Migration assistant doesn't migrate all user files

I Wanted to do a semi clean install, so I decided to erase everything and install a fresh OS X Yosemite.
i Used migration assistance to only migrate my user account and all its files. Everything seemed to work fine, until I realized I was missing things. Some fonts were not copied over (/User/name/Library/Fonts) and most of my music was not copied over (~/Music/iTunes etc.). The only music that seemed to transfer were ones I purchased from iTunes or imported recently (with the latest iTunes). I got fed up with the entire process and didn't do any more investigation or debugging and am now doing a full restore from time machine. Luckily I have two time machine backups... Can't always assume everything will go correctly (one time machine is stuffed as it was preparing to backup my new installation with lost user files).
has anyone else had the same problems?
As a note I was able to locate those fonts manually on one of the time machine backups but it said the links we broken (they must be aliases) but since I knew the absolute path I could find them. Maybe that's part of the problem? Also I wonder if user permissions (eg ownership) could affect the restore user account process...
Ps: Apple this site ***** on my iPad mini. Fonts are way too small!

I did exactly that
If so, that would have been Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant. From the sound of it, I'm not so certain that is what you did. They are very similar, but may produce different results. Setup Assistant appears on the first boot of the new Mac. It is generally far more problem free than Migration Assistant. If you select the option to migrate later you get MA. Have you checked to see if you don't now have another User where all your settings now reside. This can be the result of using MA.
If you didn't use SA on the first boot, it might be far less time consuming and aggravating to simply reinstall the OS and the bundled apps. This will produce a brand new option to use SA on the first boot.

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Migration Assistant doesn't migrate or assist me

Trying to migrate from my son's Macbook Pro to his new Macbook Air. Both are running 10.6.8 and have had all the latest software updates run. Tried wired (with ethernet adapter for the MBA) and wireless - he doesn't have a Time Machine backup to try.
In each case we get through the point of entering the code from one computer to the other and things chug along, but the screen never comes up asking which items I want to migrate. The Macbook Pro displays a dialog saying that communication was lost from the other computer. I'm given the option to hit cancel which will abort the process (though it never does) or hit OK to continue to try (which never results in success. Meanwhile the MBA just says "processing."
This whole process has been very frustrating. I've read any applicable posting I could find here, but haven't found anything that solves the problem.
Here are some questions I had:
- do specific sharing preferences have to be set on both machines?
- I believe the ethernet port on his MBP works OK. I turned off Airport and was able to connect through ethernet to the Internet. Is there any other way to tell if the ethernet port isn't communicating?
- I tried doing the initial transfer while the two computers were with me for the weekend. Now he's back at school 4 hours away. Is there a way I can screen share with one or both computers to continue to troubleshoot them remotely? If so, pointing me to the source to do that would be helpful as I've not tried it before.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Patrick

Trying to migrate from my son's Macbook Pro to his new Macbook Air. Both are running 10.6.8 and have had all the latest software updates run. Tried wired (with ethernet adapter for the MBA) and wireless - he doesn't have a Time Machine backup to try.
In each case we get through the point of entering the code from one computer to the other and things chug along, but the screen never comes up asking which items I want to migrate. The Macbook Pro displays a dialog saying that communication was lost from the other computer. I'm given the option to hit cancel which will abort the process (though it never does) or hit OK to continue to try (which never results in success. Meanwhile the MBA just says "processing."
This whole process has been very frustrating. I've read any applicable posting I could find here, but haven't found anything that solves the problem.
Here are some questions I had:
- do specific sharing preferences have to be set on both machines?
- I believe the ethernet port on his MBP works OK. I turned off Airport and was able to connect through ethernet to the Internet. Is there any other way to tell if the ethernet port isn't communicating?
- I tried doing the initial transfer while the two computers were with me for the weekend. Now he's back at school 4 hours away. Is there a way I can screen share with one or both computers to continue to troubleshoot them remotely? If so, pointing me to the source to do that would be helpful as I've not tried it before.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Patrick

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

How can I copy programs (iWorks) and files from Time Capsule to my HD manually? The problem is that the migration assistant does not recognize my backup file and the user on the TC. (If I open the TC on finder, it it there though)

HT4889 Migration assistant doesn't see my 3TB Time machine it just keeps looking for other computers

I just did a clean install of Mountain Lion on my iMac and Migration Assistant doesn't seem to see my 3TB Time Machine. It continuously looks for other computers, and nothing else. I know the files work because I loaded it on my other MBP and it sees them just fine? am I just inpatient or is something wrong?

