Migration Assistant won'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

patricksgolden wrote:
I was surprised too when my son fired it up. We bought it at the Navy Exchange in Norfolk in mid-August. It was the last one they had in stock and must have been from a previous inventory. I've sent my son the link to get the free upgrade to Lion, but I told him to hold off until we can get the migration assistant stuff resolved.
If you ever heard of "Migraine Assistant" now you know where it comes from
I always Software Update, install programs from fresh sources, enter the serials, then transfer files manually into their same respective (Music, Pictures, Documents etc) folders on the new Mac as this way it keeps a new boot drive optimized for best computer performance.
All one has to do is use the same drive name and set up the same user name on the new Mac as with the old Mac.
Doing this way this way keeps the iTunes song location pathnames, playlists, others etc work just like before.
There are third party programs that cause all sorts of headaches using migration/setup assistant as they have part of themselves installed in the system, which migration and setup assistant doesn't transfer.
Also migration assistant transfers the user, so now there are two on the machine which the original that was created when the machine was setup has to be removed if not needed.
And to avoid another serious headache, stay away from OS X Lion, seriously for at least several months or more, you likely could sell that new Snow Leopard MacBook AIr for a few hundred dollars more than you paid for it right now.
Lion has a LOT, a LOT of issues, not only with the major changes inflicted, like Autosave, scrolling is backwards, there are no boot disks (requiring a fast and reliable Internet connection to install Lion again) and other nightmares as well a a LOT of third party software and hardware drivers are just not ready for it yet.
Lion will NOT run Rossetta based PowerPC software, so a lot of programs on the old Mac might not run anymore, requiring to pay for new ones, if ones exist yet.
You can download the Lion installer and create a backup image to burn to the DVD or boot off a USB and delete the installer on the Mac without installing. You can also hold the Option key in the MacAppStore on Purchases allows you to download it again. It might be available to download for free without installing forever, if not it's only $29. Not much to save yourself a ton of more headaches as they work out the issues and software gets updated for it.
Lion Up To Date Program (free Lion for machines like yours)
https://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/
You can create your own Lion boot disks/USB images using the methods here and elsewhere for USB boot. You must create the image before installing Lion, or the installer deletes itself.
http://eggfreckles.net/notes/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
Also one has to learn all about the Lion Recovery Partition and Lion Recovery Disk Assistant as there are no boot disks, although Apple does sell a USB of Lion for $69
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433

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I read somewhere else that I should not try to backup my new installation to TC because of the risk it will affect my previous store on it.
When I loaded Mountain Lion and later Mavericks, I continued to use the same backup with no problems.
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See A5.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

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elvenkind wrote:
I bought a new i3 iMac and skipped the migration assistant initially. Things were going fantastic, I imported and built a new iTunes library, iPhoto library etc.
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
That's likely a complication. You'll now have an extra user account with that stuff in it, and the account(s) you transfer won't have permission to it.
I had to depress power button to force shutoff. Upon restart, at the apple boot logo, all I get is a message saying the computer has to be restarted, which appears in multiple languages. There seems to be nothing I can do to get it to boot.
That's a *kernel panic.*
They are usually caused by hardware problems, but can be software.
Try running this: [Apple Hardware Test: iMac (Mid 2007) and later models|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1883]. Run the Extended tests.
and the (free) Rember, a heavy-duty memory tester, from: http://www.kelleycomputing.net/
If that doesn't help, start with this Apple article: [If “You need to restart your computer” appears|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8965.html].
Once you get it started, check the transferred user accounts; most likely, the transfer was incomplete, and you'll have to delete the partial accounts and run the Migration again.
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Used Migration Assistant to import PC files. It created second user account that won't sync with iPad. How do I merge accounts?

Used Migration Assistant to import PC files. It created second user account that won't sync with iPad. How do I merge accounts?

