Tranxition’s Migrate7 Automates, Simplifies Windows Upgrades

by Frank Ohlhorst

A wizard-driven installation application walks users through the initial setup steps, keeping the process very simple, even for novice users.

The serial number controls the number of client systems that can be extracted and injected along with the period of time the product is valid. Tranxition offers licenses starting at $29 per PC, with prices dropping as counts increase.

By default, Migrate7 installs to the local hard drive. However, administrators should always install the application to a remote drive or networked drive, which will allow multiple PCs to access the application. If installed locally, the application and the data saved will be lost if the local drive is formatted prior to a Windows upgrade.

Choosing where to install the application is a critical task. The installation directory will also store the extracted data, and it must be accessible by all systems that are going to use Migrate7. That means space should be available on the target shared drive and that the associated user rights are set properly.

After launching Migrate7, one of the first chores of a migration is to capture the settings and files of the subject user and PC. In Tranxition’s parlance, that means capturing the “personality” of the target machine. Personalities consist of all of the settings, files and preferences of a given user or even multiple users. This task is a critical element required to migrate to a new system.

Personalities can consist of dozens of applications, hundreds of preferences and thousands of settings. Administrators can drill down into a system’s personality settings to choose what elements to capture.

The extraction process gathers all of the information about the PC’s personality and moves it into a portable file that can be used to transfer the personality to a different machine. The extraction can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Extraction time depends on a number of factors, including what was selected for extraction, the amount of data on the current system and the overall speed of the network if you are extracting to a share.

Migrate7 creates a detailed log for each and every extraction performed. The log contains information about the subject system, what elements were extracted, if any errors were encountered and the overall disposition of the extraction process. The log is automatically launched in Notepad.exe upon completion and is stored to the same subdirectory as the extraction data.

Migrate7 has the ability to drill down into the minutest details of the Windows OS, allowing users to choose items as esoteric as an individual user or system registry settings. Those settings may be critical for a migration in which several custom applications are installed on a local machine, allowing administrators to make sure the required settings are captured to ensure those applications function properly after a migration.

One of the biggest benefits of Migrate7 is its ability to work as a simplified backup application for end users. Migrate7 is able to capture local data files, such as images, documents and other files. End users can choose what files are captured and then, at a later date, restore those files if they are lost for any reason.

Users have the ability to control what is restored, or “injected,” to a target system. The injection policies screen offers several options and can be used to “correct” unwanted settings from impacting the target system’s version of Windows.

The command-line interface (CLI) allows administrators to script complex extraction and injection scenarios. That gives administrators the ability to create batch files, which can be executed from an Active Directory policy, to automatically extract data, upgrade the PC and then inject the data into the new configuration.