Do I need to be an Administrator to use SyncBack?


No, but if you are not an administrator then some functions may not function correctly or at all:

  • The Scheduler Monitor Service will not be installed if you are installing for the Current User. This is because services can only be installed by Windows administrators.
  • Open/locked files cannot be copied. Access to the shadow volume is restricted to administrators. The log file will contain the error: Unable to create shadow volume: Initialization failure
  • The backup file copying method cannot be used (it will gracefully fallback to the standard file copying method).
  • Directory symbolic links cannot be created.
  • When creating a schedule, you can only create one that will run when you are logged in.
  • Virtual drives cannot be mounted.
  • Windows System Restore PointsRestore points cannot be created.
  • You may not have access to some files and directories (due to NTFS security).
  • The SyncBackPro Window Shell Extension cannot be used.


SyncBackFree does not run elevated. Also, if you installed SyncBackPro/SE only for yourself, then SyncBackPro/SE will not run elevated.


By running without elevation you will only have access to files that the user account has access rights to.


Due to how Windows security works, if you run without elevation then you can see mapped drives. For example, if you map a network share to drive Z: then SyncBack will be able to see that drive. When run elevated, SyncBack cannot see mapped drives. This is due to Windows security. See this article for possible solutions. V11 introduced a setting to bypass this Windows restriction (see Global Settings -> Expert).


To run the elevated version, click on Windows > start menu and select SyncBackPro from the list of programs.


SyncBack Touch


SyncBack Touch is a cross-platform file server. It lets SyncBackPro and SyncBackSE copy files to and from another device, e.g. Windows, Linux, macOS or Android device, over the network (LAN or Internet). SyncBackFree cannot use SyncBack Touch.


Simply install SyncBack Touch on the device you want to the access the files on and then create a profile in SyncBackPro/SE to use that device.


On Windows, SyncBack Touch run as a service in the background. This means it can copy open/locked files and also access most (if not all) of the files on the computer on behalf of SyncBackPro/SE. Because of this if you use SyncBack Touch with SyncBackPro/SE then you may not need to run SyncBack as an Administrator or elevated (on Vista and newer).