Patent ID: 7346766

Claim:
A method for preparing configuration settings of a source computing system for transitioning for use by a target computing system, the method comprising: providing information about configuration settings of the source computing system, the information identifying locations of configuration settings; displaying an indication of the configuration settings that can be extracted from the source computing system; receiving a selection of configuration settings to be extracted from the source computing system for use by the target computing system; extracting the selected configuration settings from the locations of the source computing system indicated by the information; manipulating at least one of the extracted configuration settings from a location, a name, a value, and a format used on the source computing system to a location, a name, a value, and a format used on the target computing system; and storing the extracted configuration settings and the at least one manipulated configuration settings on a storage device, wherein the stored configuration settings can be used by the target computing system to control its operation.