Microsoft Active Directory Migration Tool

Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) is a free software utility released by Microsoft to help users migrate users, groups of users, computers and other types of objects between domains on Windows Server editions using Active Directory.

Before proceeding with the installation, it's necessary to set up an SQL Server database that will be used by the application to establish the database connection for Active Directory. Microsoft recommends SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with SP3 or later, as well as SQL Server 2008 Express Edition with SP1 or later for this job. However, it's possible to resort to another compatible software solution.

It's recommended to create a backup of the operating system or a restore point, as well as to close any running applications until setup is over. After specifying the server's address, ADMT gets connected and copies its files in the Windows directory.

You can launch the migrator graphical interface to view detailed reports with information collected from all computers found in your local network. It's first necessary to generate reports, however. This can be done by right-clicking the Active Directory Migration tool folder in the main window, or by opening the "Action" menu in order to access various wizards.

It's possible to specify the names of the source and target domains and domain controllers to define user and group accounts, migrate computer accounts between Active Directory domains, as well as to update the access control lists for files, shares and other resources that were previously migrated between AD domains within the same forest or in a different one.

Similarly, reports can be generated with information necessary for migrating between AD domains in the same forest or a different one. You can also move service accounts, along with passwords for previously migrated user accounts. The reports can be saved to file in TXT or CSV format for further inspection.

The tool worked smoothly in our tests and had minimal impact on the computer's performance. Unfortunately, Active Directory Migration Tool hasn't received updates for a long time. Otherwise, it provides a straightforward solution for those interested in migrating objects between different documents via Active Directory.