Migrating File System File Shares to Microsoft 365 SharePoint Sites

Shaun Richards

Updated October 01, 2024 17:24

This article provides instructions on configuring a migration batch for moving file shares from File System to Microsoft 365. The setup process outlined here focuses on migrating documents.

Before proceeding, ensure you have completed the steps in the File System to Microsoft 365 Migration Guide to set up your migration project and added your users batch.

Adding Items to Migrate

When migrating from File System to SharePoint sites, there are two available options:

Migrating to a New SharePoint Site: If the SharePoint site does not yet exist, the CloudM Migrate can automatically provision the site and migrate data into the default "Documents" document library.
Migrating to an Existing SharePoint Document Library: If the target document library does not exist, it must be provisioned ahead of time.

When preparing to migrate File System File Shares to corresponding SharePoint site document libraries, follow the format below:

Example:

Source folder path: \\servername\server\test
Destination SharePoint Site URL: https://destination.sharepoint.com/sites/testsite

Export Type: User
Export Name: Username of source user (this can be an admin account).
Import Type: Team Site
Import Name: sites/testsite
Given Name: Destination Document Library name. If the site and document library is not pre-provisioned, this should be set to "Documents".
Family Name: Display name of destination SharePoint site.
Documents Path: \\servername\server\test
Documents Destination Path: Name of the folder you wish to migrate to at the destination.

The file system migration will be executed under the user account running the migration service. Ensure this account has the necessary permissions to access the migrating share from both the migration server and any secondary locations. If the migration is being run by the Local System account (which is the default behavior), it is recommended to map a network drive as the system user using PSExec and then set the mapped drive as the Documents Path. The below article explains how to do this.
Configuring Mapped Drives

For each user entry, select the specific items you wish to migrate. Make sure the 'Migrate' option is enabled for all users included in the migration.

General Settings

In the General Settings section, ensure all domain mappings are configured correctly to facilitate replacing the source domain with the destination domain during the migration.

You can also apply date range filters for various data types to migrate information within a specific timeframe. Specify the date ranges you wish to include.

Source Settings

For a standard user-to-user migration, it is recommended to keep the source settings at their default values. However depending on your migration scenario, you may wish to adjust some settings. Detailed information about each source setting can be found in the below article.

File System - Source Settings

Destination Settings

For this type of migration, it's generally recommended to retain the default destination settings.

However, you may want to consider the following option:

SharePoint Online -> Provision Sites: Enable this option if you want the migration tool to automatically provision SharePoint Sites at the destination.

For a detailed explanation of each destination setting, please refer to the article below.

Microsoft 365 - Destination Settings

Advanced Settings

For a straightforward user-to-user migration, most advanced settings can remain at their default values. However, consider the following:

Address Replacement: It is highly recommended to upload an address replacement CSV that maps source users to their corresponding destination users. This ensures permissions are correctly migrated. For more information, please refer to the Address Replacements article.

Migration Process

The migration process will vary depending on your project's specific approach. Generally, it is advisable to start with a bulk migration and perform delta migrations closer to the final migration cutover date.