Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro - a must have tool for techs

Having the key is good (thanks Fabs), Just remember to deactivate the license in the program (MB) if the computer boots and can go online before doing the backup and before nuking or transferring to another computer or you will have reactivation issues.

That sounds like a warning that should happen at the end of the backup process - "Backed up license keys with limited activations, consider deactivating/uninstalling these programs before restoring to a new computer"
 
That sounds like a warning that should happen at the end of the backup process - "Backed up license keys with limited activations, consider deactivating/uninstalling these programs before restoring to a new computer"
That will be in the next update. There's no hurry for that as it still possible to deactivate it online in case of a dead source PC through Malwarebytes account's control panel.
I have found something else : Fab's show that it can grab a license on machines with just free version installed. Fortunately, that does not interrupt file copy processes and does not throw any error message.
 
"Backed up license keys with limited activations, consider deactivating/uninstalling these programs before restoring to a new computer"

I wish programs themselves would advertise when this was necessary. It's always some LOB app or little program I've never heard of, but it's a soul-killing when you're just cleaning up to go and they get an activation warning. Another half-hour or worse to reassemble the old box, hook up the monitor, keyboard and mouse again, fire it up, figure out how to deactivate the problem program, then decommission the old box (again), put the new box in place (again) and get the thing activated. I spent over an hour doing this dance with an embroidery program (Embird?) last month. Good times.
 
I've experienced the following problem a few times recently. I'm not sure if this is a known problem so here it comes:

Latest version of Fabs.
Doing a migration to N&P machine.
After installing Win10 1909, the first thing I do is Fabs restore.
Then install Chrome.
Chrome reports that the profile was corrupted and has been reset.
Bookmarks and passwords are lost.
 
I'm just shocked there's anything in 1909 that isn't in 1903, the build numbers are seriously a single digit increment... that's not even really a new build.
 
I get the same problem with Firefox profiles not restored correctly.


I dont have time to fool around trying to fix things that shouldn't break so I'll just stick with the old versions that work properly.
 
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I've experienced the following problem a few times recently. I'm not sure if this is a known problem so here it comes:

Latest version of Fabs.
Doing a migration to N&P machine.
After installing Win10 1909, the first thing I do is Fabs restore.
Then install Chrome.
Chrome reports that the profile was corrupted and has been reset.
Bookmarks and passwords are lost.
Fab's could not corrupt it as it does not change a single bit of Chrome settings.
It does something similar to this : https://support.4it.com.au/article/copy-google-chrome-profile-new-user-profile-windows/
A simple test is to try to copy a chrome profile manually and restore it to another user profile on the same machine. You will get the same thing.
If I take a closer look at chrome profile's files and I see that there is a "Preferences" file (totally understandable) AND a "Secured Preferences" file that's looks encrypted.
However, I've no problem if I migrate Chrome form a domain user profile to a new machine with same user account (and same domain of course). Conclusion : it looks like encryption key is linked to Windows user's SID.
If Windows user's SID changes, then Chrome thinks profile has been corrupt by an external program (like malware for browser hijacking) and resets everything.
I'm looking for some trick that could help keeping as much data as possible.
 
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Still testing.
So far, only bookmarks are kept. Stored passwords are definitely gone.
Because of encryption, it looks like the best way to keep everything in every case is to enable Chrome's sync feature as it prevents settings from being moved that simply.
It looks like I now have to change that "Google Chrome profile" item for "Google Chrome bookmarks" and only focus on bookmarks file to not waste time getting files that will be wiped anyway :(
Encryption is great to prevent malware infections but definitely bad for data migration.
 
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I get the same problem with Firefox profiles not restored correctly.


I dont have time to fool around trying to fix things that shouldn't break so I'll just stick with the old versions that work properly.
This issue has already been addressed. That said, you're free to stick with older version if you prefer. I'm just sorry that you do not trust it anymore (and me either fixing issues when they occur).
 
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Still testing.
So far, only bookmarks are kept. Stored passwords are definitely gone.
Because of encryption, it looks like the best way to keep everything in every case is to enable Chrome's sync feature as it prevents settings from being moved that simply.
It looks like I now have to change that "Google Chrome profile" item for "Google Chrome bookmarks" and only focus on bookmarks file to not waste time getting files that will be wiped anyway :(
Encryption is great to prevent malware infections but definitely bad for data migration.
Google wants you to move your data through their ecosystem (ie sync) and is progressively removing all the tools relating to export/import.

