Cannot restore Old XP .DAT files on my Windows 7. I used 'files and settings wizard'

Hi Pepper

I think you will find the files are incompatible with Windows 7.

You could always try to use Windows XP in Virtual PC and then restore your files into the virtual OS installation. Then, try using that to recover the files. It's slow, but it would work.

I feel I am very close to solving this issue, but need one more thing ...

I ran Gartenhacke's loadstate command as:

C:USMT/bin/loadstate C:\Data /v:5 /l:log.txt /user: "Secretary" /lac
running loadstate from the downloaded folder (C:/USMT/bin) with my USMT2.UNC folder located at C:\Data.
I had originally saved it here (where I'm already running W7) from another XP computer via our network. So I am just trying to transport the data onto my W7 computer for now.
Everything works great (100% complete) except it fails to recognized the user account--Error: The user account SECRETARY/Secretary does not exist.
After first failure, I created the user "Secretary" on my W7 computer, but nothing changed. I changed the name of the computer to SECRETARY, but that did not work either.
What am I doing wrong?

this may wrong and off topic... I know theres a .oldwindows folder in windows directory I have found lots of my old stuff there

JGByerly, this is an extremely old thread. The easiest way I know of to transfer account settings and data from XP or Vista or W7 TO a W7 machine is with Microsoft WET. Windows Easy Transfer is standard in W7 and available for download for XP & Vista.

One exception, WET cannot handle going FROM 64-bit TO 32-bit. It does support 32->32, 32->64, & 64->64.

OK, so I have spent the past 4 nights at home researching this issue and I have discovered a few things. Firstly ALL is NOT lost and you CAN restore your files. But it will take time.

My scenario is I had an XP Home with SP 1 installed. I'd backed up the XP files using the MigWiz.exe (Files and Settings Transfer Wizard). I then wiped the disk and installed W7. I attempted to restore the files using MigWiz.exe (MigWiz.exe Ver. Ver. 6.4.760.16385) but W7 would not recognise the files (.dat). I'd backed them up to an external USB drive so the path was E:\LaptopBackup\USMT2.UNC

So, I got myself another XP machine (XP Professional this time XP SP1 [or 1a as it is known] ) and attempted to restore the files.

This is what I discovered: the version of XP in my case didn't matter; however the service pack did matter. I tried with earlier service packs to restore the .dat files but to no avail. I grabbed XP SP3, installed it and retried with the MigWiz.exe Ver. 5.1.2600.5512 - this worked, but is still taking ALL NIGHT to restore my 56Gbs worth of data.

I got the MizWiz.exe Ver. 5.1.2600.1106 from an XP Home SP1 CD.
I got the MizWiz.exe Ver. 5.1.2600.2180 from an XP Home SP2 CD.
I got the MizWiz.exe Ver. 5.1.2600.5512 from an XP Professional SP3 CD (installed SP3).

My W7 install has: MizWiz.exe Ver. 6.4.760.16385 so don't even think about using this to try to restore your XP files.

Forget alternative tools and I struggled with them and opted to get the MigWiz.exe GUI.

Note that I was using a USB share and could not restore the files from a local drive. Others may have had some sucess but I did not. Not only that but also, you cannot point the MigWiz.exe directly to the USMT2.UNC folder, if you do, it will fail. For example, you cannot point it to E:\LaptopBackup\USMT2.UNC

Instead, you have to point it to the directory above, the parent directory. In my case it was: E:\LaptopBackup\

As I'm always happy to chip in with support queries (maybe even send you the MigWiz.exe files) you can email me directly:

Moderator Note: email address removed. Use the forum's private messaging system.

All the best,
Adam.

I also posted this here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...?prof=required