The Staging Folder

The staging folder contains a snapshot of the data for Active Directory.

On the source computer choose an empty folder. UMove will take a snapshot of Active Directory from the operating system and write it into this folder.

You can then transfer the staging folder to the destination computer. On the destination computer UMove will upload the files from the staging folder write them into the operating system in order to create a new Active Directory database.

Required Folders

On Windows Server 2000/2003 the Staging Folder must contain the following folders:
\Windows, \Documents and Settings\All Users, and \Documents and Settings\Administrator.

On Windows Server 2008 the Staging Folder must contain the following folders:
\Windows, \ProgramData, and \Users\Administrator.

Layout of the Staging Folder

UMove expects the staging folder to have a specific layout. NTBACKUP.EXE will create this folder structure automatically. The example below assumes that you restored the system drive (C:) to the subfolder “C” and the System State to the subfolder “System State”.

See also Reducing the size of the backup.

Staging Folder (Any name is acceptable here)
|
-- 00EXPIRY.DAT (Backup expiration date, optional)
|
-- 000STAGE.DAT (UMove annotations, optional)
|
+- C  (System drive letter, typically C)
|  |
|  +- Documents and Settings (Use "Users" on Windows 2008)
|  |  |
|  |  +- Administrator (The name will vary depending on the language)
|  |  |  |
|  |     +- Application Data (Use "AppData" on Windows 2008)
|  |  |     |
|  |  |     +- Microsoft
|  |  |        |
|  |  |        +- Credentials, Crypto, Protect, SystemCertificates, Vault
|  |  |           |
|  |  |           (Encryption key files)
|  |  |
|  |  +- All Users (Use "ProgramData" on Windows 2008)
|  |     |
|  |     +- Application Data (Skip down to "Microsoft" on Windows 2008)
|  |        |
|  |        +- Microsoft
|  |           |
|  |           +- Credentials, Crypto, Protect, SystemCertificates, Vault
|  |              |
|  |              (Encryption key files)
|  |
|  +- WINDOWS (Use "WINNT" on Windows 2000)
|     |
|     +- ntfrs
|     |  |
|     |  (Database for the File Replication Service)
|     |
|     +- SchCache
|     |  |
|     |  (AD schema cache files)
|     |
|     +- Security
|     |  |
|     |  (Security database files)
|     |
|     +- System32
|     |  |
|     |  +- CertLog
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (Files for Certificate Services, optional)
|     |  |  
|     |  +- certsvc
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (Files for Certificate Services, optional)
|     |  |
|     |  +- Config
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  -- netlogon.dnb
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  -- netlogon.dns
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  -- netlogon.ftl (Only if more than one domain controller)
|     |  |
|     |  +- DHCP
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (DHCP database files, optional)
|     |  |
|     |  +- DNS
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (DNS zone files)
|     |  |   
|     |  +- drivers
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  +- etc
|     |  |     |
|     |  |     -- hosts
|     |  |     |
|     |  |     -- lmhosts
|     |  |
|     |  +- GroupPolicy
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (Local group policy files)
|     |  |
|     |  +- InetSrv
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (IIS metabase files, optional)
|     |  |
|     |  +- LLS
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (Windows 2000/2003 License Server files)
|     |  |
|     |  +- LServer
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  (License files for Windows 2000/2003 Terminal Services, optional)
|     |  |
|     |  +- Microsoft
|     |  |  |
|     |  |  +- Credentials, Crypto, Protect, SystemCertificates, Vault
|     |  |     |
|     |  |     (Encryption key files)
|     |  |
|     |  +- WINS
|     |     |
|     |     (WINS database files, optional)
|     |
|     +- SYSVOL (Windows 2000 only)
|        |
|        (Group policy files for Windows 2000)
|
+- System State
   |
   +- Active Directory
   |  |
   |  -- ntds.dit (The Active Directory database file)
   |  |
   |  -- edb00001.log (Windows 2000/2003.  The 0000n numbers will vary)
   |  |
   |  -- edb00002.log
   |  |
   |  -- edb.log (Windows 2008 only)
   |  |
   |  -- edb.chk (If present)
   |
   +- Boot Files
   |  |
   |  +- C_ (System drive letter. Note the underscore “_”)
   |     |
   |     +- Documents and Settings (Windows 2000/2003)
   |     |  |
   |     |  +- All Users (Windows 2000/2003)
   |     |     |
   |     |     +- Application Data (The name will vary depending on the language)
   |     |        |
   |     |        +- Microsoft
   |     |           |
   |     |           +- Credentials, Crypto, Protect, SystemCertificates
   |     |              |
   |     |              (Encryption key files)
   |     |
   |     +- ProgramData (Windows 2008)
   |        |
   |        +- Microsoft
   |        |  |
   |        |  +- Credentials, Crypto, Protect, SystemCertificates, Vault
   |        |     |
   |        |     (Encryption key files)
   |        |
   |        +- IsolatedStorage
   |           |
   |           +- (Encryption key files)
   |   
   +- COM+ Class Registration Database
   |  |
   |  +- ComRegDb.bak
   |
   +- Registry
   |  |
   |  -- Default
   |  |
   |  -- SAM
   |  |
   |  -- Security
   |  |
   |  -- Software
   |  |
   |  -- System
   |
   +- SYSVOL (Use "Sys Vol" on Windows 2000)
      |
      +- C_ (System drive letter.  Note the underscore “_”)
         |
         +- Windows (Use "winnt" on Windows 2000)
            |
            +- SYSVOL
            |  |
            |  (Group Policy files and logon scripts)
            |
            +- SYSVOL_DFSR (Windows 2008 if using both DFSR and FRS)
               |
               (Group Policy files and logon scripts)

The staging folder should have the layout shown above. Capitalization is not important. The drive letter (“C”) should match the letter of the system drive. The drive letter can optionally include an underscore character (“C_”).

The folder for the System State should be named “System State” or “SysState”.

The file 00EXPIRY.DAT is optional. It contains the expiration date of the backup (typically 60-180 days after the date of the backup). Its purpose is to warn you when attempting to restore an old backup that has past its expiration date.

Alternative: Layout on a Dead Computer

As an alternative, you can copy the Active Directory files directly from the disk of a dead computer. UMove will ask you to confirm that you are using a dead computer's disk. Answer "yes".

When using a dead computer's disk, UMove will search for the Active Directory files using the Windows disk layout instead of the NTBACKUP layout. The System State folder is ignored. For example, UMove will search for NTDS.DIT under StagingFolder\C\Windows\NTDS instead of StagingFolder\System State\Active Directory. See Copying From a Dead Computer.