Does it work if the SID is the same? That is, if the domain or workgroup is the same and the user name is the same ?
 
Google and Firefox are both slowly bolting in a full on password management system. As they do this, the process is going to get harder. Users really do not have any choice, they must have an account with those services if they want to use them. Any vendor handling passwords is going to have to get picky with the encryption, because if you think about... If FABs can lift and move all those passwords, who else can?

That means FABs can steal the digital identities of the users on the machines it works with. That's an unacceptable breach in the chain of ownership of the information in question.

So yes, expect this junk to get harder, not easier. Because systems are becoming more secure. And the major players are going to take this ability away from you. The only supportable path forward, is to use the sync features in the ecosystem in question.

And that's not even a business and money thing, it's raw chain of authority and security. Stored passwords should not, under any circumstance, be portable.

So FABs, I love your tool, and thank you for keeping on top as best you can. But honestly, I do not expect you to win this fight. Grab the bookmarks, skip everything else, and move on. That's the best you can do, not just from a feature / functionality standpoint, but in support of best practices as well.

P.S. If your customers do not want their passwords passing through Microsoft / Google / Firefox hands... Bitwarden, and sell them a small server to run the docker container they can have at home. They want to waste time reinventing the wheel, let them...
 
On the topic of Chrome profile transfer, this week I did the Fabs transfer for a user and it brought across a dozen of those junk search and toolbar extensions, ended up removing them all afterwards. First time I've really noticed extensions transferred with the profile but I suppose it's always done that?
 
Google wants you to move your data through their ecosystem (ie sync) and is progressively removing all the tools relating to export/import.

Does it work if the SID is the same? That is, if the domain or workgroup is the same and the user name is the same ?
It works for most things in this case. I've tried with a single domain account (same SID but different path as this AD account has been renamed).
Backup from Windows 32bit windows 7 with last Chrome version installed and restore to 64 bit Windows 10 :
- Theme : OK
- Bookmarks : OK
- Passwords : wiped
- Extensions : the only one I've installed was shown as corrupted after restore: I had to repair uBlock Origin to have it working again.

Edit : I get the same results from a domain profile to another one with different SID, same domain for both.

Conclusion :
- if I'm dealing with a domain user profile as source, I backup the entire Chrome profile.
- if source profile is domain and I'm transferring to a domain user profile, I transfer the entire Chrome profile. If target profile is not a domain profile, I'll only copy bookmarks because Chrome will wipe out everything else upon startup.
- if I've backed up entire Chrome profile and am restoring to a domain user profile, I restore the entire Chrome profile, otherwise, I'll only restore bookmarks.
Gosh! Things are getting trickier or is this just me ? LOL
Sounds pretty fair anyway
Note : I've not tested transfer between 2 different domains. I'll neet time to set up a new test domain for that.

Google and Firefox are both slowly bolting in a full on password management system. As they do this, the process is going to get harder. Users really do not have any choice, they must have an account with those services if they want to use them. Any vendor handling passwords is going to have to get picky with the encryption, because if you think about... If FABs can lift and move all those passwords, who else can?
That means FABs can steal the digital identities of the users on the machines it works with. That's an unacceptable breach in the chain of ownership of the information in question.

So yes, expect this junk to get harder, not easier. Because systems are becoming more secure. And the major players are going to take this ability away from you. The only supportable path forward, is to use the sync features in the ecosystem in question.

And that's not even a business and money thing, it's raw chain of authority and security. Stored passwords should not, under any circumstance, be portable.

So FABs, I love your tool, and thank you for keeping on top as best you can. But honestly, I do not expect you to win this fight. Grab the bookmarks, skip everything else, and move on. That's the best you can do, not just from a feature / functionality standpoint, but in support of best practices as well.
I must agree with the above. We're talking about security stuff, aka highly sensitive data. This should not be portable at all, even if that's handy.
Example : what could happen if someone comes with a thumbdrive, run Fab's against an unattended machine and get browser profiles with passwords inside ? <sarcastic> yeah, I know: if someone leaves sensitive stuff unattended, then he deserves to be hacked lol </sarcastic>
At least, since passwords do not make it with Chrome transfer, that security issue is solved...


