Backing up a Windows server

See the File-level Backups chapter for additional details on employing backup strategies to protect Windows servers and workstations to meet the Recovery Point and Recovery Time objectives of your organization.

Default exclusions from file-level backups of Windows servers

By default, certain directories and files are excluded from file-level backups of Windows severs. These exclusions are in addition to any exclusions you have applied to the Windows server’s backups (as described in About Enterprise selection lists). For details, see the following topics:

     Directories and files excluded from file-level backups of Windows servers

     Application files excluded from file-level backups of Windows servers

Directories and files excluded from file-level backups of Windows servers

By default, the following are excluded from file-level backups of Windows servers:

     /RECYCLER

     /$Recycle.Bin

     %TMP%

     %TEMP%

     *.tmp

     *.temp

     %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\Cache

     %WINDIR%\System32\Config

     %WINDIR%\System32\Catroot2

     %WINDIR%\win386.swp

     Contents of the server’s DataDirectory as specified by the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows

     Contents of the server’s DefaultDataDirectory as specified by the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows

     Files specified by the registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup

The following profile directories specified by the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\*\ProfileImagePath\ are also excluded:

     \AppData\Local\Temp

     \Local Settings\Temp

     \Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

Application files excluded from file-level backups of Windows servers

If your Windows server is hosting applications, the following apply to file-level backups of the server:

     Files in Exchange and SQL database/log directories are excluded.

     Any files owned by Exchange, Hyper-V, or SQL applications are excluded.

     SQL files with extensions .mdf, ldf., and *.ndf are excluded only if the SQL VSS component is running on the Windows server.

To protect applications hosted by a Windows server, run application backups, as described in the chapters Microsoft Exchange Server Protection, Protecting Hyper-V Environments, and Microsoft SQL Server Protection.

Windows permissions in file-level backups

For each file and directory included in a backup, security information is backed up separately and then restored when the file or directory is restored.