Installing LeoCore Backup

One installer. It copies the application, registers the backup service and starts it. There is no separate step to turn backups on, and no runtime to install first.

What happens when you run it

1. Windows asks for administrator approval. The installer needs it to register a service and to create a data folder outside Program Files.
2. Choose the destination folder, or accept C:\Program Files\LeoCore Backup.
3. Click Install. The application is copied, the LeoCoreAgent service is registered and started, and the console opens.
4. Sign out of Windows and back in. See below — this one is easy to skip and it is the difference between the console working and appearing broken.

That is the whole thing. The component and shortcut pages are skipped, because the answer is almost always "all of it, in the usual place" — see choosing components if it is not.

What it puts on the machine

Program files and data are deliberately separate. An update replaces the first and never touches the second, which is why upgrading cannot lose a job definition or a saved credential.

The backup service

This is the part that matters, and it is why LeoCore is installed rather than merely unzipped. The console is only a window onto it; closing the console stops nothing.

Server Core and headless machines

Server Core has no desktop, so install the service on its own and manage it from a console on another machine:

.\LeoCoreBackup-4.7.2-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /TYPE=service /LOG=install.log

Or, if the files are already in place, drive the agent directly. Every verb works identically on every Windows edition:

LeoCore.Agent.exe install [--account "DOMAIN\user"] [--password "…"]
LeoCore.Agent.exe start
LeoCore.Agent.exe status
LeoCore.Agent.exe stop
LeoCore.Agent.exe uninstall
LeoCore.Agent.exe --console    # run in the foreground to watch it work

start and stop wait for the service to actually reach the requested state rather than returning the moment Windows accepts the request, so their exit codes mean what they say and are safe to branch on in a script.

Unattended installation

For RMM tools, Intune, or a deployment script:

.\LeoCoreBackup-4.7.2-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /LOG=install.log

Check the exit code. If the service cannot be registered, the installer fails and returns non-zero rather than reporting success and leaving a machine with no service on it. A silent install that returns 0 has a running LeoCoreAgent.

Choosing components

The default install is everything. To see the component and shortcut pages in the wizard, run the installer with /CUSTOM:

.\LeoCoreBackup-4.7.2-setup.exe /CUSTOM

• Agent service and management console — the normal choice.
• Agent service only — Server Core, or a server you administer remotely.
• Management console only — an administrator's workstation that connects to an agent installed elsewhere.

Upgrading

Run the new installer over the old one. It stops the service, replaces the program files, re-registers the service against the new path and starts it again. Jobs, schedules, credentials and history in %ProgramData%\LeoCore are untouched, and any database schema change is applied inside a transaction after a snapshot is written.

From 4.4.3 onward you do not have to come back here for the installer. Settings → Updates → Check for updates now offers to download and install the new version. On a normal per-machine install the console cannot write to Program Files as an ordinary user, so it fetches the installer and runs it, and Windows asks you to approve it; where the program folder is writable it swaps the files directly with no prompt. Either way the download is rejected unless its SHA-256 matches the signed release description, and declining the Windows prompt cancels without changing anything.

Every route rolls back to the previous version if the swap fails, so a failed update leaves a working installation rather than a half-replaced one.

Uninstalling

Use Apps & features, or the Start menu shortcut. The service is stopped, waited for, and removed.

If something goes wrong

"…is marked for deletion from a previous uninstall"

Windows keeps a deleted service registered until every handle to it is closed. Close the LeoCore console and any open Services window, restart the machine, then install again. The installer reports this specifically rather than failing with a bare error code.

"Your account is not allowed to manage LeoCore Backup on this computer"

The service is running; your account simply cannot open its pipe. Almost always this means you have not signed out since installing — the group exists and you are in it, but your logon token predates it. Sign out and back in.

If it persists, add the account explicitly from an elevated prompt in the installation folder, then have that person sign out and back in:

LeoCore.Agent.exe grant "DOMAIN\user"

Quote the account name. Windows account names often contain a space — DELL SERVER, John Smith — and without quotes the command reads only the first word and grants access to an account that does not exist. Version 4.4.1 accepts an unquoted name as well, but quoting is correct on every version.

This is how you give a colleague access to the console without making them a local administrator. Run as administrator works at any time and needs no group change.

The service was registered but did not start

The install itself is fine — this warns rather than aborting. Start it from the console, or run LeoCore.Agent.exe start from an elevated prompt. Because the service is set to delayed automatic start, it will also come up by itself at the next reboot. If it still refuses, %ProgramData%\LeoCore\Logs and the Windows event log will say why.

"Windows protected your PC"

SmartScreen shows this for any installer that is not yet signed with a purchased code-signing certificate. Verify the SHA-256 published on the changelog before choosing More info → Run anyway. A signed build is on the way; until then we would rather you check the hash than trust a button.

The installer refuses to run on this version of Windows

See the requirements below. The most common cause is Windows 8.1, which shares its version number with Windows Server 2012 R2 but is not supported by the .NET 8 runtime LeoCore is built on.

Requirements

Something here wrong, or missing? support@seksolution.com — we answer within one business day and we would rather fix the page than answer the same question twice.