It's next to impossible to fully merge two accounts on a Mac easily.
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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.
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- 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 Won't Recognize My Old iBook

Well ... my brand new MacBook ... all set to move an account from my old iBook ... over ... and it won't go ...
I have followed the instructions exactly ... restarted my iBook in Target Disk Mode .... firewire attached ... and Migration Assistant says ...
"There are no versions of MacOS X available on your old Mac .....
Any suggestions .... it's not my firewire cable ... I use it all the time ... everythings hooked up right ..

I have the exact same problem. When setting up the new MacBook, I attached the firewire cable and restarted the PowerBook into target disk mode. The Firewire symbol appears on the screen but the MacBook gives the error message "There are no versions of MacOS X available on your old Mac". I wanted to test if it is a problem with the MacBook, and found that the MacBook will recognize and mount a portable firewire hard drive. Furthermore, when I tried attaching it to an intel iMac, it recognized it and was ready to import files from it. Therefore it seems that the problem is that the OS X 10.4.11 on the PowerBook is somehow 'invisible' to the MacBook migration assistant. I tried repairing permissions on the old PowerBook, but that didn't help. In the meantime I also ran software update on the MacBook, which brought it up to the very latest version of Leopard.
Could it be that the version of OS X needs to be the same on both machines? Next I am going to backup the PowerBook, then upgrade it to Leopard, then try again. I am surprised more people haven't had this problem, at least I have seen few postings about it.

IMovie and iPhoto won't run after Migration Assistant

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Thanks!

sorry, if you have a new mac it should come with the new version of iLife which is what you want to install. My bad. So, insert the istall DVD that came with your new Mac. On that DVD there should be a directory called Optional Installs which should contain a .mpkg file for installing iLife (I don't have an install disk handy so I don't remember the name of the file). double click on that file and it will guide you through the installation process.

Migration Assistant won't recognize Time Machine Backup

I recenly got my old thunderbolt-less macbook pro back from a repair and I can't seem to resotre my data. My external drive it reconized in finder, but not in Migration Assistant. I have updated to the newest OS and still nothing. I was tunning mavrics before the repair so this should be working right? Thanks for any help you can offer.

A possible reason for backups not to be available in Migration Assistant is that the computer doesn't have a name, or the name is corrupt. Open the Sharing preference pane and check the name. If you can't do that, reset the PRAM. Credit to ASC member Csnote for this observation.
Most likely, some folders were excluded from your backups as the result of a failed or aborted software installation.
Starting from a clean installation of OS X, set up a new administrator account and log in. Enter Time Machine and press the key combination shift-command-C. The front window will show all mounted volumes. All snapshots should now be accessible.* Select the one you want and navigate to your home folder (in the Users folder at the top level of the old startup volume.)
You should now be able to restore your user data. I suggest you do this in two stages. Quit all applications except the Finder before you begin.
Restore all the visible items at the top level of your home folder.
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Enter Time Machine and restore all items in the Library folder. Log out and log back in as soon as the restore is complete.
Any other invisible folders or files at the top level of your home folder that you want to preserve will have to be restored separately. For most users, that isn't necessary.
You'll have to reinstall all third-party applications from scratch, or restore them from another kind of backup, if you have one.
You'll have another problem if this is a new computer, or if you erased the startup volume: The next time you back up, Time Machine won't recognize any files as being the same as they were before, and will make a full copy of all files. There might not be enough space on one or more of your backup volumes for that. There are different ways of dealing with that situation, depending on your needs. The easiest way is to set your backup drives aside, if possible, until you're sure you'll no longer need the data on them, then erase them and start over. Meanwhile start a new backup on one or more empty storage devices. If that solution isn't workable for you, ask for instructions.
*If you don't see any snapshots in Time Machine, exit the time-travel view and then hold down the option key while selecting
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu, which has an icon that looks like a clock running backwards. Select the backups of your computer by its previous name. If you don't have the Time Machine menu, open the Time Machine preference pane in System Preferences and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

Migration Assistant won't migrate or assist me

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