Creating a new connection to SharePoint

CodeTwo Backup allows you to connect to multiple SharePoint servers, both online (Microsoft 365) and on-premises. You can configure the connection when creating a new backup job or directly from the program's Dashboard, by clicking the Settings button () on the Defined server connections card and selecting New > SharePoint connection (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. Creating a new SharePoint connection.

The SharePoint connection wizard will open (Fig. 2.). In the Server location step of the wizard, you can choose between connecting to:

• Microsoft 365 (SharePoint Online)
• On-premises (SharePoint Server)

Fig. 2. The SharePoint connection wizard.

Once you make your selection, click Next to proceed.

Connecting to SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365)

In the Server address step, you need to provide the URL to your SharePoint Online organization. You can simply replace <mycompany> in the SharePoint server URL field with the actual name of your domain (also known as the organization's name). For example, if your domain name is company.onmicrosoft.com or company.com, SharePoint server URL is https://company.sharepoint.com (Fig. 3.). The Admin center URL field will be populated automatically, based on your SharePoint server URL.

Fig. 3. Providing URLs of your SharePoint Online site.

CodeTwo Backup uses Modern Authentication (OAuth 2.0) to connect to SharePoint Online. Because of that, you need to register the program in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) of the Microsoft 365 tenant whose SharePoint and OneDrive for Business data you want to back up. The registration can be performed:

• Automatically by CodeTwo Backup,
• Manually in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Automatic registration

In the Application registration step of the connection wizard, select Automatic registration and click Sign in as Microsoft 365 admin (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Automatic registration of CodeTwo Backup in Entra ID.

On the Microsoft sign-in page, enter the credentials of your Microsoft 365 admin account. Remember that your account must be assigned the Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator role. When prompted, grant the required permissions to CodeTwo Backup. These are necessary for the program to be able to back up and restore data from and to your SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business environment (Fig. 5.).

Fig. 5. Granting the necessary permissions to CodeTwo Backup.

CodeTwo Backup will be registered as CodeTwo Backup SharePoint in your Entra ID and signed with a unique certificate.

Manual registration

You can register CodeTwo Backup manually in your Microsoft Entra ID by following the steps provided in this Knowledge Base article. Once done, select Manual registration in the Application registration step of the server connection wizard (Fig. 6.) and click Next.

Fig. 6. Select this option if you want to register CodeTwo Backup in your Entra ID by yourself.

In the Application details step, provide the following information:

• Dedicated application account – the email address of any user from your Microsoft 365 tenant. This account is used get the necessary information about the tenant (name, domain, etc.).
• Client ID – a unique identifier (GUID) assigned to CodeTwo Backup after the program has been registered in your Entra ID. To get this ID, sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Identity > Applications > App registrations, click the All applications tab, and select the entry under which you have registered CodeTwo Backup. The ID is found on the Overview page, under Application (client) ID (Fig. 7.).
• Tenant ID – a unique identifier (GUID) assigned to your Microsoft 365 tenant. You can find it on the same Overview page as shown in Fig. 7., under Directory (tenant) ID.

  
  Fig. 7. The client and tenant ID assigned to CodeTwo Backup in Entra ID.

• Certificate thumbprint to authenticate CodeTwo Backup. You can add or view certificates in the Microsoft Entra admin center, on the Certificates tab of the Certificates & secrets page of the registered application (Fig. 8.).

  A certificate needs to be signed with a 2048 bits key and placed in the CurrentUser\My store of the account under which the CodeTwo Backup Service runs. You can use the Import button to install the certificate in the correct store (use the Import certificate window for that purpose, as shown in Fig. 9.). If the certificate is already installed in that store, you can simply provide its thumbprint in the Certificate thumbprint field.

Fig. 8. The location of a certificate thumbprint in Entra ID.

Fig. 9. Importing the certificate associated with CodeTwo Backup.

For a sample configuration of the Application details step, take a look at Fig. 10. below.

Fig. 10. Application registration details filled out in the SharePoint connection wizard.

The next step, Legacy authentication, is optional. You should select the Allow legacy authentication checkbox and enter the credentials (email address and password) of your Microsoft 365 admin account (Fig. 11.) only if you want to use the following features:

• Restore custom web part page layouts – page layouts is a legacy feature that allows you to create customized site layouts using HTML and Design Manager. For more information, refer to Microsoft documentation. 
• Restore surveys that don't allow for multiple responses. For more information, refer to Microsoft documentation.
• Create new team sites from within CodeTwo Backup – team sites are SharePoint locations that are dedicated to team collaboration like working on projects, exchange information, etc. To learn more about creating team sites with CodeTwo Backup, go here.

Before proceeding, make sure that the admin account you're using is assigned the Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator role. If your admin account has multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled, use app password instead of your regular Microsoft 365 password. Otherwise, the configuration will fail. Learn more

Fig. 11. Providing Microsoft 365 admin credentials.

In the last step, Configuration, the program will attempt to connect to your SharePoint server based on the data provided in the previous steps of the wizard. Click Configure and wait for the results (Fig. 12.). During this process, the program is registered in your Entra ID (if you have chosen the Automatic registration option) and tries to enumerate SharePoint site collections and connect to one of them.

If you get any errors instead, consult the Troubleshooting section.

Click Finish to close the wizard. Your connection will be listed on the Defined server connections card.

Connecting to on-premises SharePoint server

In the Server address step, you need to specify your SharePoint server URL (Fig. 13.). The URL must include the (http or https) and FQDN (fully qualified domain name) of your server, e.g. https://sharepoint_server.com. The Central Administration URL field will be populated with data from the SharePoint Server URL field. You just need to provide the port number of the SharePoint Central Administration web application.

Fig. 13. Providing SharePoint server URL.

In the next step, provide the server's administrator User Principal Name (UPN) and password (Fig. 14.). Enter the UPN manually or select it from your Active Directory by clicking the Browse button.

Fig. 14. Providing admin's credentials.

In the last step, Configuration, the program will attempt to connect to your SharePoint based on the data provided in previous steps of the wizard. To start the verification process, click Configure. During this process, the program tries to enumerate site collections with PowerShell and connect to any SharePoint site collections and Central Administration service. If the configuration is successful, you will see the following information (Fig. 15.):

Fig. 15. The window informing about a successful connection to on-premises SharePoint server.

If you get any errors instead, consult the Troubleshooting section.

Click Finish to close the wizard. Your connection will be listed on the Defined server connections card.