Vista Migration Wizard (Easy Transfer)

[Arris]

Description: Use the Vista Migration Wizard to transfer your documents and settings from an other pc to your Windows Server 2008 Workstation.

Solution below!

[halladayrules]

I was playing around with trying to get other aspects of Windows Vista features working (Media Center, Windows Experience Index through GUI) and I found that both the WEI GUI and the Easy Transfer tool must validate the tokens.dat file for access because when I switch to a “vista-glorifed” tokens.dat file my WinSAT score appears in Performance Information and Tools and the Easy Transfer Utility works as you can see below:

A few server tools are not functional though. For example Server Manager just re-routes you to Computer Management. The Windows Server Backup snap-in is inaccessible. I can switch back to the original Server 2008 Tokens.dat file but then easy transfer becomes inaccessible as well. I’ll try to figure out a way to bypass the tokens.dat check. If anyone knows how to do this, please share.

[Arris]

Nice to see that it works using the tokens.dat-trick, but a very ugly method! 😉 @halladayrules wrote:

I’ll try to figure out a way to bypass the tokens.dat check. If anyone knows how to do this, please share.

Maybe [localurl=viewtopic.php?f=11&t=235:1gug6ee3]this[/localurl:1gug6ee3] topic can help you any further… The Snipping Tool uses a Windows API function that checks whether the application is allowed to run. The call to this function is redirected to a custom dll that always returns a positive value. Maybe something alike also works for other Windows tools… Using Dependency Walker it’s possible to see if some function which is part of the SPP (Software Protection Platform) is imported.

Hope this helps you a bit! 🙂

[halladayrules]

Hey Arris,

Reporting back with good news. I found a better workaround. I simply used Microsoft’s Application Verifier tool to intercept the GetVersion/ GetVersionEx API calls to trick the application into thinking my source machine was Windows Vista.

Instructions on how to run Easy Transfer on Server 2008

1. Copy C:WindowsSystem32migwiz folder from Vista installation to C:WindowsSystem32
2. Download Application Verifier from Microsoft here: Download
3. Launch Application Verifier. If you are using 64-bit Windows, launch the x64 version.
4. Click on File > Add Application
5. Navigate to c:windowssystem32migwiz. Add migwiz.exe
6. Expand compatibility.
7. Place a checkmark in the HighVersionLie box.
8. Right-click on HighVersionLie and choose Properties
9. Input following values :

For Server 2008:

Major Version: 6
Build Number: 6001
Product type: 1

For Server 2008 R2:

Major: 6
Minor: 1
Build: 7600
Product Type: 1

Leave rest as 0.

Click Ok.

10. Save and close the program.

Launch Easy Transfer (migwiz) the application should now load.

I have tested this on both Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 (physical machines) and it works great.

[Arris]

Inspired by your work I disassembled migwiz.exe to find a way to find a way that doesn’t need any other software to get it working. I noticed that the IsSystemVersionSupported function checks whether an environment variable called MIG_WET_BYPASS_OS_VERSION is set and if so skips the whole version-check!

Here is how to do it:
1. Copy the %SystemRoot%System32migwiz folder from a Windows 7 x64 installation or using 7-zip from the sourcesinstall.wim file of the Windows 7 x64 installation media to your Windows Server 2008 R2 machine.
2. Open a Command Prompt and navigate to the migwiz folder (or do a shift+right mouseclick within the migwiz folder in Windows Explorer and choose Open command window here).
3. Execute the commands:

set MIG_WET_BYPASS_OS_VERSION=1

migwiz.exe

4. Run the Migration Wizard!
[attachment=0:32utz94m]migwiz.png[/attachment:32utz94m]
Thanks for mentioning the Application Verifier trick; I didn’t know such tool existed! 🙂

Please test it so we can set this Wish to satisfied if it works well :geek:

[halladayrules]

Since I have Windows Server 2008 32-bit I copied the migwiz folder from a Windows 7 32-bit installation. After that I ran the commands you instructed and the program launches perfectly well.

Unfortunetely it doesn’t stick in 2008. After I exit the program and try to re-run it again I am greeted with this:

Also I have disassembled migwiz.exe from a Vista Installation using PE Explorer and the IsSystemVersionSupported function does not exist as expected. As a workaround you could create a batch file with your commands so the program can be launched from batch file rather than the EXE itself.

[BHMS]

Be careful running this on a terminal server with a lot of user profiles on it. migwiz seems to simultaneously read several files from each one which made it extremely slow and it ate 7.2+GB of RAM and maxed a cpu core on my server with 410 profiles. Hasn’t finished yet but its been going 30mins. I think it will get there eventually as long as I don’t run out of memory.

[tm2]

Very helpful thread, thanks. On 2008 R2 SP1 I tried the environment variable (with migwiz copied from Windows 7) and had no joy, but halladayrules’ Application Verifier approach worked fine. [Update: yes, but I still can’t get migwiz.exe to do anything useful. See below].

For 2008 R2 SP1 my system showed 7601 as the build number so I used that value in Application Verifier (I didn’t bother to check whether it might have worked even with 7600).

Good news, bad news (mostly bad): yes, the Application Verifier approach allows migwiz.exe to start up, display its wizardly UI, etc. However, there’s something weird going on that renders it pretty much useless. From the moment it starts up it’s using 100-200 MB (OK, fine), but from then on it starts chewing up more and more memory (even if you’re just sitting there on the initial UI screen). Just for grins I let it run for a little while and it blimped up past 4 GB and showed no signs of stopping (I could see my system growing pagefile.sys). I tried migwiz copied from a couple of different Windows 7 systems and got the same results.

I don’t know whether this is a general problem with running migwiz on 2008 R2 SP1 or whether it’s somehow peculiar to my system (an old Dell Latitude E6500, although I doubt that’s significant). In any case, I think I’m going to file this one under “Wizards are great when they work just right; when they don’t, you’re probably better off without them”.

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