GBM AI on Windows Server

Since 10.2, GBM AI runs on Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 (x64), with the desktop or as Server Core. On a server it backs up with a Server licence, or during the 15-day Server trial.

Install#

Download GBM-AI-Setup-…-x64-Server-Trial.exe from the GBM AI download page. It is the same program as the other setups; it starts the Server trial, and Run scheduled backups even when nobody is signed in is ticked, so the backups run as a Windows service from the moment the server starts. Keep it ticked on a server: nobody is signed in there most of the time.

On Server Core there is no desktop: Setup installs the service only, with no window, no icon and no notification-area entry. Manage it with the gbm command, in C:\Program Files\Genie9\GBM AI:

1. Make the job in GBM AI on a PC with a desktop, then export it: Jobs ▸ ⋯ ▸ Export job JSON…, or gbm job export "<name>" -o job.json. An export leaves the encryption password out.
2. Copy job.json to the server and edit its folders if they differ there.
3. A job file carries no passwords. Save what the job needs on the server: gbm creds add \\nas\backups --user CONTOSO\backup for a share, gbm s3 add <name> --access-key <id> for a bucket; gbm asks for the password or the secret key.
4. gbm job import job.json saves it as a job of the server (--s3-profile <name> for a bucket job). An encrypted job needs its password: gbm job import job.json --password-stdin, or set GBM_PASSWORD first.
5. gbm job run "<name>" runs it now; gbm status and gbm job list show how things stand.

To run the service as a domain account there, open the command prompt as administrator: gbm service account CONTOSO\backup. Every command is in The gbm command line.

Who opens GBM AI on a server. The backup service runs as the server's own system account and can read and restore any file, so on a server only an administrator takes charge of it: the first administrator to open GBM AI (from the console or over Remote Desktop) becomes the account it belongs to. Until then, anyone else who signs in sees This PC's backups are managed by another account, and so does every account that is not an administrator afterwards. On a server set up with a management tool, open GBM AI once as an administrator.

Any setup installed on a server starts the Server trial. A Home or Pro trial that was already running on it carries on as the Server trial, with its own dates.

The Server licence#

When the trial ends without a Server licence, backups pause and the app says This PC runs Windows Server: On Windows Server, GBM AI backs up with a Server licence. (E-LIC-014). The jobs and their schedules stay; they run again as soon as a Server key is entered. Restoring is never paused: every backup can be restored, licence or not.

What a server gets#

Everything in Pro. These are the parts that matter most on a server:

• Backups that cannot be changed. A job backing up to Amazon S3 or a compatible bucket can lock its sets with S3 Object Lock, so nobody can change or delete them before their date: Locking backups in S3.
• Continuous protection and the ransomware guard. A job can save each change within minutes, restore from a timeline, and hold its backup when files change like ransomware: Continuous protection and The ransomware guard.
• Checks of old backups. Old sets are read back now and then, and damage is found while a second copy on a drive or a share can still fill in: Checking old backups.
• The service as a domain account. The service can run as an account the server's shares let in: Running backups with nobody signed in.
• A daily summary e-mail, at the hour you choose: Email alerts.
• Very large files (virtual disks, database dumps) are stored in parts of 4 GB: Choosing where backups go.

On a server, backups always run as the service, which does not see drive letters mapped in your Windows session. Pick folders on another server or a NAS by their \\server\share\folder path, and save the share's account under Settings ▸ Network & credentials. See Choosing what to back up.

Not yet: databases. MySQL databases are coming to the Server licence, and Microsoft SQL Server databases as an add-on bought on top. GBM AI makes no disk images. For an image of the whole server, with bare-metal recovery onto new hardware, use BigMind DR, also made by Genie9: its Plus plan covers one server for $59 a year, and Pro covers three for $119. See More from Genie9.

Related articles#

• Installing GBM AI
• Editions compared
• Running backups with nobody signed in