*This post originally appeared on the AppSense blog prior to the rebrand in January 2017, when AppSense, LANDESK, Shavlik, Wavelink, and HEAT Software merged under the new name Ivanti.

Windows 10 is here, and whether your users are asking for it or not it will soon be time to accept that a migration is just around the corner. What’s that mean? Yet another user profile version – v5, while Windows 7 and Windows 8 use v2 – to manage. It also means that it may just finally be time to eliminate migration headaches for good with a new approach to user profiles.

Just how many profile versions do you want to manage? Soon it may be common to have three or four different profile generations in use at the same time. Consider this, Windows 7 profiles are only compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows 8 profiles are only compatible with Windows Server 2012; and Windows 8.1 profiles are only compatible with Windows Server 2012 R2. That means that roaming users that alternate frequently from virtual to physical desktops, or different laptops running separate operating systems, will cause you a great deal of pain, asking, “Why is my desktop personalization or application access different, device to device?”

Even if you can manage the addition of one more user profile version now – what about tomorrow? Microsoft surely won’t stop innovating and bringing us new Windows version and with them will likely come new user profile requirements.

Stop the insanity now. Divorce your user profiles from their environment and untether your users’ desktops from user profile madness. By separating profiles from the OS, users can seamlessly move from that XP machine that has the legacy application they need, to their new Windows 10 device and back to a Windows 7 or 8 desktop, all the while maintaining the personalization they prefer.

The bonus? You can also solve a lot of additional profile management challenges in the process, including:

  • Roaming profile corruption – Roaming profiles that are used to persist user preferences consume high volumes of disk storage, create logo delays and corruption. This can be eliminated.
  • Mountains of support requests for system rollbacks – When users experience an unexpected system failure, they can quickly and automatically self-heal without calling the help desk.
  • Flexibility for the future – Never have to worry about the high cost and resource drain of a migration again. Every time a new OS is introduced you’ll be ready without impacting user uptime.

Ready to learn more? Join us for the Webinar: Top 10 Tips for Win10 Readiness on September 29 at 8 a.m. PDT.