A data collection program collects data from a user's workstation and captures the user environment data, including user settings and program application data. The user environment data is stored on a removable nonvolatile storage media for duplication processing. The stored user environment data is processed by a duplication process to duplicate the user environment data from the old workstation onto a new workstation or for recovery from a catastrophic system failure. A variety of user environment settings, not traditionally captured and restored by traditional backup software, are captured and restored. For example, licensing information and application personality data is identified, stored, and recovered along with other user-specific information such as hostnames, IP addresses, and the like.