User State Migration Tool in Windows 8

The User State Migration Tool (USMT) migrates user profiles and files from existing Windows
operating systems to Windows 8. It captures the user state from the existing operating system
and restores the user state to Windows 8.
The USMT includes three command-line tools:

•    ScanState.exe   The ScanState.exe tool captures user state from the existing  operating

system (such as Windows XP, Window Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8). You can
store the captured user state on a removable drive or on a network shared folder.
The ScanState.exe tool can also estimate the amount of disk storage required by the
migrated user state.

•    LoadState.exe   The LoadState.exe tool restores the captured user state from the

location where it is stored by the ScanState.exe tool.

•    UsmtUtils.exe  The UsmtUtils.exe tool performs functions related to user state

 migration, such as extracting files from a compressed migration store or removing
hard-link stores that cannot be otherwise deleted due to a sharing lock.

             USMT includes three .xml files that configure the user state capture and restore process
(MigApp.xml, MigDocs.xml, and MigUser.xml). In addition, the Config.xml file specifies files
or configuration settings to exclude from the migration. You can create custom .xml files to
 support specialized migration needs.

              Both MDT 2012 and Configuration Manager rely on USMT to migrate user states. At
the appropriate time during the deployment process, the ScanState.exe and LoadState.exe
command-line tools automatically run to migrate user state. You can customize the process in
both deployment tools.