This happened to me after hard drive replacement under the Seagate Drive Recall at the local Apple Store. Here's what I learned from the process:
I Wagged the Mac home, fired it up (with naked OS installed at the Apple Store), and it wouldn't see my Time Machine drive with Setup Assistant - not on firewire 800 nor USB. Just a grey spinner that lasts forever. When I try just continuing anyway, it offers me something that looks plausible, but then puts up a dialog about duplicate user name, and no matter what I enter, it always says "that user already exists". So I think - maybe Migration Assistant. Complete the setup, create an account, watch the nice welcome movie. BAM - there's my Time Machine drive on the desktop. OK - it has to work . . . but no. Same behavior in Migration Assistant, plus the new OS offers to start making backups on my Time Machine disk - it's not recognizing it at all.
So - back to the Apple Store - let the genius figure it out. It turns out there are multiple problems. First, the "genius" who imaged my new machine picked 10.7.2 but my machine had 10.7.5 - turns out, it's not enough just to have right cat. Even a point release older OS may not recognize a newer Time Machine drive. The guy at the desk said "We have images of everything but the 10.7.2 has free iLife in it, so they like to use that one". What the heck? They don't image what you had originally as a matter of sane process?
Having figured that out, we re-image 10.7.5 at the store thinking we've fixed it. But no - Setup Assistant still won't see the Time Machine drive. Not on USB, not on Firewire. Not in a box, not with a fox.
So here's the second trick - newer machines have a recovery partion. see: http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/ Boot with the option key held down, pick that partition, then you'll get a "system restore" option, to restore your whole system from a Time Machine backup. My drive was recognized by the recovery partition restore process when neither Setup nor Migration Assistant would. Obviously, there's something broken in Setup/Migration Assistant.
Takeaway:
- if you're getting a drive replaced by Apple, make sure they image *exactly* the same OS
- if Setup Assistant fails, use the recovery partition for system restore
- Use Recovery Disk Assistant http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 NOW to make yourself a recovery thumb drive just in case. With Apple's new "no media" approach to the OS, you're hosed without it.

Migration assistant doesn't "see" Time Machine disk

Just got a new logic board, and they wiped the hard drive. My Time Machine disk mounts, and I can see the files. However, migration assistant doesn't list it as a source. (Yes it's formatted Mac OS Extended [Journaled])
Time Machine recognizes it and wants to use it as a new backup disk, but it doesn't want to show me anything from the old back up. I didn't do a new backup of the "new" computer. I don't back up applications just users.
2.2 i7 MbP 8GB 10.7.4
thanks
DLS

Just back home from a follow-up visit to the Genius Bar on this migration issue (from MacBook Air to new MacBook Pro).
Previous efforts to migrate had taken endless hours and seemed to hang at the 20-mins-remaining mark.
At the store, even after we manually turned off WiFi before connecting the Thunderbolt cable, Migration Assistant seemed to turn WiFi back on and start the migration over WiFi.
In the end, we used the Air (source) in Target Disk mode, which forced the computers to use the Thunderbolt cable. Migration took a little over half an hour, as opposed to 12 hours or more that Migration Assistant was saying earlier when apparently trying to use WiFi.

