FAQ and Knowledge Base

ViceVersa PRO has an option in the profile settings to copy, mirror, check and also verify all files and folders, with their associated NTFS permissions, from a Source folder on a server to a Target folder on another server.

Once the data copy is done and all files and subfolders with their permissions have been mirrored and verified to be matching, network folder share information might needed to be applied from the Source server to the Target server.

However, the share information is actually stored in the Windows Registry not on files or folders. To copy share information from a server to another server, a key in the Windows Registry needs to be exported and imported in the new server.

The simple method below will show you how to copy all the shares and share security from one server to another. It involves exporting a Windows Registry key to a file and then importing this file into the new server.

If possible, try to keep the drive letter the same on your new server compared to where the shares were on your old server. If you cannot, this can be changed later with an extra step.

Step 1

On your old server, export the following Windows Registry key to a file using the program Regedit.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>
Services>LanmanServer>Shares

This registry key lists all the shares that are present. Right click the Shares key and select “Export” in Regedit. Give it any name you like and save it to an area accessible from your new server.

Step 2

Now go to your new server and right click the registry file you have exported in Step 1 and select “Merge”. All the share information will be imported in your new server. If the new server uses the same drive letter, then just restart the server (or you can start and stop the Server service: enter Net Stop Server and then Net Start Server at the command prompt).

Step 3

If the drive on the new server where the Shares are has a different drive letter compared to the old server, then you need to do the following. On the new server, navigate to the same key using Regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>
Services>LanmanServer>Shares

Now on the right hand side you can see the Shares. To change the drive letter of a share simply double click the share in question and then locate the section labelled “path” and change the drive letter to the drive letter of your new file server.

You will need to do this for each share that needs a change of drive location. Once completed, you will just need to restart the server again.