What is a Device ReACL Profile?
A Device ReACL Profile is a collection of ReACL related settings which can be defined once and then applied to multiple Devices.
What is the default Device ReACL Profile used for?
The default Device ReACL Profile is used if a different profile is not defined and set on a Device. The default Device ReACL Profile can be edited.
How are Device ReACL Profiles created?
To create a Device ReACL profile:
On the Device ReACL section of the Profiles page, click the Add button. The Add Your Device ReACL Profile window appears.
In the Profile Name field, enter a name to identify this Device ReACL Profile.
Select a Logging Level, either Informational (default) or Debugging.
Select the desired components to process.
- Local Files/Folders: Selected by default.
- Registry Permissions: Selected by default.
- User Profiles: Selected by default.
- Local Group Memberships: Selected by default.
- Local Printer Permissions: Selected by default.
- Network Share Permissions: Selected by default.
- Printer Share Permissions: Selected by default.
Roaming Profiles: Unselected by default.
Note: If you select Roaming Profiles, users must be logged out of their roaming profiles during the ReACL process.
- Windows Services: Selected by default. The Windows Services option will ensure that any source domain accounts that were given permission to a service will include the corresponding matched target domain account after a ReACL process.
- Windows Service Accounts: Unselected by default. We recommend that the Windows Service Accounts box is left UNCHECKED. A change in the ACL of the service accounts of the target may have an impact on the applications currently running. Although the ReACL process can usually be rolled back in case of issues, there could be a temporary disruption in service until that can be resolved. Selecting the Windows Service Accounts box will switch the domain account that Windows services are running under to the corresponding matched target domain account after a completed ReACL process.
- User Rights Assignments: Unselected by default.
- System ACLs: Selected by default. The System ACLs option allows for the proper translation of accounts within the security audit logs.
- Preserve the "Archive" Bit: Unselected by default. If the Preserve the "Archive" Bit box is left unchecked, the archive bit will be reset. If checked, the archive bit will not be reset.
Click Next.
Normally all files and folders are included in the ReACL process. If it is preferred to provide a specific list, enter the list in the Only Process the Following and Their Subfolders box. Separate each entry by pressing Enter. You may use just a file path starting with backslashes, or provide an exact drive letter. If a drive letter is provided, the ReACL is limited to that exact path.
Note that if you choose to list folders here, these are the ONLY folders that will be included in the ReACL process. (The exception is if you selected the User Profiles component on the previous screen: those profiles would then always be included automatically in addition to your list specified here.)
In the Exclude These Paths From Processing box, enter folder paths that will not be included in the ReACL process. Wild card characters (‘*’ matches zero or more characters and ‘?’ matches any single character) can be used when specifying excluded folders. Separate the paths by pressing Enter. By default, the following folders are excluded:
- \Windows
- \WINNT
- \I386
- \Windows\I386
- \Program Files
- \PROGRAM FILES (x86)
- \MSOCACHE
- \System Volume Information
- \Recycler
- \$RECYCLE.BIN
- \CONFIG.MSI
- \RECOVERY
- \OEM
- \Quarantine
- \BOOT
\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender
In the Exclude These Files From Processing box, enter files that will not be included in the ReACL process. A leading '\' is not necessary. Wild card characters (‘*’ matches zero or more characters and ‘?’ matches any single character) can be used when specifying excluded files. Separate the files by pressing Enter. The following wild card characters are permitted when specifying files:
- * matches zero or more characters in a file name, but not the '\' path delimiter.
- ? matches any single character.
- ** matches zero or more parent directories.
Examples:
- FileToSkip.dat – a single file in the root directory
- \FolderToProcess\ExcludedFIle.sys – a single file in the FolderToProcess directory
- \FolderToProcess\**\*.dat – all .dat files anywhere under the FolderToProcess directory
In the Exclude These Registry Keys From Processing box, enter registry keys that will not be included in the ReACL process. A leading '\' is not necessary. Separate the keys by pressing Enter. The following wild card characters are permitted when specifying registry keys:
- * matches zero or more characters in a key name, but not the '\' path delimiter.
- ? matches any single character.
- ** matches zero or more parent keys.
Examples:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\XYZ – a single key
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\XY* – all keys starting with "XY" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\?YZ – all 3-character keys ending with "YZ" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\**\XYZ – all keys named "XYZ" anywhere under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- **\XYZ – all keys named "XYZ" in any registry hive
In the Exclude These Security Identifiers From Processing box, enter SIDS that will not be included in the ReACL process. Separate the SIDs by pressing Enter.
Click Next.
The Reparse Point Processing Rules page appears. Reparse Points like Symbolic Links, Mount Points, and OneDrive folders will be processed by ReACL. Additional Reparse Tags can be added to the rules list in the Advanced view to change how ReACL will process those items. Click the Show Advanced button to edit the rules list.