How to recover my backups?? i used migration assistant but none of my old files showed up. I backed up daily and did a full disk back up twice.

how to recover my backups?? i used migration assistant but none of my old files showed up. I backed up daily and did a full disk back up twice

Open System Preferences and select Users & Groups. Assuming the migration was successful, you now have a new account - it was migrated. Migration Assistant doesn't copy files, it copies accounts. To see your documents you'll need to log into the account you migrated. (It has the same password it did on the other computer.)

HT4796 link to migration assistant doesn't work. Where can I find it?

link to migration assistant doesn't work. Where can I find it?

Do you mean the link in the article to Apple Support Downloads? It works for me, now, and should take you here:
If not, try this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1557
Sometimes an Apple server won't find the article you want immediately.

HT201250 I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please hel

I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please help

See Pondini's Excellent information here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC
See the Second Chance to Use Setup Assistant here...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

I'm wanting to migrate certain applications from my MacBook Pro over to my newer Mini, but Migration Assistant doesn't allow doing this by choosing which applications to migrate-how can I pick only certain ones?

I'm wanting to migrate certain applications from my MacBook Pro over to my newer Mini, but Migration Assistant doesn't allow doing this by choosing which applications to migrate-how can I pick only certain ones?

You only bought it four months ago, so it's still under warrantly.
Call Applecare or call your nearest Applestore to make an appointment. Tell them your mac has serious technical issues, describe them shortly.

Does new lion migration assist from windows xp delete the files on Pc?

Does new lion migration assist from windows xp delete the files on the pc or just copy them? Especially for outlook 2003 as I don't want my emails deleted off the pc

Zingerbottom wrote:
Does new lion migration assist from windows xp delete the files on the pc or just copy them? Especially for outlook 2003 as I don't want my emails deleted off the pc
No everything that was on the PC remains there.

Migration Assistant won't migrate mobile accounts

I have an LDAP directory that our accounts reside on. I had setup mobile accounts so that when away from home with our MacBooks, we could still log in with cached credentials.
I reinstalled my MBP with 10.5 and upgraded to 10.5.6. With Migration Assistant and a backup sparse image file mounted, it sees my OLD system from the mounted image. It sees both my and my wife's old accounts, my Applications, Library files etc. Everything has a size associated with it (e.g., 2.5GB for Applications), except our accounts both say 0.0KB. When I try to migrate ONLY the accounts, it migrates nothing and completes in just a second or two saying it completed.
Any clues? Is there a manual process I can do. I just want to preserve modification times on my Documents for timeline purposes.

thanks,
the thing is the Mac was behaving strangely - that's why I sent it to the lab in the first place.
This Mac is just over a year old but it's content was initially migrated from the older mac.
And it (the new Mac) wasn't working properly from the get go..
It took ages for it to start up and wouldn't start up if any external disk was attached (via USB).
I had to start it up and only then connect external disks.
In the lab - They couldn't find and HW issues.
So they formatted and reinstalled the OS - I think that's all they've sone in the lab
The idea was to start afresh and slowly reinstall softwares - only those necessary.
So, having said all that- does that change your answer?

HT4889 Apple Store changed hard disc - created user account ("User"). I ran migration assistant / time machine. All files migrated but on "User" I can't open them. Help!

I changed my Seagate 1 Tb hard disc under the Apple Exchange Program.I received the iMac and the Apple Store created a new account on my iMac ("User"). I connected the Time Machine and ran the migration assistant. All files etc. have migrated. I can see the Macintosh HD and my old user account but am not allowed to open them. How can I get back to my old settings etc.?

what is the message that you get when you try to open a file?
1. You can try to change the permissions to see if they will allow you to write to the file(s).
2. Naviagte to your Home folder Macintosh HD-->Users-->Username and press command+i to get info and on the bottom of the screen click on the lock and unlock the security check, remove your current username and then re-add it and next to the minus symbol click and select apply to enclosed folders

Migration Assistant doesn't appear to migrate all user accounts

Just did a Migration Assistant run from a "plastic" Intel iMac to a Pro, running Snow Leopard.
There is a duplicate user which didn't get migrated (that's what I want) with a name beginning with "n". But other accounts with names beginning with letters after "n" weren't migrated.
Is there a way of making it migrate the other accounts? I suspect that it stopped when it found the duplicate user and didn't try to go on.
I really only need one of these accounts, who was my standard login account on that box,
I'll try to see if can copy a few items from that user's Documents folder to a new folder I create, <thatuser>'s Docs, and see if I have permissions to use them or not.
This machine doesn't have a root account set up.

