Hi,
I have an old encrypted backup (which I have the password for) and I tried restoring it on a different Routerboard model (same RouterOS version). But I cannot log in after the reboot.
Is there a way I can read the backup and extract the config so I can get the new model working?
RouterOS: 6.29.1
Any help or ideas would be appreciated
backups are intended for a given routerboard device and ROS version.
To have a device neutral configuration file, /export should be used to generate an .rsc file (sequential CLI commands needed to reach the same config)
You said you used a different RB model, maybe this has to do with your problem to log in.
How did you try to log in? winbox? mac-winbox?
I would install a CHR instance on a VM, then load the backup on it.
This way at least you can open the console and either fix the problem so that you can export the config and transfer it over the network, or at least manually use copy & paste to copy that over to a textfile.
Thanks for the advice, got the backup running on the VM. Just read only for now though as It seems the admin password has changed since that particular backup so I can still log in using our limited user (local,telenet,ssh,reboot,read,write,test,winbox,web,romon,tikapp, !ftp, !policy, !password, !sniff, !sensitive, !api, !dude). Looks like I am going to have to do this the long way. Thanks again for your help
I sense a business opportunity here - many admins only discover that they should have done an ‘export’ instead of a ‘backup’[1] when their original router dies and they need to restore it on replacement hardware! You could charge people for the service of restoring their hardware-specific backup file on the correct hardware and sending them a plaintext config in return. All you would need to do is buy one of every single Routerboard model ever made, and you can watch the £/$/€ roll in.
[1] - backup feature either should have a different name, or should come with a warning explaining that it is hardware-specific
Sorry, but that sounds horrible. 
I’d hate to ruin business opportunities for anyone, but IMHO the only right solution is for MikroTik to do something with current system, where we have export and backup, each with different flaws and neither good enough for all purposes.
I appreciate your suggestion but making business out of other’s desperation is not my cup of tea 
I think a big, red warning on backup wiki page will do. People is screwing constantly by using this feature which should maybe be named in a different, deterring way; already talked regarding this with Mikrotik in the past.