ADK /features OptionId.UserStateMigrationTool

    …where /InstallPath defines the path where to install Windows ADK and /features OptionId.UserStateMigrationTool instructs to install only USMT feature.

    Automate installation of USMT via Group Policy

    The installation of Windows ADK can be done via Active Directory group policy as in the following example using Group Policy Management snap-in. 

    1.    Create the group policy and enable it for required set of machines in your domain.
    2.    Use batch file or any other scripting engine you prefer to automate the USMT setup.

    Example of batch file which verifies whether Windows ADK is already installed and if not, then executes Windows ADK installation from installation file located on network share:

    if exist "C:\[PATH_TO_ADK_INSTALLATION_FOLDER]\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Docs\" goto skip
    \\[ADDRESS]\[SHARENAME]\adksetup.exe /quiet /installpath c:\[PATH_TO_ADK_INSTALLATION_FOLDER]\ /features OptionId.UserStateMigrationTool
    exit /b
    :skip
    exit /b

    Make sure to apply the created policy to proper Organization Unit which contains Windows 7 machines to be upgraded to Windows 10.

    Capture system state via USMT

    The goal is to capture the system state from Windows 7 machines and keep it individually per-machine in a dedicated location (network share in below example).

    You can use the following script sample:

    cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\User State Migration Tool\amd64"
    scanstate.exe /i=MigUser.xml /o /c \\[NetworkShareHost]\[path_to_share]\%computername%\

    …where:
    - “C:\Program files (x86)\...” - the default installation folder of Windows USTM

    - MigUser.xml – USMT configuration file example (available by default) which migrates users’ settings including Startup menus, and all My Documents files plus some custom files if defined in the MigUser.xml description. You can customize existing or use a different .xml configuration file depending on your requirements. Refer to USMT documentation:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/usmt/understanding-m...

    - \\[NetworkShareHost]\[path_to_share]\%computername%\ - path to network share where the system state configuration generated by USMT will be stored. Note that it will be stored individually for each machine in corresponding folder (folder name = hostname of the machine) 

    Install Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent

    You can install the Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent (agent) to multiple machines using either of the following methods:

    1. ACRONIS SNAP DEPLOY MAIN INSTALLATION PACKAGE:

    • Run the installation package directly on the Windows 7 machine and proceed with Custom installation:

    • Choose to install only Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent component from the list:

    • Proceed with the installation

    2. REMOTE INSTALLATION VIA ACRONIS SNAP DEPLOY MANAGEMENT CONSOLE:

    •  Open Tools -> Install Components Remotely:

    • Choose Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent component:

    • Proceed with the installation

    3.  INSTALLATION OF .MSI PACKAGE EXTRACTED FROM ACRONIS SNAP DEPLOY 5 INSTALLATION FILE

    •   Run Acronis Snap Deploy installation file and choose Extract installation files option:

    • Choose Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent component to be extracted:

    • Installation of the extracted .msi package can be done via the following command:
      msiexec /i AcronisSnapDeployAgent.msi /qn /norestart
    • If there are multiple Acronis Snap Deploy OS Deploy Server instances installed in your network, then the address of the OS Deploy Server should be defined in Windows registry on the agent side by adding corresponding registry record (see also this chapter in User Guide):
      REG ADD HKLM\Software\Acronis\SnapDeploy\ManagementAgent\ /f /v "Server" /t REG_SZ /d [IP_ADDRESS_OF_OS_DEPLOY_SERVER]
    • Proceed with the installation.
       

    Confirm that the installed Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent is “Online”

    After installation of the agent onto Windows 7 is complete, this machine should appear with “Online” status in Acronis Snap Deploy Management Console which means that it is “Ready” for deployment:

    3. Prepare Windows 10 master image

    1. Install USMT onto Windows 10 machine as described above.
    2. Install any additional applications which are required in your environment, except for applications which will be migrated via USMT tool as described in the previous section.
    3. Capture master image of this machine using Acronis Snap Deploy using either of these methods:
      • Boot this machine from Acronis Snap Deploy bootable media and run Master Image Creator: see Performing offline imaging
      • Install Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent and capture master image by connecting to this machine via Management Console: see Performing online imaging  

    4. Deploy Windows 10 image

    The last step is to configure the deployment task and include the post-deployment scripts which will automatically apply the user profiles configuration saved by USMT over to Windows 10 system upon first startup. 

    1. Create new Deployment task from corresponding section of Acronis Snap Deploy Management Console connected to OS Deploy Server:

    2. Add target machines (Windows 7 ones) from the list:

    3. Skip the step where you are prompted for PXE Server and Wake-On-LAN Proxy configuration (simply click Next), since these components are not used when deployment is performed using Acronis Snap Deploy 5 Management Agent:

    4. Create a new deployment template and select the Windows 10 master image captured before:

    5. Make sure to select all volumes to be deployed (do not skip “System Reserved” partition):

    6. Configure deployment options and pay attention to the following settings:
      • Machine name and membership: define the machine name pattern and join to domain settings as described in Machine name and membership
        The machines must keep their original host names in order to properly apply the USMT configuration which is kept in %computername% folders. To preserve the original machine name, it has to be defined using “Individual deployment settings” for this machine in “Machines” list prior to running deployment. See Enabling, disabling, and resetting individual settings

          

      • Files to transfer:
        The order of files must be exactly as specified below: 1 - PSexec; 2 - Loadstate.bat; 3 – Loadprofile.bat
        •  PSexec utility must be copied to deployed machine in order to run the “LoadState” USMT script which will apply the configuration captured by USMT over to the target machine.

          •    PSexec.exe can be downloaded from: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec  

        • The Loadstate.bat (referenced from “Loadprofile.bat”) applies the previously saved USMT configuration over to the machine by executing USMT “loadstate.exe” utility. Loadstate.bat contents:

          @echo OFF
          cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\User State Migration Tool\amd64"
          loadstate.exe /i=MigUser.xml /lac /nocompress \\[NetworkShareHost]\[path_to_share]\%computername%\
          shutdown /r /t 00

        • The Loadprofile.bat script must be copied into the same folder along with PSexec. Contents of Loadprofile.bat are shown below:

          @echo ON
          cd C:\
          PsExec.exe -h -u [username] -p [password] /accepteula "C:\loadstate.bat"
          …where [username] and [password] corresponds credentials of user with local administrator privileges on the machine – it can be domain administrator credentials for example.

        • Other deployment options can be configured if needed

    7. (Optional) Enable Acronis Universal Deploy if the master image of Windows 10 machine and target Windows 7 machine have different hardware:

    8. Proceed with the deployment

    5. Finish and review the deployment results

    The former Windows 7 machine will get Windows 10 image deployed and will reboot after applying users profiles settings, so you can log in and verify that migration has successfully completed.

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