Migrating Roaming Profiles and Folder Redirection from an RDS Server to Client Desktops

Retiring a terminal server often means one awkward question: what happens to the profiles? On a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) host, user data frequently lives in roaming profiles and redirected folders that have grown for years. Moving people to client desktops means deciding what to copy, what to leave behind, and how to avoid users arriving on Monday to an empty desktop. This is the sequence I follow for migrating roaming profiles and folder redirection.

1. Inventory what you actually have

Before choosing a target, find out how profiles are configured today. Check three places:

• The Group Policy objects that apply Folder Redirection (User Configuration, Windows Settings, Folder Redirection) and which folders are redirected: Documents, Desktop, Pictures and so on.
• The profile path on each user account, or the RDS profile path set by policy. Roaming profiles and Remote Desktop profile paths are not always the same thing.
• Whether the environment uses User Profile Disks or FSLogix containers instead of classic roaming profiles. Those are VHD or VHDX files and are handled differently.

Then measure. List each user's profile share size and the size of each redirected folder. A few very large profiles, often mailbox caches or downloads, change your plan more than the average does. Microsoft's description of how folder redirection and roaming user profiles work together is here: Folder Redirection, Offline Files, and Roaming User Profiles overview.

2. Decide where each category of data will live

Do not copy a roaming profile wholesale onto a new desktop. A roaming profile mixes three kinds of data:

• User files: Documents, Desktop, Pictures. These matter and must move intact.
• Application settings: the AppData\Roaming tree. Some of it is worth keeping, such as signatures and custom dictionaries, but much of it is tied to the old server's application versions.
• Cache and junk: temporary files, browser caches, old installer leftovers.

For user files on client desktops, the common targets are a file server share with continued folder redirection, or OneDrive for Business. If you choose OneDrive, Known Folder Move can redirect Desktop, Documents and Pictures to OneDrive. Read the current requirements and limits before relying on it: Redirect and move Windows known folders to OneDrive. Check file name rules, path lengths and the size of each user's data against OneDrive's limits, because files that cannot sync will otherwise be discovered by users, not by you.

3. Stop the profile from changing during the copy

Take the data from a quiet state. Schedule the final copy outside working hours and make sure users are logged off the RDS host. A profile copied while the user is signed in can be missing the registry hive and recently written files.

Take a backup or snapshot of the profile share first and confirm you can restore from it. This is the rollback point.

4. Copy user files with a tool that preserves what matters

For redirected folders on a file share, robocopy is the usual tool. A typical pattern copies file data, attributes and timestamps, retries briefly, and writes a log:

robocopy "\\oldserver\redirected\jsmith\Documents" "D:\Migrated\jsmith\Documents" /E /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:DAT /R:1 /W:1 /LOG:"D:\Logs\jsmith-docs.log" /TEE

This is an example with placeholder paths. Test on a small group first. Be careful with /MIR, which deletes files in the destination that are missing from the source, and use it only when you fully understand the direction. If you need to preserve NTFS permissions, review /COPY options and test, since the correct choice depends on whether the new location uses the same security model.

Review the log for failures. Long paths, files in use and access denied errors are the usual causes, and each represents data a user will notice is missing.

5. Handle the application settings separately

Do not try to move NTUSER.DAT or the whole AppData tree to a new operating system version and expect it to work. Windows profile versions differ between operating system releases, and a profile from an older server version can be incompatible with a newer client.

Instead, identify the handful of settings users care about and move them deliberately: Outlook signatures, Chrome or Edge bookmarks, Sticky Notes, mapped printers, browser favorites, Quick Access pins. Browser and Microsoft 365 account sync will cover many of these once users sign in. Let a new, clean profile be created and bring across only the items you chose.

6. Change the policy, not just the data

Copying files does not stop the old behavior. For each target group:

• Create a new Group Policy object for the client desktops, and leave the old RDS policies applying only to the old OU.
• If you are removing folder redirection, note that each redirected folder has a policy removal setting that controls what happens when the policy stops applying. Read how it treats existing contents and test it on a pilot account first, because removing the policy without choosing that behavior can leave the data on the server and the user looking at an empty folder.
• Remove the roaming profile path from the user accounts only after the data is safely copied and verified.

Use security filtering or WMI filters to scope each policy, and run gpresult /r on a test client to confirm what applied.

7. Pilot with real users

Pick a few users with different habits: one with a huge Desktop, one with many shortcuts, one who uses a nonstandard application. Migrate them first, ask them to check their files, mapped drives, printers and email signatures, and record what was missing. Update the plan before the wider rollout.

Confirm too that applications that were installed on the terminal server are available on the clients, since a profile without its application is not much use.

8. Cut over, verify and keep the old data

On the day, migrate in small groups. After each group, spot check file counts and sizes against the source, and confirm the user can open files from their new location. Keep the old profile share read-only for an agreed retention period instead of deleting it. Disk space is cheap compared with explaining a missing file.

Limits and when to get help

The details differ with the Windows versions involved, the use of FSLogix or User Profile Disks, antivirus and DFS configuration, and how OneDrive is licensed and governed. Unexpected permissions, very large profiles, or a business-critical application with settings stored in the profile are good reasons to have an experienced administrator review the plan before you begin. Keep the source data until the users have confirmed their files are complete.