User Metadata on SharePoint 2019 Migration Site

Question

We are in the process of testing migrating data from our current SP 2013 on prem site to a new SP 2019 on prem site via a 3rd party tool. In one of our tests we migrated a list that has a user who created a list item and who no longer works for us and subsequently is not in our Active Directory any longer. We noticed that on the list, that users metadata, e.g. "Created By" and "Modified By", was replaced with the admin account that is running the tool. Other list items made by current employees show properly.

Can this be fixed by backing up the User Profile list from our current environment and restoring to our new environment.

Answer 1

No, you will lose this metadata unless you perform a database attach upgrade migration from 2013, to 2016, to 2019.

The reason being is this data is looked up against Active Directory rather than a SharePoint data source (such as the UIL or UPSA).

The only other possible way to resolve this is to create a new user account in Active Directory that matches the appropriate details, then in the 2013 farm, run a Move-SPUser against the deleted user object in the farm and update it with the new user object in Active Directory. You would then need to leave the account in an active state until you completed your migration using the 3rd party tool.