---
title: "Migration Failures in PCJ Due to Invalid or Inactive Users"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/SUPPORT/670531963/Migration%20Failures%20in%20PCJ%20Due%20to%20Invalid%20or%20Inactive%20Users"
format: markdown
---
This article explains errors encountered during the import due to mandatory users not being created.

> ℹ️ ## Environment
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ **Jira**: Data Center
> ℹ️ 
> ℹ️ **App**: Project Configurator for Jira (PCJ)

### :problem: Problem

During large migrations using **Project Configurator for Jira (PCJ)**, users may face issues with inactive or invalid users. Even when the **“Ignore Invalid Users”** option is selected, the migration may still fail because issues assigned or reported by these users require PCJ to create them on the target instance.

Typical error observed:

```
Caused by: com.atlassian.crowd.exception.UserAlreadyExistsException: User already exists in directory [3] with name [AAN46]
	at com.atlassian.jira.crowd.embedded.ofbiz.OfBizUserDao.throwIfUserAlreadyExistsByField(OfBizUserDao.java:407)
	at com.atlassian.jira.crowd.embedded.ofbiz.OfBizUserDao.throwIfUserAlreadyExists(OfBizUserDao.java:417)
	at com.atlassian.jira.crowd.embedded.ofbiz.OfBizUserDao.doAddUser(OfBizUserDao.java:354)
	at com.atlassian.jira.crowd.embedded.ofbiz.OfBizUserDao.add(OfBizUserDao.java:361)
```

This occurs because Jira is connected to a **company directory (LDAP)** where PCJ lacks write permissions. As a result, PCJ cannot create the missing users and the migration fails.

### :root-cause: Root cause

- **Inactive users** may not have email addresses. While PCJ marks them as invalid during export simulation, the full project import still attempts to create them because they are referenced as **assignees, reporters, or issue participants**.
- PCJ relies on Jira’s **built-in data import functionality**, which automatically attempts to create required users when restoring issue data.
- This error occurs because PCJ tries to create those users in the **first** writable user directory, and in this case, it doesn’t have permission to write in this LDAP system

### 🌱 Solution

To fix the issue, we advise you to create an internal writable directory in which PCJ can create those users before importing.

Keep in mind the relative order of those directories before importing. You can check this KB article [https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/useralreadyexistsexception-thrown-during-user-migration-in-jira-server-668467701.html](https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/useralreadyexistsexception-thrown-during-user-migration-in-jira-server-668467701.html) as well.