I am on a domain without roaming profiles. We are looking at possibly implementing the User Stat Migration Tool with our MDT server, but I have a few questions first.
Using the USMT, can you effectively create a profile on a new machine without logging in as that user? Or do I need to log in as the user and then run USMT?
As you figured out; yes. It will create the C:\Users\%username% directory of all of the users that were backed up.
One thing noteworthy is that it also applies the previous local group memberships. If the user was a local admin, they'll be a local admin on the new machine. So, if you're hoping that a side benefit of re-imaging is to clean up rogue local admins, think again. I'm sure you could adjust USMT to change that behavior though.
It does actually create a profile for the user! I tested it on a machine and had the user log in, sure enough it didn't create another user profile folder or anything