History
The User State Migration Tool (USMT) was designed as a command-line tool to move settings and data from one computer to another or to save and restore settings in case of break-fix. (break-fix is the repair of an IT system when computer equipment fails, the network stops functioning or software programs are not working by reinstalling the OS.) Some other GUI tools (for example, Windows Easy Transfer) rely on the technical base.
The first version of USMT migrated Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0 computers to Windows 2000 using customized INF Files. This version was never available publicly for download. The first public version USMT 2.x added support for Windows 2000 source computers and Windows XP destinations.
The USMT 3.x version brought considerable changes, including the use of XML files for migration customization, file security migration, encrypted data storage and Windows Vista manifest support.
USMT 4.0 was included in Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and adds significant...