Needs administrator: open files, VSS and three ways round it
Why backing up open files needs administrator rights, what is skipped without them, and three ways to stop the question.
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A file another program holds open (an Outlook mailbox, an open spreadsheet, a browser profile, a database) cannot simply be copied. Windows can take a snapshot of the drive so the backup reads the file from that, but only an administrator may ask for one.
New jobs have Use a VSS snapshot for open files on. Without service mode, and without the agent running as administrator, open files are skipped on every run and the report says so. Nothing else changes: every other file is backed up as usual.
Where you see it#
On the job's Settings step, with Use a VSS snapshot for open files ticked, a Needs administrator banner appears while the agent is not running as administrator. It has two buttons:
- Restart as administrator restarts the agent with the rights, after you approve the Windows prompt. It is refused while a backup or restore is running.
- Options… opens a dialog that explains what is lost, with Cancel, Continue without open-file support and Restart as administrator.
Continue without open-file support unticks the snapshot option for this job. It is not a one-run choice: the job then never takes a snapshot, even when the agent later runs as administrator. Tick it again on the Settings step to bring it back.
At run time nothing asks. A run that wanted a snapshot and could not take one goes ahead without it: open files are listed on the report's Skipped tab as In use by another program, the run finishes as Completed with skipped files, and the report's Open files line reads Off: needs administrator (the service has it).
Three ways to stop the question#
- Service mode (Pro). Turn on Settings ▸ Schedule & power ▸ Run scheduled backups even when nobody is signed in. The Windows service always has full rights, so snapshots work on every scheduled run with no prompt. See Running backups with nobody signed in.
- Restart the agent as administrator. Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Background agent ▸ Restart as administrator, or the banner's button. An Administrator pill appears, and the agent stays elevated until Windows restarts or you sign out.
- Turn the snapshot off for a job that does not need it: on the Settings step, untick Use a VSS snapshot for open files. A Pictures or Music job has no open files worth the prompt.
Other places that need administrator rights#
- A source folder Windows will not let the agent read ends in Access to a source was denied. (
E-SRC-002), with Restart as administrator. Or exclude that folder. - Restoring into a folder your account cannot write to, for example under
C:\Program Files, fails for those files with Access denied where it goes. Restore to another folder, or restart the agent as administrator first. - Installing GBM AI, and switching service mode on or off, ask once in a Windows prompt.