Prerequisites

    Requirements summary

    # Requirement Details
    1 Product ADAudit Plus build 7200 or later
    2 License Any edition — Data Archival is available across all editions; report category coverage depends on your configured license add-ons
    3 Disk space Sufficient free space at the configured archive folder location for the volume of data you plan to retain
    4 Storage access The ADAudit Plus Service Account needs Read/Write access to the archive folder location
    5 Permissions A technician account with Admin privileges in ADAudit Plus is required to configure archive settings, restore data, or manage the search index

    Archive location access permissions

    Archive files are written and read by the ADAudit Plus server process itself, so the account that needs permission on the archive folder is the ADAudit Plus Service Account— not the Domain Data Collection Account used for AD/File/Server/Endpoint auditing.

    The service process does not impersonate the Domain Data Collection Account when writing archive data, so that account's privileges are irrelevant to archival.

    Required permissions depend on where the archive folder is located:

    Archive location Required permissions
    Default — <ADAudit Plus Installation Folder>\archive on the local server No additional configuration needed. The Service Account (Local System by default) already has full access to the local installation folder.
    Different local drive/folder on the ADAudit Plus server NTFS Read & Write (Modify) permission on the folder for the Service Account. If the Service Account is Local System, this is already satisfied for any local path.
    Remote file server share (UNC path) 1. NTFS permission: Read & Write (Modify) on the folder for the Service Account.

    2. Share permission: Full Control on the share for the Service Account. Both must be granted — NTFS and share permissions are enforced independently, and the more restrictive of the two applies.
    ⚠️ Important

    When the archive location is a remote share, the Service Account must be changed from Local System to a domain user or gMSA, since Local System has no network identity. Grant that domain account NTFS Read & Write and share Full Control on the target share/folder before configuring the path.

    How to grant NTFS permissions (Security tab):

    • On the machine hosting the archive folder, right-click the target folder → Properties.
    • Go to the Security tab → click Edit.
    • Click Add, enter the Service Account name (for example, DOMAIN\svc-adap), and click OK.
    • Select the account, and under Allow, check Modify (this also grants Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read, and Write).
    • Click OK → OK to apply.

    How to grant share permissions (Sharing tab):

    • Right-click the same folder → Properties → Sharing tab.
    • Click Advanced Sharing → ensure Share this folder is checked.
    • Click Permissions.
    • Click Add, enter the Service Account name, click OK, select the account, and under Allow, check Full Control.
    • Click OK → OK → Close to apply.

    Repeat both procedures for the Service Account whenever the archive location is changed to a new local folder or remote share.