How to Backup Windows Network Shares and UNC Paths
eazyBackup can back up Windows network shares (SMB), however, because eazyBackup runs as a background service user, there are some issues with authentication to be aware of.
When possible, the best option would be to to install eazyBackup directly on the device rather than backing up over the network.
Network Authentication
On Windows, your logged-on user session may have its own mapped network drives. These mapped drives belong to your logged in user session and are not available to background service accounts.
Most UNC shares will require network authentication. If your backup logs show messages like WARNING Lstat: CreateFile \\?\UNC\...: Access is denied., this is likely because the eazyBackup service account is not logged into your network shares.
We will show you how to configure the backup with network authentication to avoid these issues.
Here are the steps:
Add a new Protected Item or modify an existing file and folder protected item.
Name the Protected Item and select the "Files and Folders" backup type and then proceed to the next step
Configure the network share authentication:
Select the 'Custom' tab, Click the "ellipsis" button to reveal the extra options and select "Log in to network share"
Enter the UNC path to your network share
Enter the username of an account that has permission to access the network share
Enter the password for your network account
Test Connection before you proceed.
When adding the Username, in some cases you may need to specify the network name of the server before the username in this format
myservername\Username
Select files from your network share to include in your backup:
Click the "+" button to open the Select panel.
Click the "Options" button, select "Browse UNC path".
Type the UNC path to your network share, be sure to use the format shown below and don't forget the trailing slash.
click "OK".
Your network share should now appear in the list of items
Browse the directory tree and select the files and folders you want included in the backup.
At this point, if your network share is not visible in the list of items, you may have incorrectly entered the share username, password or UNC path.
Before you proceed check the following:
You should see your network credentials listed here.
Any files or folders you selected for backup should be listed.
Optionally, run the backup job immediately or allow the backup run according to the schedule you configured.
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