Shared folder migration - Without using registry

JoeF1

JoeF1

JoeF1

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Joined
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Hi guys.

Slowly migrating shares from 2003 to 2012 file servers.

I'm looking for a way to automate this. I know robocopy will copy file permissions although it doesn't allow for shares. The internet is telling me to do the robocopy and then merge the registry which i don't really want to do. Is there a way of doing this without the registry export?

I have tried MFST but that doesn't allow for nested shares. (I want to do one share at a time).

Thanks.
 
Without using MS File Server Migration Toolkit or Robocopy I think you'll struggle to find a truly automated method.

Is it in a virtual environment by any chance? And if so, are the shares located on a separate disk / vmdk? If so it's really straightforwards:

1. Export the shares from the original server (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/125996)
2. Power off the original FS.
3. Power on the new FS - if you've not got DFS, give the new FS the same name as the original.
4. Remove the VMDK containing the shares from the original machine, taking care not to delete it!
5. Attach the vmdk to the new server & ensure it has the same drive letter in windows.
6. Import the shares from the original location.
7. Done.

I've used the above method countless times - takes about 10 - 20 minutes to do.
 
Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to me. Well they are both virtual machines but one is on a VM cluster and the other is on a hyper v.

Sorry if i have confused, i don't mind using MSFST or Robocopy although i can't find a way for them to port the shares.

Thanks.
 
You should still be able to export the shares as per the MS article above, and then use MSFST to copy data. Once you're happy the everything has copied over, you should be able to export the shares from the original server, and then re-import them on the new server - MSFST doesn't care about the shares as there's already the reg method of exporting and importing them.

I'd still recommended renaming the new server to the same name as the one you're retiring before you import the shares. Also, again, make sure the drive letters are identical on each server... if not, the second part of this article explains how to update them (or infact do the entire process using xcopy :) ):

http://www.techieshelp.com/migrate-files-and-shares-to-server-2012-guide/

It's not as scary as it might seem to migrate :)
 
IS there any software that can recreate the shares once migrated? I used to use Autoshare but that doesn't work anymore and is EOL. Basically takes the folder name (name as username) and shares it with the selected share permissions.
 
Why don't you want to do the Reg export/import? It's super trivial to do, and works fine. What's the issue? Otherwise just re-create them by hand. How many shares are there?
 
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