The Need: Backing Up Windows Machines
At RDEM Systems, we offer NimbusBackup, an offsite backup service based on Proxmox Backup Server.
Our customers back up their Proxmox VMs, Linux servers, and LXC containers seamlessly using PBS native tools.
But one question kept coming back:
"How do I back up my Windows workstations and servers?"
The need is clear: businesses have Windows 10/11 workstations, Windows Server 2019/2022, SQL Server databases, domain controllers...
These machines contain critical data that must be protected just like their virtualized infrastructures.
To protect your Windows workstations and servers without complex infrastructure, a client-server solution like NimbusBackup natively accepts Windows client backups via our open source graphical interface. Operational in less than 15 minutes with API token authentication and native deduplication. Unifies protection of your Linux VMs and Windows machines in a single secure datastore in France. For maximum ransomware protection, our Air Gapped offer adds complete network isolation. We detail below how our open source GUI client finally enables simple and complete backup for the Windows ecosystem.
Typical Use Cases
- Workstations (Documents, Desktop, projects)
- Windows application servers (databases, files)
- Active Directory domain controllers
- Windows file servers
On the production side, this client has already cleared a real volume: see our 1 TB Windows case study: 20h30, 75% dedup for raw figures from the first production run (876 GB source, transfer window, ratios). On the prerequisite side, authentication relies on a dedicated PBS token — managing PBS API tokens (creation, revocation, scopes) is documented separately.
The Challenge: Nothing Simple
Proxmox Backup Server is primarily designed for the Proxmox and Linux ecosystem.
There is no official Windows client.
The command-line proxmox-backup-client is only available on Linux.
For Windows, the options are limited:
- ❌ No official client: no Windows support from Proxmox
- ❌ No graphical interface: must use third-party solutions
- ❌ Incomplete third-party clients: abandoned or unmaintained projects
- ❌ Complex scripts: require advanced technical skills
We explored the alternatives: third-party clients, wrappers, PowerShell scripts...
Nothing satisfactory.
Existing solutions were either too complex, abandoned, or closed-source.
The main problem:
To offer NimbusBackup to our customers with Windows machines, we had to provide them with a simple, reliable, and graphical solution.
The Solution: Developing an Open Source GUI
Rather than waiting for a solution to appear, we decided to act.
We decided to contribute to the community by developing our own Windows graphical interface for Proxmox Backup Server.
Finding the Most Promising Client
We explored several existing open source projects.
We found proxmoxbackupclient_go developed by Tiziano Bacocco (@tizbac).
This Go client had several advantages:
- ✅ Cross-platform: works on Windows, Linux and macOS
- ✅ Performant: written in Go, native compilation
- ✅ Functional: backup and restore already implemented
- ✅ Open source: code available and modifiable
- ❌ Command line: no graphical interface
The base was solid. We just needed to add a GUI.
Developing the Interface
We developed a graphical interface using modern technologies:
- Wails v2 for the desktop application (Go + HTML/CSS/JS)
- React for the user interface
- Tailwind CSS for styling
The goal was to create an intuitive and accessible interface for Windows users unfamiliar with the command line.
An Open Source Project
We made our work available to everyone under GPLv3 license. The source code is published on GitHub.
Community contributions are welcome: bug reports, feature suggestions, code improvements...
The Result: A Functional Windows GUI Client
After several weeks of development, we have a functional Windows client for Proxmox Backup Server.
The client is available in beta version. It's operational for real backups, but some advanced features are still under development.
