Methods, systems, and computer program products for migrating configuration data from an existing program to a replacement program, in response, for example, to a command by an external agent. In preferred embodiments, an existing program is modified according to the invention to add functionality to obtain pertinent configuration data from such sources available to the existing program as its internal tables, configuration files, and run-time commands, and then to write a configuration file containing configuration data formatted for use by the replacement program. The program's internal tables may often contain configuration data which is not always available to the replacement program e.g. command line parameters, data provided through receipt of messages from other programs, etc. The invention advantageously makes voluminous formatted configuration data available to the replacement program in order to expeditiously provide a basis for its initial operation after installation.