Preparing the users MySite after a upgrade from SharePoint 2010 to 2013

A common part of a migration from SharePoint 2010 to 2013, is to include the MySite user profile and personal site collections. Both the User Profile and Managed Metadata service applications must be migrated first. After the web application has been created, and the content database(s) has been reattached, the MySite host must be upgraded to 2013. This can easily be done either from the web page or with PowerShell. All customization to the branding will be lost as the Master Page is reverted to "mysite15.master", and you will be required to create a new Master Page based on this one to keep a custom branding. In 2013 the user will now be presented with a dialog with 1-2 options the first time they visit their MySite after the upgrade. To avoid unnecessary interruption and confusion, I think it is a good think to prepare the MySite so these choices is already set for the user from a company policy.

What will it look to the end users?

Scenario 1: The user only has a user profile, and no personal site collection

This gives the user the option to have some of the options regarding the social features in their user profile activated. It could be better to set this for all users, and give them a guide how to changes it afterwards instead. Most people won't care, and keep the default settings.

Scenario 2: The user had both  a user profile and a personal site collection

In the last option, SharePoint has detected that the user has a site collection, and that one or more document libraries exists within it. Keeping this option without being aware of what it does can end in trouble.

For a personal site collection with no customization, this probably will work out fine. But if you have created personal document libraries, or even having custom solutions with their own document libraries, this must be handled differently.

What happens if I choose "Ok" (as ALWAYS)?

If the document library "Shared Documents" exists, it is automatically mapped to the folder "Shared with everyone". All other document libraries are created as new folders. A few libraries are always ignored; Style Library, SiteAssets and FormServerTemplates.

For testing purposes it is possible to run the initial setup multiple times as long you clean up the "Documents" library to only contain the "Shared with everyone" folder.

After the files have been moved to SkyDrive, the original library is removed. SkyDrive itself is stored in the "Documents" library with the hard coded URL "/Documents".

Permissions are not copied, so if you had libraries, folder or files with unique permissions set, these must be reapplies manually after the merge.

It can be a bit tricky to test and get a good understanding of what will happen, but luckily this one-time dialog can be open up and reapplied as many times you want by using this URL: http://mysite/_layouts/15/InitialSetup.aspx?IsDlg=1&HasMysite=1

To simulate the last option in the dialog box, switch the query attribute "HasMysite" between 0 and 1.

Disabling the default "Let's get social" dialog

Found a hint at this blog, but it didn't for some reason work for me: http://www.ilovesharepoint.com/2013/03/get-rid-of-mysite-lets-get-social-dialog.html.

By adding the value to the AllProperties, instead of Properties bag of the SPWeb object as suggested in the article above, the dialog was suppressed.

[code language="powershell"]
$web = Get-SPWeb http://mysite/
$web.AllProperties["urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:SPS-O15FirstRunExperience"] = "Off";
$web.Update();
[/code]

Just as a reminder when you are removing this dialog, you should make sure the default MySite configuration that is correct for your organization.

Enable social data for existing users

For all new users, these settings are configured and managed by the service application. For existing users, a policy to enable social data can be applied with PowerShell.

[code language="powershell"]
$site = Get-SPSite -Limit 1
$context = Get-SPServiceContext $site
$profileManager = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($context)
$profiles = $profileManager.GetEnumerator()
$profiles | where {  $_.ShareAllSocialData($true); }
[/code]

Summary

After migrating MySite from SharePoint 2010 to 2013, new features including Social and SkyDrive requires end-users to take action. This article discusses what these options include, and how you could set the policy up front, and suppress the dialog from appearing at all.