Removing User & PC from domain. Can I just copy or rename the User directory?

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stevenkan

stevenkan

Ars Legatus Legionis
15,662
  • #1
    My elderly father has retired from the company, but still likes to check his email from time to time on his ancient Win7 Pro laptop. I need to remove his computer and his username from the domain, but he fears change, and if his desktop doesn't look just like it did yesterday, he won't be able to find anything.

    He will not need access to any domain resources, and our email is hosted outside, so all he needs is his local files and his Thunderbird profile.

    If I create a local account, remove his PC from the domain, and rename old old user folder as his new user folder, would he then have the same desktop and local files? Or is it not that simple?

    Thanks!
     
    Paladin

    Paladin

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    32,552
    Subscriptor
  • #2
    Yikes, no, I would not do that. I would get him a new(er) computer and make it look like Windows 7 as much as possible. Then copy over the data (files etc) and mozilla profile, browser profile, etc. Gives you time to get it all right and keep the old machine undamaged while you get it right. Renaming or otherwise messing with Windows user folders always seems to cause problems in my experience. Much easier to have a clean Windows install with a fresh account and just move in the data you want. Less chance of looming hardware failure, security problems from unsupported Windows version, unsupported apps that can't be updated on Windows 7 etc. There are applications that are now announcing the end of Windows 10 support so 7 should be well past considering at this point. ;)
     
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