Next time, I'm going to run all the system updaters on the old machine first, then try a third party copy mechanism, perhaps Carbon Copy Cloner to move the entire User directory over first as suggested above by Sorry for the late response. However, I discovered that there are still a bunch of folders in the Downloads and Documents directories that need their permissions set right by hand. All this was done from the admin account on the new machine. I deleted the Library directory that wasn't working and dragged the new Library in. Even still, there were maybe 20 or 30 folders that didn't transfer well and were still locked. I finally did an AirDrop of the Library folder from the old laptop to the new one, AFTER I changed all the permissions on the old Library first.
MIGRATION ASSISTANT MAC ETHERNET PASSWORD
Every time I tried log in as the user on the new laptop it would crash after an immovable dialog box asking for a password for the Library directory. For the life of me, I could not get the Library directory to copy over intact. Since I can't use disk images anymore (a real bummer, Apple) I used the migration assistant to automate the process. I had a great deal of trouble last night trying to migrate about 45 GB of data (including ~/Library) from an older 13" MBP to a brand new one. Should we be using Migration Assistant now to pull in user data? I'm sure users here can point out flaws in our process and can suggest a better way for us to be doing this. Some folders inside the user's directory apparently can't have their permissions changed even while operating as su. Moving to Mojave has presented us with problems, primarily with regard to permissions. That seemed to work fine until late last year. Again, we would just log into the management account on the new machine, move the user's data to the user account and apply permissions. Our user and management accounts were created during enrollment. Toward the end of 2017, we decided to move to DEP with the advent of High Sierra.
MIGRATION ASSISTANT MAC ETHERNET UPGRADE
When it came time to upgrade hardware, we would just connect up a Thunderbolt cable and drag over the contents of the user's directory and apply the permissions. Until mid-2017, we were still firmly encamped in imaging new hardware with a monolithic image. More importantly, Mojave has presented additional challenges that mean steps we took in the past either shouldn't be done or flat out don't work. I know how we have done it for years and while it has worked for us, there probably are better ways we could be doing hardware refreshes. Can anyone provide feedback on how you are migrating user data from existing Macs for hardware replacements? Particularly when it comes to DEP workflows.