Automating the user profiles from one windows10 pc to another.

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This question is for on premises Windows Server.

How would you go about transferring a user’s profile from one Windows10 PC to another automatically? We have tried using roaming profiles. The problem with roaming profiles is that the profile can become corrupt when transferring to another computer. Therefore, we have decided in the corporation that we do IT management for- not use roaming profiles. We know that we can control the group policies for the roaming profiles- as far as selecting what not to include in the roaming profiles. Is there another way to do this, maybe more efficiently, so that the user (client), will be able to keep his or her profile settings when transferring to the new PC?

If you need a larger deployment you can try the USMT from Microsoft:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/usmt/usmt-overview

This will allow you a customized migration for user and application data. Machine will need to have the accounts pre-populated on the destination Windows 10 machines. Hope this helps @Douglas-Atwood.

Hello @Douglas-Atwood ,

I'm not sure what you are trying to do. When you say transfer a user profile from one Windows 10 pc to another, is this a one time, permanent move? Are you looking for a solution for when a user is assigned a new pc and they will no longer use the original pc? There are software solutions for that, but not roaming profiles.

Roaming profiles would be used when they move between Windows pcs, like a shared computer environment. You wouldn't use this for a one time transfer. The roaming profile does not include everything for a move like that.

If you are using roaming profiles because your users frequently use different pcs, if the local copy gets corrupt, you can delete it. When they log back on to the pc, a new copy of their profile will be downloaded to the local pc.

Another solution, and better IMHO, is to use folder redirection. This moves their documents folder, and several other folders to a server location. Then, they are accessed remotely from whatever machine a user connects to. They are not copied back and forth between the server and the client. This might help with your corruption issue as well.

Let me know if this helps or I am misunderstanding what you are trying to do.

@wes-bryan, I will look in to the USMT. Anything to assist us would be great! Thank you for suggesting it. @Mike-Rodrick, I know the trouble that roaming profiles can be but they are also useful and maybe that is a good comparison of the roaming profiles and folder redirection along with maybe what @wes-bryan had mentioned about the USMT.
We have clients that do both. One group of clients switch machines constantly- back and forth. The other is computer swaps for clients who don't change computers. I'm thinking two of putting a PowerShell script together to where if those who do use roaming profiles and their profiles get corrupt it can automatically go in and remove the old profile and they can login to create a new profile. And I can set up folder redirection for those people who don't move around a lot between computers. I'm just thinking out loud.
I enjoy watching y'all's courses and learning more about servers and the CompTIA A+ course as I am studying to take that exam soon.

@Douglas-Atwood , I hope all s well. Have you thought about the potential of using a different kind of technology to address the issue? Azure Virtual Desktop (Microsoft's VDI solution) might be a good option as well.

You can find out more about it here:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/virtual-desktop/

Cheers,

Adam

@adam-gordon thank you for your suggestion although I don't think the company I work for wants to go to a cloud-based platform rather than on premise. Although we do do hybrid but that's just for emails. I do agree that it would be easier to maintain. I have brought it up to them.