Setup, configuration, and automation of restic for Windows clients

2019 Jun 23 - Brian Kloppenborg

This is the fourth post in a four-part series which discusses my backup solution consisting of a dedicated Restic backup server running the Restic REST server. This post discusses how to install and automate restic backups on Windows.

The previous posts in this series include:

• Evaluating backup solutions in which I discuss a variety of cross-platform backup solutions and why I ultimately settled on Restic.
• Configuration of the backup server where I discuss setting up dedicated backup machine with a btrfs RAID1 filesystem, automation of btrfs scrubbing using systemd timers, and the installation of Restic and the Restic REST server.
• Linux client configuration wherein the installation, configuration, and automation of restic is discussed. Automation is performed using systemd timers.

Installation

Download appropriate release from https://github.com/restic/restic/releases

Per the installation instructions extract the zip file to the following directory:

%SystemRoot%\System32 

to avoid setting enviornmental variables. This is normally the C:\Windows\System32 directory

As admin

cd C:
cd C:\Windows\system32
mklink restic.exe restic_0.9.5_windows_amd64.exe