That worked fine. I have one account (the Imight want to pull, that is, the account with the same username as what's on the machine I'm migrating to.
But I'll do that only if I see signicant stuff on that account, nd I'll create a temporary account, yank everything I can get from that user's account, and then bring over "duplicate-main" (that's not its name).

Migration Assistant doesn't respect User Templates

Hi everyone,
I work doing Information Technology support for a small (of about 30-40 people) communications department. We just ordered about 9 computers, and they all came with Lion.
Some people that I work with are very change-phobic, and I've created a default user template that respects what they've been doing for a long time and includes what I need to do my job. The main things I've changed include reversing the natural scroll direction (I know, I know, I like it myself, but like I said, some people I work with are incredibly change-phobic) remote login settings, showing the Library folder, and including default login software (such as new backup software we've decided to deploy at the same time as new computer deployments).
I've found that creating new users on the system respects the user template:
(found at /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/).
But when I migrate users (either choosing to migrate settings, or not migrate settings), it doesn't matter, as the OS defaults back to not including the new login software and reverting scroll direction.
I can't hold off much longer in deploying these computers, but I know that I'll immediatly get a lot of requests about how to put settings back to the way they were.
Is there a way to have Migration Assistant respect the default user template (when not migrating settings)?
Best,
Allen

Hi John,
While your link was certainly informative, it isn't really addressing my problem, though I appreciate your response.
I don't know if this may interest you, but you can force the Setup Assistant to run without reinstalling Lion. Just boot into single user mode (command+s), then remove this file:
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
You see, your mac, upon every boot, checks to see if that file is present. Its not really even a file that holds any information (its just a file named .AppleSetupDone). If the file is not present, your computer will run the "first-run wizard," or Setup Assistant.
It's also a trick you can use if you don't have an administrative account on a computer.
Anyway, I'm still hoping I can get answers about why migration assistant refuses to respect the defaults I've set at:
/System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/
Best, and thanks again,
Allen

Migration Assistant won't find right user

I'm trying to get Leopard on to my daughter's Powermac G4, currently running 10.4.11. Two previous 10.5 installations on my G5 and my son's snow dome Imac failed to complete as updates and the disk had to be erased. In both cases all the apps and settings and backed up documents had to be manually reinstalled.
This time I did a bit of research and used this page as a guide:
http://techdebug.com/blog/2008/02/25/leopard-erase-and-install-success-howto/
It tells you how to make a copy of the old system on a Firewire drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, then use Migration Assistant to import everything back once you've updated.
Everything went well and OS 10.56 is now on the Powerbook as a clean installation. But it all went wrong at the very last stage. The Powerbook will happily boot from my 500Gb Firewire drive running the old cloned system, but when I boot from Leopard and try to migrate the old user back, the Assistant doesn't find my daughter's account. Instead it finds only my own name and identifies 360Gb worth of "additional data".
Now there is no active system with my name on that disk – only a large amount of data stored in folders. There was an OS on there a long time ago but I thought I'd got rid of that.
I can understand the Assistant finding the vestiges of that old ID from invisible files on the drive, but why won't it then go on to find the fully working IDs that have just been installed there? It's got me seriously tearing what's left of my hair out.

Rather than connecting "on the same network", use Create Network from the airport menu icon and connect the two notebooks directly and thus get an "N" connection. Ensure that you turn on file sharing, turn off the firewalls on both computers on this singular network you have created. Then you should be able to migrate if you are the "owner" or administrator as set up on both computers. Follow the directions... post back if this does or does not work.

Migration assistant doesn't migrate all user files

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