Quote Originally Posted by buck
I am thinking, that this is a specific 8.1.7 behaviour! Could anybody confirm that?
No, it is not a specific 8.1.7 behaviour, I can confirm that. Full exp/full imp should create users on the new database without any problem. But you are not performing full import, that's it.

Quote Originally Posted by buck
imp userid='sys/sys as sysdba' file=exp_8_1_7.dmp log=error.log full=y indexfile=index.sql show=y
The bold part in your command is your problem. With INDEXFILE= parameter you are telling imp to create you only the CREATE INDEX commands and that's what you see in your log file, all the other stuff is simply skipped by the imp utility. Remove your INDEXFILE= from your command and you'll be able to see the CREATE USERS command in the log file.

And BTW, do not run imp or exp utilities by connecting as sysdba - that's a guaranteed way to problems...