Windows Installation

System Requirements​

¹ Magnus Box does not consume 8GB of RAM. Memory consumption varies depending on the job being run.

² Links with high latency or unstable WAN connections are not recommended, as these impact both upload and performance.

Windows XP / Server 2003​

At the time of writing, there is no version of Magnus Box available for Windows XP / Server 2003. All versions of Magnus Box rely heavily on features that were only introduced in Windows Vista / Server 2008.

Windows XP / Server 2003 no longer receives security patches from Microsoft. It is unsafe to connect such a machine to the internet. If you are attempting to supply backup services to a customer in this situation, you should arrange to first upgrade their operating system with urgency.

You can work around this issue by

• installing Magnus Box on another machine, and then backup the XP machine over the network; or
• virtualizing the XP machine, and backing up the VM guest from the VM host. This also allows you to remove internet access from the XP machine.

Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2​

Magnus Box continues to support Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 and will install successfully on these operating systems. However, Microsoft ended Extended support for Windows 7, and Server 2008 R2 on January 14th 2020. Future versions of Magnus Box may remove support for such older versions of Windows which are no longer under active security support from Microsoft.

Installation

Download the installation package from your dedicated Magnus Box web portal. Once installed, the client software prompts for account details to log in.

Silent installation (Windows advanced)

Magnus Box allows you to install and configure the software silently, by running the following example via your remote management software. Silent installations must be started by running from the installer directory. Incorrect quotations may result in errors.

• Command Prompt install.exe /S /CONFIGURE=user:password
• PowerShell Start-Process .\install.exe -ArgumentList "/S", "/CONFIGURE=user:password"

If you make a mistake with the username/password prompt, you can run the cd "C:\Program Files\Magnus Box"; echo "USER`nPASSWORD" | .\backup-tool.exe login prompt  Powershell command to re-enter login details. Please take care with the `n  character separating the username and password.

Other optional arguments

Disable shortcuts Magnus Box allows you to disable the software shortcuts for the silent installation, by adding command-line argument /SHORTCUT=disable . For example, if you want to install with token while no shortcuts are created, you can run the following command-line,

• Command Prompt install.exe /S /TOKEN=installtoken /SHORTCUT=disable
• PowerShell Start-Process .\install.exe -ArgumentList "/S", "/TOKEN=installtoken", "/SHORTCUT=disable"

Disable tray icon Magnus Box allows you to disable the tray icon for the silent installation, by adding command-line argument /TRAYICON="disable" .

Log onbackup.delegate service as Local System account Magnus Box allows you to explicitly setbackup.delegate service to log on as Local System account for the silent installation, by adding command-line argument /ISLOCALSYSTEM="yes"

Service account

Magnus Box automatically creates a Virtual Account (NT SERVICE\backup.delegate ) with all necessary permissions to back up files on the PC.

Isolating Magnus Box under a Virtual Account is supported on Windows 7 or later, and Windows Server 2008 R2 or later when that server is not a Domain Controller. On other machines (e.g. Windows Server 2008 RTM, and domain controllers) the backup service will run as LOCAL SYSTEM  by default.

On a Domain Controller running Windows Server 2008 R2 or later, we recommend configuring a Managed Service Account inside Active Directory for the backup service. This allows you to isolate the backup service permissions in a password-less service account. You should apply this to thebackup.delegate service (but not the backup.elevator service, used for software updates).

Upgrading

The installer will safely remove and upgrade any prior version of Magnus Box, including those with a different software branding.

If the product name is changed as a result of the installation process, the newly-branded software may be installed into the old-branded directory name. You can avoid this issue by completely uninstalling and reinstalling the software.

Silent upgrade (advanced)

You can silently upgrade the software remotely via the Magnus Box interface, or by running install.exe /S via your remote management software.

Service account

If you customize the backup.delegate service to use any other user account, your changes will be preserved in any future software upgrade.

Uninstall

The software can be uninstalled via the "Apps and Features" section in the Windows Control Panel.

During this process, you may be prompted whether you wish to preserve any username/password credentials saved on this computer.

You can also remove the saved credentials manually by deleting the AppData\Roaming\backup-tool\config.dat file. If the backup.delegate service was running as the NT SERVICE\backup.delegate user, this is stored in the C:\Users\backup.delegate\AppData\Roaming\backup-tool\ directory; the path may differ if the service was running as another user account.

Silent uninstall

You can silently uninstall Magnus Box for Windows by passing the /S command-line argument (e.g. "C:\Program Files\Magnus Box\Uninstall.exe" /S ).

If you also want to remove the saved username/password credentials, add this command-line "C:\Program Files\Magnus Box\Uninstall.exe" /S /ISDELETECREDENTIAL=yes