Issue with Hardlink Migration Using USMT

Question

Hello Team,

Recently, I encountered an issue with hardlink migration. My Windows installation in a VM became corrupted, and I had to reinstall Windows on the same drive. As a result, my old Windows data was moved to a folder named Windows.old.

I attempted to retrieve my old data from Windows.old to the current OS using the USMT tool. I performed a backup using scanstate on the F: volume of my system, where the backup of Windows.old is stored, and it completed successfully.

However, when running loadstate, I receive Error Code 36 regarding “wrong architecture,” even though the architecture of the current OS matches the original.

Could you please advise on how to resolve this issue?

Thank you,

command which i have used

scanstate.exe f:\parth /o /hardlink /i:migapp.xml /i:miguser.xml /offlinewinold:c:\windows.old\windows

loadstate.exe f:\parth /lac /lae /i:migapp.xml /i:miguser.xml /sf /hardlink /nocompress

Cmd

f:\amd64>loadstate.exe f:\parth /lac /lae /i:migapp.xml /i:miguser.xml /sf /hardlink /nocompress

LOADSTATE.EXE Version 10.0.26100

(C) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Log messages are being sent to 'f:\amd64\loadstate.log'

Starting the migration process

Processing the settings store

Invalid Platform Architecture

LoadState return code: 36

Loadstate logs.

2026-05-12 09:38:38, Info [0x000000] LOADSTATE.EXE Version 10.0.26100[gle=0x000000b7]

2026-05-12 09:38:38, Info [0x000000] USMT Started at 2026/05/12:09:38:38.018

2026-05-12 09:38:38, Info [0x000000] Command line: loadstate.exe f:\parth /lac /lae /i:migapp.xml /i:miguser.xml /sf /hardlink /nocompress

2026-05-12 09:38:38, Info [0x000000] Starting the migration process

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Info [0x000000] Host system information:

                               OS version: 10.0.19044

                               Architecture: x64

                               Manufacturer: VMware, Inc.

                               Model : VMware20,1

                               AoAc (connected standby) : No

                               BIOS name : VMW201.00V.21805430.B64.2305221830

                               BIOS version : VMW201.00V.21805430.B64.2305221830

                               BIOS release date : 20230522000000.000000+000

                               Total memory : 4294967296

                               Processor manufacturer : GenuineIntel

                               Processor name : 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H

                               Processor caption : Intel64 Family 6 Model 154 Stepping 3

                               Processor architecture : (null)

                               Processor clock : 2688

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Info [0x000000] System information:

                               Computer name: DESKTOP-IDUSMDN

                               Machine SID: S-1-5-21-3777132690-3935227181-405953650

                               OS version: 10.0.19044

                               Language: en-GB

                               Architecture: 64-bit

                               Drives:

                                 F: Type: Fixed, Bus type: Unknown, Hotplug: No

                                 D: Type: CD/DVD

                                 C: Type: Fixed, Bus type: NVMe, Hotplug: No

                               Users:

                                 DESKTOP-IDUSMDN\Administrator, administrator: Yes, interactive: Yes, logged on: No, has profile: No

                                 DESKTOP-IDUSMDN\WDAGUtilityAccount, administrator: No, interactive: No, logged on: No, has profile: No

                                 DESKTOP-IDUSMDN\demo, administrator: Yes, interactive: Yes, logged on: Yes, has profile: Yes

                                 DESKTOP-IDUSMDN\Guest, administrator: No, interactive: Yes, logged on: No, has profile: No

                                 DESKTOP-IDUSMDN\DefaultAccount, administrator: No, interactive: No, logged on: No, has profile: No

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Info [0x000000] Script file specified: f:\amd64\migapp.xml

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Info [0x000000] Script file specified: f:\amd64\miguser.xml

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Warning [0x080173] AgentManager: found ERROR_MOD_NOT_FOUND for agent module: F:\amd64\csiagent.dll

2026-05-12 09:38:43, Error [0x080000] AgentManager: agent file is present, most likely does not load on this system: F:\amd64\csiagent.dll[gle=0x0000007e]

2026-05-12 09:41:38, Info [0x000000] Processing the settings store

2026-05-12 09:41:38, Info [0x000000] Invalid Platform Architecture

Answer 1

Hi Akash Arya,

Has your issue been resolved yet? If it has, please consider accepting the answer as it helps others sharing the same problem benefit too. Thank you :)

Domic V.

Answer 2

Hi Akash Arya,

The failure and resulting Error Code 36 are happening because you are using the Windows 11 ADK build 26100 on a Windows 10 operating system environment. Your logs show the processor architecture returning a null value and a failure to load the specific migration module located at F:\amd64\csiagent.dll. This occurs because the newer User State Migration Tool binaries expect system APIs present in Windows 11 that do not exist in your Windows 10 build 19044 installation, causing the tool to fail its hardware validation and immediately abort the process.

Microsoft officially supports the migration tool for forward upgrades or same-version migrations, meaning an environment cannot use a Windows 11 toolkit to restore data onto an older Windows 10 system. To resolve this issue, you must completely uninstall the Windows 11 ADK from your virtual machine and install the Windows 10 ADK that natively matches your OS build. Once you have the correct version installed, run your original scanstate command again to generate a new, compatible migration store, and then execute your loadstate command to successfully finish the hardlink migration.

Hope this answer brings you some helpful information. If it does, please hit accept answer to help others in the community

Domic V.

Answer 3

Error code 36 (USMT_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_PLATFORM) indicates that the migration store was created for a different platform than the one where LoadState is running. With a hard-link store, this typically happens when the OS environment where ScanState was run is not the same “live” OS that LoadState is now using.

In this scenario, ScanState was run in /offlinewinold mode against C:\Windows.old\Windows and the store is on F:. After reinstalling Windows, the current OS and its USMT binaries may not match the environment for which that hard-link store is valid. USMT treats this as an unsupported platform and returns code 36.

Because this is a hard-link migration store, the data is still on the same partition and referenced by hard links. The supported approach is:

1. Do not try to reuse the existing hard-link store created against the old Windows.old installation with the new OS.
2. Instead, either:
   • Recreate the migration store from a running, supported source OS using /hardlink just before migration, then immediately run LoadState on that same machine and OS, or
   • If the goal is only to get files back from Windows.old, copy them directly from C:\Windows.old into the new profile rather than using USMT hard-link migration.

If ScanState cannot be rerun in a matching live OS, the hard-link store created from Windows.old is not a supported source for LoadState, and the “Invalid Platform Architecture” / code 36 condition cannot be resolved by switches alone.

Additionally, when working with hard-link stores:

• Ensure no applications are actively using files while creating and applying the store, to avoid data corruption and inconsistent results.
• After a successful migration, delete the hard-link store (for example with UsmtUtils.exe /rd <storedir>) to avoid disk space and file-statistics issues.

If the current hard-link store becomes unusable or contains locked files, it can be removed with UsmtUtils and recreated in a supported scenario.

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References:

• User State Migration Tool (USMT) common issues
• User State Migration Tool (USMT) return codes
• Hard-Link Migration Store