Exclude NovaBACKUP Files and Directories from Active Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Scanning (21.x and newer versions)

Exclude NovaBACKUP Files from Antivirus Scanning (Version 21.x and Later)

Overview

Antivirus software may sometimes interfere with NovaBACKUP operations, causing backup failures, slow performance, or application startup issues. This guide explains how to configure antivirus exclusions to prevent these conflicts.

Applies to: NovaBACKUP 21.x and newer versions only
For older versions: If you're using NovaBACKUP 20.x or earlier, see this guide instead

When to Use This Guide

Configure these exclusions if you experience any of the following issues:

Failed backup jobs
Unusually slow backup speeds
Application won't start
Cannot see backup destinations
Missing files that may have been quarantined

System Requirements: NovaBACKUP 21.x supports Windows 10+ (Workstation) and Windows Server 2016+ (Server)

What to Exclude from Antivirus Scanning

File Extensions

Add these file extensions to your antivirus exclusion list:

.DAT
.NBD
.NDD
.NDF
.NDI

Executable Files

Exclude these executable files (using default installation paths):

C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\engine.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\LogCollector.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\LogViewer.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\ManagementServer.Agent.Service.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\NovaBackX.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\nsCtrl.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\nsService.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\vssnbk.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\DR\DRBackup.exe
C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\DR\x64\drdiag.exe

Folders

Exclude these entire folders:

Program folders:

C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\
C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\

Temporary files folder:

Default location: C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\Temp\
Note: If you've customized the temporary files directory in NovaBACKUP's Advanced Options, exclude your custom location instead.

Antivirus-Specific Instructions

Click the link for your antivirus software for detailed exclusion steps:

Popular Consumer Products

Windows Defender - How to exclude NovaBACKUP from Windows Defender
Avast - Excluding files from scanning
AVG - Scan exclusions
Avira - File and process exclusions
Bitdefender Home - Adding exclusions
Kaspersky - Adding to Trusted list
Webroot - Blocking or allowing files

Business/Enterprise Products

Symantec Endpoint Protection - Application exceptions
Trend Micro WFBS - Anti-malware exclusions
Bitdefender Business - Process exclusions
Sophos Home - Scan exceptions
Sophos Enterprise - Global exclusions
Panda - Creating exclusions
SentinelOne - Policy exclusions

Special Considerations for ThreatLocker:

If you use ThreatLocker application whitelisting on backup client machines, you must add NovaBACKUP exclusions to ThreatLocker. Without these exclusions, you may experience:

Auto-update failures
Deleted client services and executables
Blocked licensing and activation
Duplicate agent entries in CMon UI

ThreatLocker Resources:

Important: Add both process names AND folder paths from this guide to ThreatLocker. If exclusions don't work properly, you may need to temporarily disable ThreatLocker protection during client updates or installations.

Special Considerations for Norton 360 "Premium" edition, if it has the "Norton VPN WireGuard" network interface adapter in place (and you can verify that is true):

Norton 360 "Premium" edition, if it has the "Norton VPN WireGuard" network interface adapter showing in your Control Panel > Network Connections area, can cause FPI S3 Cloud Backups to fail to reach the S3 Storage Server endpoint address ("us1.storage.online-backup.com") as a DNS address to connect to from the client machine, and the PowerShell TCP test to that same DNS address will fail to reach that DNS address as well from the client machine. The only known workaround for that is to either disable the "VPN" functions in the "Norton 360" app or to uninstall the entire "Norton 360" app from the client machine, which should make the FPI S3 Cloud Backups work again. To remove Norton VPN's WireGuard client on Windows, you need to uninstall the entire Norton 360 application, as the VPN is a feature integrated into the suite and not a standalone WireGuard client you can remove individually. If you do not want to remove the entire Norton 360 application, you can try to disable the "VPN" feature in that app, or you can read further for more help, to see if the other optional methods can work for you to resolve that problem (we can't do anything for you to fix it though, we can only recommend items to try out in that case).

To exclude specific apps from the "Norton VPN" (that is not just for "Norton VPN WireGuard" which is a default choice it seems) connection, so that your primary internet connection is utilized instead of the "Norton VPN" VPN based connection instead, read and follow the instructions for the Windows based Norton 360 app below:

To use the set of instructions (in this section, that were modified slightly to how "Norton" had originally worded them, and to adapt it to which exact NovaBACKUP client app .exe files to exclude in the Split Tunnel feature settings that you will do in Step 4) you would of course need to have the "Norton 360 Premium" app still installed. If you had uninstalled it from any earlier advice in this KB article then you can try re-installing it with the default options again. It would need to have the "Norton VPN WireGuard" network interface adapter showing in your Control Panel > Network Connections area after that. And then proceed to Step 2 below after that.
Access: the Norton 360 app and navigate to My Norton > Settings > Secure VPN Settings.
Look for: and enable the Split Tunnel feature.
Configure: it to exclude the apps you don't want running through the VPN. The apps that you would be required to exclude here for NovaBACKUP regarding FPI S3 Backups in that case are: "engine.exe", "ManagementServer.Agent.Service.exe", "nsService.exe", and "NovaBackX.exe", and all of those .exe files are all located in the default "C:\Program Files\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\" installed Program Files folder (if the backup client is installed at the default location that is). Note: This would be an optional app to exclude, but you may also want to exclude the "powershell.exe" app, which the NovaBACKUP client doesn't utilize itself for anything itself, but the PowerShell TCP test that the NBK Support team would utilize to run the command to troubleshoot items such as this will utilize PowerShell as a process, and that .exe is in this standard path in that case: %SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe.

Norton 360 Resources:

To remove Norton VPN's WireGuard client on Windows, you need to uninstall the entire Norton 360 application, as the VPN is a feature integrated into the suite and not a standalone WireGuard client you can remove individually.
Fix problems when Split Tunnel in Norton VPN does not reroute network traffic of an application
Fix problem accessing the Internet when connected to Norton VPN

General Anti-Virus Troubleshooting Tips

Check quarantine: Verify that none of the listed files have been quarantined by your antivirus
Restart services: After adding exclusions, restart NovaBACKUP services
Custom paths: If you installed NovaBACKUP in a non-default location, adjust the file paths accordingly
Contact support: If issues persist after adding exclusions, contact NovaBACKUP support

Next Steps

After configuring these exclusions:

Restart your antivirus software if required
Restart the NovaBACKUP service
Test your backup operations to confirm the issues are resolved