Using Smigrate to dump SharePoint to a .CAB file

Dean's presentation to the Puget Sound Users Group had yet another nugget of information on SharePoint. Did you know that sharepoint comes with another admin tool other than sbsadm.exe. It comes with...

smigrate.exe !!

So what can it do?

• Works with sites based on WMSDE


• Size is unlimited


• Requires Admin Access


• Pick and choose site content


• Pick and choose sites


• Allows you to migrate between WSS versions

So what can't it do?

• Does not preserve customization or security


• Will not overwrite existing sites

So what does it do? well, run it! It's located %Program Files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\BIN\

Here is the help for smigrate (acquired by typing "smigrate /?"

Backs up or restores a SharePoint Web site.

Usage (backup): smigrate -w -f [-e] [-y]
Usage (restore): smigrate -r -w -f [-x]

Operations and Parameters:
-f Backup filename - required. Specify a filename with the extension .fwp.
-e Exclude subsites during backup - optional. No parameters.
-r Restore - optional. No parameters.
-w Website URL - required. Valid URL to a SharePoint Web site.
-x Exclude security during restore - optional. No parameters.
-y Confirm that you want to overwrite an existing backup file.
-u Administrator username.
-pw Administrator password.
Specify * as the password to be prompted for a password.

Example backup:
smigrate -w http://server -f backup.fwp
smigrate -w http://server -f c:\backups\backup.fwp
smigrate -w http://server -f \\share\folder\backup.fwp
smigrate -w http://server -f c:\backups\backup.fwp -e -y

Example restore:
smigrate -r -w http://server -f backup.fwp
smigrate -r -w http://server -f c:\backups\backup.fwp
smigrate -r -w http://server -f \\share\folder\backup.fwp
smigrate -r -w http://server -f c:\backups\backup.fwp -x

Now here's the fancy thing: rename .fwp to .cab, then crack the file open with windows explorer. Surprise, there's all your files.

Have fun with this one. :)