Backing up or exporting user accounts from Windows

[Scarpozzi]

I've got a 2003 server with about 15 accounts. The people in the accounts manually set all their passwords, so simply recreating the accounts will cause a few days of delay when I replace the server. Is there an easy way to export the accounts, then later import them into a new server?

Thanks,

Scar

 

[yinan]

Turn the server into a virtual machine and run the new VM instance on the new server.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: yinan
Turn the server into a virtual machine and run the new VM instance on the new server.

That's not an option. This system needs to be on real hardware because it's a VMware Virtual Center server. 😉

I'm wondering if 2003 has a copy of NTBackup with it. That would probably do it. I'm going to give NTBackup a try. I'm using Microsoft's iSCSI Initiator, so I can probably offload C: to the iSCSI mounted drive and reinstall the initiator to get access to the backup file. Cross your fingers. 😛

 

[yinan]

Virtual Center does not need to be on physical hardware. There is no reason to run it on physical hardware. I run 3 virtual center servers for various networks and all are virtualized.

Your idea wont work. There is no way to restore local user accounts with ntbackup. You could restore system state but that would restore the entire system state to include the drivers.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
...about 15 accounts. The people in the accounts manually set all their passwords, so simply recreating the accounts will cause a few days of delay

Holy crap, how slow do you type? 😛


No domain, just local accounts?