## Migration of Account Information

If your goal is to transfer existing UNIX accounts to a Windows NT system and then stop using the UNIX system, you will find meaningful account information will be lost in the transfer process. For example, UNIX passwords typically use one-way Data Encryption Standard (DES).This means that the original clear-text password is not available for re-encryption on the Windows NT system. This forces all users to change their password at least the first time they access the new Windows NT system. The Perl scripting language runs on both UNIX and Windows NT. It could easily be used to parse the UNIX password and group files, change specific fields from UNIX to Windows NT syntax, and then enter the accounts and groups into the Windows NT registry. For example, user names and real names could be preserved; the comment field (GCOS) could be used as the account description field; and group membership could be derived from the default gid stored in the password file; and the users listed in the group file. Of course, considerable thought should be given when deciding which UNIX groups would be useful on a Windows NT system.

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Last Updated: December 1, 1997