When Show Advanced is clicked the rules list is displayed. Additional Reparse Points can added to the list in the "ReparseTag:Action" format. Skip, Recurse, Update, and Full are the available actions. Separate rules by pressing Enter.
Click Next.
Select an option from the Elevated Permissions Failure Action drop-down list to choose the action that should be taken if the ReACL process encounters permissions elevation errors.
In order to successfully adjust permissions, Active Directory must create a process with a security token that has been assigned additional permissions. The token is said to have elevated rights/permissions. If this process fails, it is likely that the ReACL will be largely unsuccessful in updating the operating system for use by target user accounts.
- The default is Terminate processing with fatal error, this means the ReACL job for a Device is stopped if a permissions elevation error occurs. This is a time-saving option. The ReACL Status will be Failed in the Devices + Servers table. A Device cannot be Cutover if the ReACL Status is Failed. This is the recommended setting.
- If you choose Log informational entry, an info entry will be logged if a permissions elevation error occurs. If no other errors are encountered the ReACL job will complete as successful and the ReACL Status will be Completed in the Devices + Servers table. This choice allows experienced migration architects to analyze the logs and choose to proceed with Cutover based on their analysis of the results. We suggest choosing “Log warning entry” rather than “Log informational entry” as that will make the entries easier to locate in the log.
- If you choose Log warning entry, a warning entry will be logged if a permissions elevation error occurs. If no other errors are encountered the ReACL job will complete as successful and the ReACL Status will be Completed in the Devices + Servers table. This choice allows experienced migration architects to analyze the logs and choose to proceed with Cutover based on their analysis of the results.
- If you choose Log error entry, an error entry will be logged if a permissions elevation error occurs. The ReACL job will continue, but the ReACL Status will be Failed in the Devices + Servers table. This selection may take significantly more time than "Terminate processing with fatal error" because the entire process will attempt to finish before reporting as Failed.
- Select an option from the Profile Failure Action drop-down list to choose the action that should be taken when an invalid or duplicate profile exists in the target.
- The default is Terminate processing with fatal error, this means the ReACL process for a Device is stopped if an invalid or duplicate profile error occurs. This is a time-saving option. The ReACL Status will be Failed in the Devices + Servers table. A Device cannot be Cutover if the ReACL Status is Failed. This is the recommended setting.
- If you choose Log informational entry, an info entry will be logged if an invalid or duplicate profile error occurs. If no other errors are encountered the ReACL job will complete as successful and the ReACL Status will be Completed in the Devices + Servers table. This choice allows experienced migration architects to analyze the logs and choose to proceed with Cutover based on their analysis of the results. We suggest choosing “Log warning entry” rather than “Log informational entry” as that will make the entries easier to locate in the log.
- If you choose Log warning entry, a warning entry will be logged if an invalid or duplicate profile error occurs. If no other errors are encountered the ReACL job will complete as successful and the ReACL Status will be Completed in the Devices + Servers table. This choice allows experienced migration architects to analyze the logs and choose to Cutover based on their analysis of the results.
- If you choose Log error entry, an error entry will be logged if an invalid or duplicate profile error occurs. The ReACL job will continue and then complete as Failed and the ReACL Status on the Devices + Servers table will be Failed. This selection may take significantly more time than "Terminate processing with fatal error" because the entire process will attempt to finish before reporting as Failed.
Select an option from the Preserve Rollback Metadata in ACLs drop-down list.
Active Directory can leave behind metadata during the ReACL process to allow seamless rollback of the process if needed. This setting controls the creation of this metadata which is later removed during the Cleanup process.
The default is Always - Keep source security principles and does not affect performance. We recommend this setting. This is the only setting where the changes performed by the ReACL process can be rolled back, or undone, in all scenarios.
If you choose Only If Ambiguous - Keep source security principles when necessary, metadata will only be included when the rollback settings would be ambiguous. “Only If Ambiguous” results in the inclusion of less metadata, preserving usage for times when it may be impossible to determine the original file or folder permissions. For example, when users have accounts in multiple domains that will be consolidated into a single domain.
Note that Only If Ambiguous guarantees that a ReACL can be rolled back to the original state only when the file system permissions remained unchanged. Modification of ACLs on the file system could create a state where a rollback cannot complete with 100% success. To ensure the ability to perform a ReACL Rollback in all scenarios, Always should be selected.
If you are an experienced migration architect, you may choose Never - Replace source security principles to never include metadata.
Note: If Never is selected, a complete ReACL Rollback may not be possible.
- Select Yes under Run Processing in Simulation Mode to simulate the results of the ReACL process without actually making any changes to the ACLs. Visit the logs/reports to determine if there are any potential issues and correct them before changing this setting to No and running an actual ReACL process. Alternatively, you might use this setting to create a separate Device ReACL Profile specifically for testing purposes.
- Click Save Profile. The new Device ReACL Profile is added to the list.