Where to find Storage Migration Service logs?

Question

I used Storage Migration Service to transfer the data of several file shares. Under SMB detail, I see the error Couldn't transfer some files. The Failed files column shows 66. I want to find out which files could not be transferred. Since SMS uses robocopy, is there any way to get the robocopy log? I tried the StorageMigrationServiceHelper.psm1 module, it generates several logs but they don't seem to contain the information that I need to troubleshoot the issue. Digging in EventLog is quite tiresome. Is there any better way?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

SMS does indeed rely on robocopy under the hood, but it doesn’t expose the raw robocopy logs in a user‑friendly way. The logs you’re looking for are created per job under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\StorageMigrationService\Logs on the orchestrator, but access is restricted to SYSTEM and Administrators. If you don’t see useful detail there, the supported way to get the failed file list is through PowerShell. Run Get-SmsFileFailure -JobId <GUID> against the migration job; this cmdlet enumerates each file that failed and the associated error code. That gives you the same information robocopy would have logged, without digging through Event Viewer.

Answer 2

I know the easiest way to troubleshoot the issue is to check the robocopy logs but how to get them when using SMS?
Regarding C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\StorageMigrationService\Logs, user permissions are removed and there doesn't seem to be anything helpful.
The most user friendly solution would be to make the error details available by a link on the number of errors: Which file couldn't be copied, what was the error code?

Thanks

Answer 3

To find the Storage Migration Service (SMS) logs, you can check the following locations:

1. Robocopy Logs: You can generate Robocopy logs by using the /LOG parameter when running Robocopy commands. If you want to see detailed logs for the transfers, ensure you are using the appropriate logging options.
2. SMS Logs: The SMS logs can be found in the directory: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\StorageMigrationService\Logs\*. This directory contains logs related to the Storage Migration Service operations.
3. Event Viewer: While you mentioned that digging through the Event Log is tiresome, it's still a valuable resource. Look specifically in the System and Application logs filtered for relevant Event IDs related to SMS.

If you are looking for specific files that failed to transfer, the Robocopy logs will be the most direct way to identify those files, as they provide detailed information about each file operation performed during the transfer.

Additionally, if you are encountering issues with specific files, consider checking for any permissions or path-related issues that might prevent the transfer from succeeding.

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References:

• Troubleshoot Windows Server Storage Migration service
• Storage Migration Service known issues