Robocopy script to transfer user data from old PC to new PC

Question

I am trying to write a script that I can use to remotely transfer data from an end user's computer, to a new one I am preparing for them. I will need to transfer data from multiple user profiles, so I have written it to cycle through the user profiles on the old machine, but I am unsure of the correct syntax in a couple places, specifically what variable I need to reference the current user folder as the script cycles through them (see the question marks in the directories listed below).

I wrote it to only copy user profiles that have been used in the last 90 days. I would like to copy a few profiles such as Public, Default, etc regardless of age, but I will probably just add a few more Robocopy lines to accomplish that.

Can anyone advise me on what the syntax needs to be where the question marks appear below? This would be $_ in Powershell, but I'm not sure what it is in a CMD batch file.

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

@echo off

Set /p OldPC=Please enter the old PC name:
Set /p NewPC=Please enter the new PC name:

for /D %%D in ("\\%OldPC%\USERS\*") do (robocopy "\\%OldPC%\USERS\?\Desktop" "\\%NewPC%\Users\?\Desktop" /E /Z /W:10 /COPYALL /MAXAGE:90
for /D %%D in ("\\%OldPC%\USERS\*") do (robocopy "\\%OldPC%\USERS\?\Documents" "\\%NewPC%\Users\?\Documents" /E /Z /W:10 /COPYALL /MAXAGE:90
for /D %%D in ("\\%OldPC%\USERS\*") do (robocopy "\\%OldPC%\USERS\?\Favorites" "\\%NewPC%\Users\?\Favorites" /E /Z /W:10 /COPYALL /MAXAGE:90
for /D %%D in ("\\%OldPC%\USERS\*") do (robocopy "\\%OldPC%\USERS\?\Pictures" "\\%NewPC%\Users\?\Pictures" /E /Z /W:10 /COPYALL /MAXAGE:90

Answer 1

I guess you needed more than what you asked.

From what I understood, you want to copy user profile folders for the users who have been using the computer since some date.

To solve the problem, it would be better to find users who logged on rather than finding any file that is edited. Finding edited files will consume too much time to just find the names of used user accounts.

Since there is wevtutil command that is used to deal with logged events, the code became quite simpler.

So the code looks like this:

@echo off
pushd %~dp0
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

::User Input
set /p OldPC=Please enter the old PC name: 
set /p NewPC=Please enter the new PC name: 
set /p UserName=Please enter the User name to use in %OldPC%: 
set /p Password=Please enter the password to use in %OldPC%: 
set /p MaxDate=Please enter the Maximum logon date: 
cls


echo Deriving User Names that are used since %MaxDate%...
echo If this step takes too long, check if you typed correct user name and password.

wevtutil qe Security /r:%OldPC% /u:%UserName% /p:%Password% /f:text /q:"*[System[TimeCreated[@SystemTime>='%MaxDate%T00:00:00'] and (EventID=4624)]]" |^
findstr /b /c:" Account Name" >PossibleUserName.tmp1
dir /b "\\%OldPC%\Users" >UserProfileList.tmp1
findstr /g:"UserProfileList.tmp1" "PossibleUserName.tmp1"|sort >UserList.tmp2
del /q *.tmp1

cls
echo Formatting User List...

for /f "tokens=2 delims=:   " %%a in (UserList.tmp2) do (
    if not "!ln!"=="%%a" (
        set "ln=%%a"
        echo %%a>>FinalList.tmp
    )
)
del /q *.tmp2

cls
echo Copying Files...

for /f "tokens=*" %%a in (FinalList.tmp) do (
    echo robocopy "\\%OldPC%\Users\%%a\Desktop" "\\%NewPC%\Users\%%a\Desktop" /e /z /w:10 /copyall
    echo robocopy "\\%OldPC%\Users\%%a\Documents" "\\%NewPC%\Users\%%a\Documents" /e /z /w:10 /copyall
    echo robocopy "\\%OldPC%\Users\%%a\Favorites" "\\%NewPC%\Users\%%a\Favorites" /e /z /w:10 /copyall
    echo robocopy "\\%OldPC%\Users\%%a\Pictures" "\\%NewPC%\Users\%%a\Pictures" /e /z /w:10 /copyall
)

echo Done!
del /q *.tmp
pause>nul
exit

Since you are trying to use the script from the remote computer, wevtutil command required log in information for your old PC.

Also, you need to input the date that you want to use in %MaxDate%, which will enable you to filter the logs since that date. The date format should look like this: YYYY-MM-DD

For example, you should type 2017-01-01 if you want to filter users who used the computer since January 1, 2017.

If you set both old and new computers to share their Users Directories with correct properties, then you would be good to go with this code.

I hope this code would solve your problem.