How to Back Up Windows PCs to a Linux Server (File History, Full Images and Restic)

The server is backed up (tutorials 23, 54, 55). The laptops aren't. Windows has no Time Machine, but three approaches cover everything: File History keeps versions of documents on a share with no software to install; a disk image tool restores a whole machine after a dead drive; and restic on Windows gives you the same encrypted, deduplicated snapshots the server uses. Pick one for the family's machines and one for yours.

One Samba share, one folder per PC, so backups don't mingle (tutorial 31):

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data/pcbackup/laptop-sarah
sudo chown sarah:sarah /mnt/data/pcbackup/laptop-sarah

[pcbackup]
path = /mnt/data/pcbackup/%U
valid users = %U
read only = no
browseable = no

Each person's Samba user lands in their own folder. On the data drive, not the system disk; ideally on the mirror or parity pool (tutorials 97–99).

On the PC: connect the share once (File Explorer → \192.168.1.50\pcbackup, tick remember). Then Settings → Update & Security → Backup (Windows 10) or Control Panel → File History (Windows 11) → Add a drive → choose the network location. Turn it on.

Every hour it copies changed files from Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Desktop and Favourites, keeping old versions. Restore from Restore personal files, which shows a timeline of each file. More options adds folders and changes the retention.

It's not a full backup — no programs, no system — but for "my essay from last Tuesday" it's exactly right, and there's nothing to install.

For a dead SSD or a ransomware wipe, you want the whole drive back as it was. Veeam Agent for Windows Free and Macrium Reflect Free both do scheduled full-disk images to a network share and make a bootable USB for restoring.

Veeam: install → Configure backup → Entire computer → Shared folder → \192.168.1.50\pcbackup\laptop-sarah with the Samba credentials → daily at 20:00, keep 7 restore points → Create recovery media onto a USB stick. Keep that stick in a drawer. A restore is: boot from the stick, point it at the share, pick the date, wait.

Images are big (a 500 GB drive with 200 GB used produces a 150 GB first image, then small incrementals). Budget the share accordingly.

For the machine you care about most, restic gives versioned, encrypted, deduplicated backups that you can also send off-site, with the same commands as the server.

On the PC (PowerShell as admin): winget install restic.restic. Target the server over SFTP using an SFTP-only user (tutorial 72), or the Samba share mapped as a drive letter.

$env:RESTIC_REPOSITORY = "sftp:backup@192.168.1.50:/upload/laptop"
$env:RESTIC_PASSWORD = "the-repo-password"
restic init
restic backup C:\Users\John\Documents C:\Users\John\Pictures --exclude "**\node_modules" --use-fs-snapshot
restic forget --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --keep-monthly 12 --prune

--use-fs-snapshot uses Windows VSS so open files (Outlook's PST!) back up cleanly. Put those lines in a .ps1 and schedule it with Task Scheduler daily at lunchtime, "run whether user is logged on or not". The repository on the server is then included in the server's own off-site sync (tutorial 54) for free.

Laptops back up when they're on. Schedule for a time they usually are, and tick Wake the computer to run this task in Task Scheduler if it's plugged in. If the server sleeps at night (tutorial 79), make sure it's awake for the backup window.

Monthly: open File History's restore view and find yesterday's file; mount a Veeam image and browse it; restic snapshots from the PC. Healthchecks (tutorial 104) can take a ping at the end of the restic script so you're told when a laptop stops backing up.

File History says the drive is disconnected. The share needs the credentials saved in Windows Credential Manager, and the PC must resolve the server by name or IP consistently (reserve the server's IP).

Veeam can't see the share. It runs as a service; add the credentials in Veeam itself, not just Explorer.

restic SFTP "permission denied". The SFTP user's jail layout (tutorial 72): the upload folder must be writable, the path in the repository URL starts from the jail root.

Backups are slow over Wi-Fi. First full image or first restic run on Ethernet; incrementals are fine wireless.

A per-PC share, File History for the family's documents in five minutes, a Veeam image and recovery stick for whole-machine disasters, restic for the machine you'd cry about. Every Windows box in the house now backs up to the server — and the server's existing backup chain carries those copies off-site too.