Windows – Migrate folder user permissions in a windows file server migration

file-permissionsmigrationwindows

First of all I'm not a Windows administrator so that perhaps this question is total nonsense.

We are going to migrate our Windows file server to another machine, the people who are going to do the job know how to replicate the folders and files (copy/paste perhaps?) but they don't know how to migrate the file and folder user permissions.

Is there a tool to do it automatically?

By searching through Stackoverflow I see there is a windows command "CACLS" which shows and sets permissions, so that i can write a program which loops through the file system and calls the command to show and set the permissions.

Is this aproximation ok?

P.S. Sorry for my bad english

Best Answer

The XCOPY command will copy permissions when the "/O" or "/X" switches are set. You can accomplish most simple file/folder/permission migrations just by doing:

XCOPY "source" "destination" /E /X /C /H /K

If you have deep folder hierarchies with long paths you'll need a "heavier duty" tool.

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Windows – How to find what process is holding a file open in Windows

I've had success with Sysinternals Process Explorer. With this, you can search to find what process(es) have a file open, and you can use it to close the handle(s) if you want. Of course, it is safer to close the whole process. Exercise caution and judgement.

To find a specific file, use the menu option Find->Find Handle or DLL... Type in part of the path to the file. The list of processes will appear below.

If you prefer command line, Sysinternals suite includes command line tool Handle, that lists open handles.

Examples

c:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite>handle.exe |findstr /i "e:\" (finds all files opened from drive e:\"
c:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite>handle.exe |findstr /i "file-or-path-in-question"

Windows – Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

A little known one is

getmac

It shows the MAC address(es) of your network adapter(s).

Screenshot of running getmac from a Windows commandline window.

Best Answer

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