Back up to Google Drive
Step by step: create a Google Cloud project, enable the Drive API, publish the OAuth consent screen, and get the Client ID, Client Secret, and Refresh Token to paste into CreateYourVPN Backups.
To back up to your own Google Drive, CreateYourVPN needs three values from Google: a Client ID, a Client Secret, and a Refresh Token. You get them once, paste them into the Backups settings, and never touch Google again.
The exact wording in the Google Cloud Console changes from time to time, so treat the click-paths below as a map, not a pixel-perfect script — the names of the sections stay close to this.
The single most important step is publishing the consent screen to "In production" (Step 3). If you leave it in Testing mode, Google expires your refresh token after 7 days, and backups will quietly stop with no obvious error. Don't skip it.
Step 1. Create a project
Open the Google Cloud Console and sign in with the Google account whose Drive you want to store backups in.
In the top bar, open the project picker and click "New Project". Give it any name (e.g. CYV Backups) and create it. Make sure this new project is selected before continuing.
Step 2. Enable the Google Drive API
Go to APIs & Services → Library.
Search for "Google Drive API", open it, and click "Enable".
Step 3. Configure and publish the consent screen
Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen.
Choose the "External" user type and fill in the required basics: an app name (e.g. CYV Backups), your support email, and a developer contact email. You can leave optional fields blank.
Save your way through the wizard. When you land back on the OAuth consent screen overview, find the "Publishing status" and click "Publish app" so the status becomes "In production".
Publishing status must read "In production", not "Testing". In Testing mode Google treats the refresh token as short-lived and revokes it after 7 days — your backups would run fine for a week and then silently fail. Publishing to production is what makes the token durable. Google may show a scary "unverified app" note; that's fine here — this app is only ever used by you, for your own Drive, and it only requests the narrow scope below.
Step 4. Create an OAuth Client ID (Desktop app)
Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create credentials → OAuth client ID.
For Application type, choose "Desktop app", give it a name, and create it.
Google shows you a Client ID and a Client Secret. Copy both — these are two of the three values you'll paste into CreateYourVPN.
Step 5. Get a Refresh Token
The refresh token is what lets CreateYourVPN write to Drive on a schedule without you signing in each time. The quickest way to obtain one is the Google OAuth Playground.
Open the OAuth 2.0 Playground.
Click the gear icon (settings, top right), tick "Use your own OAuth credentials", and paste the Client ID and Client Secret from Step 4.
In the "Step 1" panel on the left, don't pick from the list — scroll to the input your own scopes box and enter exactly:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.fileThen click "Authorize APIs" and sign in with the same Google account. Approve the access.
In "Step 2", click "Exchange authorization code for tokens". The response includes a refresh_token — copy its value.
The drive.file scope is deliberately narrow: it only lets the app see and manage the files it creates itself, never the rest of your Drive. That's all a backup needs. If you'd rather run your own consent flow instead of the Playground, that's fine too — just request the same drive.file scope with access_type=offline so Google returns a refresh token.
Step 6. Paste it into CreateYourVPN
In the dashboard, open Account menu → Backups, choose Google Drive as the destination, and paste:
- Client ID (Step 4)
- Client Secret (Step 4)
- Refresh Token (Step 5)
Then choose your passphrase, frequency, and retention, and save.
You do not need to enter a folder ID. On the first run the app creates its own "CYV Backups" folder in your Drive and keeps every backup there — nothing else in your Drive is touched.