Back Up a Windows Mapped Drive

We do not support backing up mapped drives on Windows.

CrashPlan PRO runs as a Windows service and therefore cannot access drives mounted by a user. This is an OS level restriction built into Windows.

If you would like to back up a mapped drive on Windows, this article describes an unofficial method for doing so. It is not supported by CrashPlan so proceed at your own risk.

This method for backing up a mapped drive requires an advanced level of knowledge with Windows. It is not for beginners. If you do not feel comfortable using a command line, you should stop now.

CrashPlan support is not able to respond to questions about Windows mapped drives. It is highly likely, however, that you'll get answers if you post in the support forum.

The key element of the net use command is the /USER:ip\username syntax. Without the IP (or desktop name if Windows) it does not work.

The raw command is this (replace contents inside angle brackets and remove the angle brackets):

net use S: \\<device_ip_address>\<share_name> /USER:<device_ip_address>\<username> <password> C:\tmp\mount.log 2>&1

Sample File Contents:

echo %date% %time% : "%cd%\mount.bat" >> C:\tmp\mount.log >&1 2>&1
net use S: \\10.10.42.50\joe /USER:10.10.42.50\joe <password> >> C:\tmp\mount.log 2>&1

Note: If you create your batch file in Notepad, make sure you select All Files from the Save as Type dropdown. Otherwise, Windows will think your batch file is a regular text file.

Now that you have your bat file, creating the task on XP is easy.

1. Go to C:\Windows\tasks > Add Scheduled Task
2. Browse to your .bat
3. Choose Perform task When I log on
4. User name of SYSTEM
5. Finish

When you log in with your Owner account you can see a network mapped drive that you do not have permission to read. It appears as disconnected. The “disconnected” drive is the mapping CrashPlan will be using.

In the CrashPlan destination / source file browser:

(optional) Of course, you can map it with your Owner account, so you can interact with the files. In this case the two mappings are both valid:

For Vista, the batch file remains the same, but the steps to create a scheduled task are different.

1. Open Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
2. Select Action > Create Task
   
3. Under General:
   • Enter a name and a description
   • Change User or Group
     
   • Enter SYSTEM as the object to select
     
   • After confirmation, the task runs as the SYSTEM user:
     
4. Under Triggers, add a new trigger that runs at Log On of Any User.
   
   Completed trigger:
   
5. Under Actions, choose Start a program and select the proper batch file.
   
   Completed action:
   
6. Select OK to create the task. The new task appears in the Active Tasks list.
   
7. Log out and log in to test the new task.