On the topic of Chrome profile transfer, this week I did the Fabs transfer for a user and it brought across a dozen of those junk search and toolbar extensions, ended up removing them all afterwards. First time I've really noticed extensions transferred with the profile but I suppose it's always done that?
Yes, that's a normal behavior: a stated on post 696 of this thread, Fab's "stupidly" gets everything that's in Chrome profile (except most of cached stuff) and that includes extensions which could be crap but could also be legitimate. @Porthos is right: it's to better clean up before backup if that's possible.
 
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If you're using the vendor-provided sync in either Firefox or Chrome, you can probably skip the bookmarks as well - normally that does bookmarks, plugins, security.

One thing that would probably be really nice to keep is plugin customizations where feasible. uBlock Origin is a perfect example, since you can customize what's blocked or which sites it runs on (uMatrix is similar but much more likely to have per-site customization data). I don't believe either sync takes that along.

And uBO may be a moot point in Chrome once Manifest v3 gets rolled out sometime next year, though apparently they did increase one of the troublesome limits in it. (https://www.ghacks.net/2019/11/13/google-implements-controversial-manifest-v3-in-chrome-canary-80/)
 
If you're using the vendor-provided sync in either Firefox or Chrome, you can probably skip the bookmarks as well - normally that does bookmarks, plugins, security.
Sure, built-in sync grabs everything with no hassle. Challenge here is to grab at least bookmarks for people who do not use it or who can't enable it anymore (unbootable drive for example).

This are going well regarding this stuff. It works like I want it to. I use registry to sort between domain and local users. In case of a domain user, there is a "DCName" value in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History" registry key. If this value exists and is not empty, I can safely consider that user is from a domain. Of course, user's registry can be corrupted, so, in this case, user profile is treated like a non domain user (some kind of fail safe mode).

- Grab full Chrome profile if source user profile is identified as a domain member, just bookmarks if not.
- Transfer full Chrome profile is both source and target user profiles are domain members, just bookmarks if not.
- Restore full Chrome profile if target user profile is identified as a domain member, just bookmarks if not.

I've another couple of things to check but I would say that an update is imminent.
Thanks everyone for your insights!
 
Hi,
Fab's AutoBackup 7 Home & Office and Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro V7.1.1.1297 have just been released.

Change log:
Removed:
- Windows Start Screen layout. This item was made for Windows 8 and could throw error messages while restoring/transferring.

Fixed:
- The program did not backup additional files and folders while running in safe mode and using VSS feature. To prevent this problem, VSS feature is now totally disabled in safe mode.
- Command line mode was broken when "/SILENT" switch was used.
- Google Chrome profile is now handled differently as Chrome now encrypts them for security reasons. When a Chrome profile is restored/transferred, if encryption key (linked to machine and user) is different from the current one (that's the case if Operating system has been reinstalled, computer changed or if user profile is new), Chrome deletes all settings upon startup thinking that malware has corrupted it. This happens when dealing with usual user profiles, Active Directory domain users are not affected. Now, when source user is part of a domain, the entire Chrome profile is backed up, if not, only bookmarks are saved. In case of a transfer, both source and target user accounts must be part of a domain or only bookmarks are transferred. For restore, to restore a full Chrome profile, target user account must be part of a domain otherwise, only bookmarks will be processed.
- Improved Malwarebytes Anti-malware license key grabbing feature's behavior: it now shows a reminder about limited activation licenses.
- The installed software feature listing did not grab per user installed software. Some pieces of software do not need admin permissions to be installed and sit in user's profile. If such a program is detected, there will be something like "- ##### UserName ##### at the end of the line in the list.
- Program now shows in the log if it has failed to set dates on target folder instead of putting this information in an error report. Most of the time, this is linked to a disconnected source media (under powered USB drive for example).


Grab it from your orders history's details on the shop's website at https://store.fpnet.fr/account.php?language=en or using the bundled updater tool (click the "Download Fab's AutoBackup 7.X" link within the program and get the updated files).
 
Grab full Chrome profile if source user profile is identified as a domain member, just bookmarks if not.

The old standby of the Nirsoft Web Browser Password View is probably still an option for non-domain - it's not seamless, but at least the passwords are there.
 
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