Skip to main content

NinjaOne Backup — Agent Not Showing / Backup Not Appearing After Installation

Audience: T1 / T2 Use when: You've assigned a backup plan to a device in NinjaOne but the Backup tab isn't showing, no jobs are running, or the device doesn't appear in the org's Backup Overview.

Common Causes

Symptom Most Likely Cause
Device not in Backup Overview at all Backup not enabled at the org level for this device type
Backup tab visible but plan shows "None" Plan assigned in policy but not at device level
Plan assigned, no jobs ever ran Lockhart not installed or not running
Plan running but no revisions visible First backup still in progress (initial run takes hours)
Device appears in wrong org in NinjaOne Device in wrong org — backup won't show correctly

Step 1 — Verify Backup Is Enabled at the Org Level

Backup must be enabled for the organization before individual devices can be enrolled:

  1. NinjaOne → Administration → Organizations → find the client org
  2. Click into the org → Backup (left sidebar)
  3. Verify the device type (Workstations or Servers) has backup enabled with a green checkmark

If it's not enabled: enable it, save, then proceed to assign the plan at device level.

Step 2 — Verify the Backup Plan Is Assigned to the Device

  1. NinjaOne → find the device → Backup tab
  2. If Backup tab is missing: Lockhart is not installed (go to Step 3)
  3. If Backup tab shows but plan is "None": click Edit → assign the DTC standard backup plan → save
  4. After assigning: click Run Backup Plan to trigger the first run

Step 3 — Verify Lockhart Is Installed and Running

# Run on the affected device via NinjaOne terminal
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Lockhart*"} | Select DisplayName, Status, StartType

# If not found: Lockhart is not installed
# If Stopped: start it (see Lockhart Service page)

If Lockhart isn't installed at all: NinjaOne → device → Backup tab → Install Backup Agent (if option appears), or trigger reinstall via NinjaOne policy. If the install button isn't visible, the org-level backup may not be enabled (back to Step 1).

Step 4 — Check That the Device Is in the Right Org

Backup storage locations, plans, and visibility are all org-scoped. If a device was moved between orgs:

  1. NinjaOne → device → Overview tab → confirm the Organization name matches the client
  2. If wrong: move the device to the correct org — backup plan will need to be reassigned

Step 5 — Wait for the First Backup to Complete

The initial full backup can take 2–12+ hours depending on data size and internet speed. During this time, the device will show "In Progress" or no revisions yet.

# Confirm Lockhart is actively running a job
Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*lockhart*"} | Select Name, CPU, @{N='MemMB';E={[math]::Round($_.WorkingSet/1MB,1)}}

# Check Lockhart log for active job status
Get-Content "C:\ProgramData\NinjaRMM\NinjaOneBackup\logs\lockhart.log" -Tail 30

If Lockhart is running and the log shows active progress — just wait.

Step 6 — Check NinjaOne for Plan Assignment Errors

  1. NinjaOne → device → Activities tab
  2. Look for backup-related activity — any errors during plan assignment or Lockhart install will appear here
  3. Common errors: TLS 1.2 failure during install, org-level backup not enabled

Escalate to NinjaOne Support If:

  • Org-level backup is enabled, Lockhart is installed and running, plan is assigned, but the device still doesn't appear in the Backup Overview after 24 hours
  • Backup tab is visible but clicking "Install Backup Agent" produces no activity
Back to top