U-Move for Active Directory

U-Move for Active Directory Domain Controllers

U-Move is the all-in-one AD software utility that lets you recover, move, clone, or migrate the Microsoft® Active Directory® database on your domain controller (DC) for backup, disaster recovery, cloud migration, testing, or upgrade. It gives you more ways to back up and recover AD than any other utility.

  • Back up and restore Active Directory quickly and easily.
  • Schedule fast daily or weekly automatic backups of Active Directory.
  • Clone Active Directory to another computer or VM for disaster recovery, cloud migration, or offline testing.
  • Upgrade Active Directory to a replacement domain controller that is running a newer version of Windows Server (swing migration) on a different computer or VM.

U-Move Features

U-Move can do all of the following:

U-Move 2 is an upgrade from UMove version 1. Learn about the new features in U-Move Version 2.

A True Recovery Utility

U-Move is a true recovery utility. It can rescue AD from any source or backup, even from a dead computer.

U-Move should not be confused with more expensive “undo” utilities that create a parallel SQL database to track and roll back changes to individual AD objects. U-Move simply clones the entire AD database by taking a perfect snapshot. It copies only the files used by AD, keeping the size small, creating a single .BKF file for easy recovery on another computer.

Make Reliable Backups

U-Move can make reliable automatic daily backups of Active Directory. The backup includes all information required to restore AD. The backup includes important extra information outside the System State that is essential to move AD to a different computer. Only U-Move is designed to move all of AD to any replacement computer regardless of its hardware or VM configuration.

Clone AD for Testing

Microsoft recommends that you validate the compatibility of all security-related configuration changes in a test forest before you introduce them in a production environment. U-Move allows you to clone AD so that you can test your changes to Active Directory. You can copy a snapshot of AD to an isolated virtual machine (VM) or to an offline computer.

Swing Migration Made Simple

Migrating Active Directory to a new computer can be a complicated task. U-Move will guide you through a simple step-by-step procedure to replace the old domain controller (DC) with a new domain controller, all while checking your actions each step of the way.

U-Move will carefully guide you through the entire upgrade process. It will perform hundreds of tests to look for many common (and some not-so-common) errors. U-Move will offer to do the most difficult steps automatically for you: moving the FSMO roles and moving DNS. Or you can do it all yourself and have U-Move check your work.

Quick and Easy Migration

U-Move makes what is usually a very complicated task easy and straightforward. And with perfect backup snapshots and offline cloning for testing, it gives you the safest and most reliable way to upgrade your DC.

What's New

Announcing Active Directory Consulting and Repair Service

U-Tools Software is pleased to announce the Active Directory Consulting and Repair Service, where we will help you diagnose and fix problems with your Active Directory database. The service includes the...

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Announcing U-Move Version 2.9

U-Tools Software is pleased to announce the release of U-Move Version 2.9 for Microsoft Active Directory. Version 2.9 adds support for the U-Tools Active Directory Recovery Service, where we will run U-Move...

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U-Move Reviewed in ADMIN Magazine

U-Move received an in-depth review of its features in ADMIN Magazine.

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Announcing U-Move Version 2.8

U-Tools Software is pleased to announce the release of U-Move Version 2.8 for Microsoft Active Directory. Version 2.8 adds support for Window Server 2022. It also supports new Windows 11 security features...

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Announcing U-Move Version 2.7

U-Tools Software LLC is pleased to announce the release of U-Move Version 2.7 for Microsoft Active Directory. Version 2.7 adds support for Windows Server 2019. It also adds the ability to encrypt the Active...

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Uses and Benefits

  • Quick and easy backups of AD on a daily or weekly schedule
  • Fast disaster recovery
  • Test AD schema changes before deployment
  • Run only one domain controller (instead of two) with fast recovery capability
  • Practice a swing migration offline
  • Enable easy physical-to-virtual DC migration
  • Minimize downtime during an AD migration upgrade
  • Quickly restore a domain if an unsuccessful AD migration upgrade must be rolled back

U-Move has been used at hundreds of businesses and colleges, including many Fortune 500 companies. See our list of satisfied users.

Supported Operating Systems

Windows Server 2022Yes
Windows Server 2019Yes
Windows Server 2016Yes
Windows Server 2012Yes
Windows Server 2008Yes*
Windows Server 2003Yes*

*U-Move 2.7

For details see Requirements and Compatibility.


An Emergency?

Need to recover Active Directory ASAP? See these Emergency Instructions.


How to Buy

U-Move offers generous license terms for unlimited use.

Pricing starts at only $199.95 USD.