Restore files and systems

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The restore wizard puts files from an Outpost backup back where you need them: in their original place, in another folder, on another endpoint, or in your browser as a zip. It also exports a Windows system image as a VHD. This page walks through the wizard, then covers the Restores list and the restores people start themselves from the tray app.

Before you begin

You need the backup:browse and backup:restore permissions. The Owner, Support Manager, and Field Technician roles hold both.
Restores onto an endpoint run on that endpoint. A restore you start while it is offline waits, and starts when the endpoint connects.
If the client uses zero-knowledge keys, you can restore only onto the source endpoint, and the file list comes from that endpoint, so it must be online. Zip downloads and restores onto another endpoint are not available. See Backup encryption keys and recovery kits.
Replace the current file overwrites files on the endpoint. Restoring a whole partition to its original location overwrites that volume.

Open the restore wizard

Open the endpoint and select its Backups tab.
Select Restore. To start from a particular snapshot, select Restore from here on it in the Snapshot timeline.

The wizard has five steps: Point in time, Files and folders, Where to, Confirm, and Progress.

Pick a point in time

Under Pick a point in time, narrow the list with Copy (Primary or Secondary) and Kind (Files or System image) if you need to.
Select a snapshot. Snapshots are grouped by day, with the copy, kind, size, and file count. A snapshot whose last check failed shows Verification failed.
Select Next.

Choose files and folders

Under Choose files and folders, expand folders with the + button and tick what to restore. A ticked folder is restored whole, with everything in it.
To restore an earlier version of one file, select Compare versions. The Versions of this file list shows every snapshot that holds the file, newest first. Select Use this version on the one you want.
Select Next.

For a system image, the first level of the tree is the disk’s partitions. Expand an NTFS partition to pick files inside it. To export the whole image as a VHD, leave everything unticked.

Choose where it goes

Under Where should it go?, choose a Restore target:

Target	What it does
Original location	Puts the files back where they were on this endpoint.
Another folder on this endpoint	Restores into the folder you enter in Folder to restore into, such as `D:\Restored`, and leaves the originals alone.
Another endpoint	Restores onto a different endpoint in the same client, such as a replacement computer.
Download a zip	Downloads the files to your browser through Outpost.
Export a VHD	Writes the whole disk of a Windows system image as a fixed VHD file, to the path you enter in Where to write the VHD.

For the first three targets, choose what happens in When a file is already there:

Keep both copies, the default
Replace the current file
Leave the current file

Restore onto another endpoint

In Find the endpoint, enter part of a hostname or user, and select Search.
Select the endpoint to restore onto.
Under User folders, map each person’s folders on the source endpoint to an account on the target. Select Add a mapping, then fill in From user, optionally From SID (optional), and To user. Without a mapping, files go to the same paths they had.

The target endpoint receives the key for this one restore from Outpost, so it can read the source endpoint’s backup.

Download a zip

The zip is built by Outpost and streamed to your browser. A selection larger than backup.browser_download_max_bytes, 2 GB by default, is refused with The selection is … bytes; downloads from the browser stop at … Restore it to an endpoint instead. Every download is recorded in the audit log.

Restore from a system image

Export a VHD works with Windows system images only. Enter a file path, or a folder, where the VHD is written as disk<number>.vhd. The path can be local or a network path the endpoint can reach.
A whole partition restores to Original location, which overwrites that volume in place, on Windows only. The volume Windows is running from cannot be restored in place. Export a VHD instead.
A whole partition restores to Another folder on this endpoint as a raw image file, disk<number>-partition<number>.img.
Files inside an NTFS partition restore like files from a file backup.

Confirm and start

Under Confirm, check From, What, and To.
Select Start restore, or Download for a zip.

Restore progress shows the state, a progress bar, and the files and bytes restored. Waiting for the endpoint means the endpoint is offline. To stop a running restore, select Cancel restore, then Stop restore. Files already written stay where they are.

Verify

The restore shows Succeeded under Restores on the endpoint’s Backups tab and on Backup > Restores. Partial means some files could not be restored, and the progress line says how many.
The files are on the target endpoint, in the place you chose.

Track every restore

Backup > Restores lists every restore on the client, with Asked for, From endpoint, To, Items, State, and Progress. Filter by State to find running or failed restores, and select Cancel on a restore that has not finished.

Restores people start from the tray app are listed too, marked Self-service by and the person’s name. They cannot be canceled from the console.

Restores from the tray app

When backup.self_service_restore is on, which is the default, people restore their own files from the tray app: Backup > Restore Files…. They see only their own folders. Restored files go to their original folder or to a Restored files folder, and never replace a file that is already there: a clash is saved beside it as name (restored).ext. No file names from these restores are sent to the console. See Use the tray app for the steps an end user follows.

To turn self-service restore off, set backup.self_service_restore to off in a profile. If any profile at the same rank turns it off, it is off.

If something goes wrong

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Restore is unavailable with Restoring needs the backup:browse and backup:restore permissions.	Your role lacks one of them.	Ask an owner for the permission.
Another endpoint or Download a zip cannot be chosen, with a message about zero-knowledge backup keys	The client uses zero-knowledge keys.	Restore onto the source endpoint, or use the recovery kit.
The file list says the backup is on a network share only the endpoint can reach	The destination is a Windows network share.	Bring the source endpoint online. It lists its own backup.
A restore stays at Waiting for the endpoint	The target endpoint is offline.	Start the endpoint. The restore begins when it connects.

Next steps

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