# Back up your CapturePoint database

Take a verified backup of the CapturePoint SQL database with SQL Server Management Studio run as administrator — and know the two folders a complete restore point also needs.

Product: capturepoint · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 15 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-14

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/capturepoint/administration/back-up-your-capturepoint-database

**At the end of this guide you'll have a verified `.bak` file of your CapturePoint database, taken with SQL Server Management Studio on the CapturePoint computer — the backup to take before replacing or re-imaging that PC, before any upgrade, and on a regular schedule always.**

CapturePoint keeps its database in a SQL Server instance on the same computer as the application. This guide assumes that standard setup: everything happens on the CapturePoint computer, signed in with an account that is a local administrator on it.

> **NOTE:** Backups run while CapturePoint is open and the background service is running. You do not need to stop anything — SQL Server backs up a live database safely.

## Before you start

You need three things:

- **A local administrator account** on the CapturePoint computer. Sign in with it.
- **SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).** CapturePoint does not install it. If it isn't already on the computer, download it free from Microsoft (search for "Download SQL Server Management Studio") and install it with the defaults.
- **Your SQL Server instance name.** On a standard install it's `localhost\ADEMEROCP` — CapturePoint sets up its own SQL Server instance called `ADEMEROCP`. If your organization pointed CapturePoint at a different instance, or an older install used another name, it may differ on your machine. To check: in CapturePoint's top toolbar click **ADMIN**, then **Database Manager**. The **SQL Server Connection Info** panel shows the server\instance and the **Database Name**.

> **IMPORTANT:** Opening **Database Manager** closes and reopens CapturePoint (the tile says so). Finish or save any batch you're working on first, and don't change anything in that window — just read it, then close it.

## Steps

1. Right-click **SQL Server Management Studio** in the Start menu and choose **Run as administrator**. Click **Yes** when Windows asks to allow changes.
   
   > important: This is the step people skip. CapturePoint's SQL Server instance grants access to the computer's **Administrators** group, and Windows only applies that membership to a program that was started as administrator. Open SSMS the normal way and it will connect, then be refused with `Login failed for user '…'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)`. That message means "not elevated", not "wrong instance" — close SSMS and reopen it as administrator.

2. In the **Connect to Server** dialog, set **Server name** to your instance (`localhost\ADEMEROCP` on a standard install), **Authentication** to **Windows Authentication**, and click **Connect**.
   
   > note: Newer SSMS versions (20 and later) show a **Connection Security** section. Leave **Encryption** at **Mandatory** and check **Trust server certificate** — CapturePoint's instance uses a self-signed certificate, and without that box the connection is refused with a certificate-chain error.

*[Screenshot: Server name is the instance; Windows Authentication uses the admin account you're signed in with. Trust server certificate must be checked for CapturePoint's local instance.]*

**What you should see:** the **Object Explorer** panel on the left shows the server, and under **Databases** there is a database named `AdemeroCapturePoint` (the default — yours may have a different name if it was set up that way; it's the name **Database Manager** showed you).

3. Right-click the `AdemeroCapturePoint` database and choose **Tasks > Back Up…**.

4. In the **Back Up Database** dialog, on the **General** page, set **Backup type** to **Full** and check **Copy-only backup**. Under **Destination**, leave **Back up to: Disk** and note the file path that's pre-filled — it's SQL Server's own Backup folder, and it's the safest choice.
   
   > note: **Copy-only** means this backup won't disturb any backup schedule your IT team already runs against the same instance. If you'd rather put the file somewhere else, click **Remove**, then **Add…**, and pick a folder on a local drive. Avoid your Desktop or Documents folders — SQL Server writes the file under its own service account, not yours, and a folder it can't write to fails with `Operating system error 5(Access is denied.)`.

*[Screenshot: Full plus Copy-only is the combination to use; the pre-filled destination under SQL Server's own Backup folder is the one it can always write to.]*

5. On the **Media Options** page, check **Verify backup when finished** and **Perform checksum before writing to media**. Click **OK**.
   
   **What you should see:** a progress indicator, then the message `The backup of database 'AdemeroCapturePoint' completed successfully.` On most systems this takes well under a minute.

6. Copy the `.bak` file **off the CapturePoint computer** — a network share, another PC, or external media. A backup that lives only on the machine it protects disappears with it.

> **NOTE:** CapturePoint also takes its own backup automatically before it upgrades its database, into `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\CapturePoint\DBBackups`. Those are a safety net for upgrades, not a backup plan — they stay on the same disk, and old ones are cleaned up.

## A database backup is not a complete restore point

The database holds your batches, templates, index values, and settings — but the **scanned page images are files on disk**, not rows in the database. A complete restore point is the `.bak` file **plus**:

| What | Where |
| --- | --- |
| **Page images** | The **Primary Storage Location** (default `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\CapturePoint\DataPrimary\`) and the **Secondary Storage Location** if one is set. See **ADMIN > Storage Locations** for the folders your install actually uses. |
| **Connection settings** | `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\CapturePoint\ConnectionInfo.xml` — tells CapturePoint which instance and database to open. |

> **IMPORTANT:** Take the database backup and copy the storage folders in the **same window**. A database restored from Monday pointing at images copied Thursday means batches whose pages can't be found.

> **NOTE:** Your CapturePoint license is tied to the computer, not to the backup. Restoring onto a new or re-imaged PC works, but CapturePoint will ask you to activate again — see [Find your Machine ID and license tokens](/capturepoint/templates/find-your-machine-id-and-license-tokens).

## How often?

At minimum: a **nightly** database backup, the storage folders on your organization's normal file-backup schedule, and an **extra verified backup immediately before** any CapturePoint upgrade, Windows reinstall, or move to a new computer — kept until you've been stable on the new setup for a comfortable period. If you already have an IT backup platform, include the database and the storage folders in it and keep the pre-change copy-only backup as your explicit restore point.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | What it means | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `Login failed for user '…'. Error: 18456` | SSMS isn't running as administrator, or your account isn't a local administrator | Close SSMS; reopen with **Run as administrator** using a local admin account |
| `Cannot connect to localhost\ADEMEROCP` / `error: 26` | The instance name is wrong or the SQL Server service isn't running | Confirm the name in **ADMIN > Database Manager**; in Windows **Services**, check `SQL Server (ADEMEROCP)` is running |
| `Operating system error 5(Access is denied.)` | SQL Server can't write to the folder you picked | Use the pre-filled Backup folder, or a folder on a local drive that isn't inside a user profile |

Still stuck? Contact Ademero support with the exact error text, your CapturePoint version, and the instance name from **Database Manager**.

## What's next

- [Find your Machine ID and license tokens](https://help.ademero.com/capturepoint/templates/find-your-machine-id-and-license-tokens)