Backing up Weixin

I found the menu options to backup chats but whenever I try, I get the message "have to be on the same network" or something like that. I plug my notebook into my phone by cable, but that doesn't seem to help.  Any suggestions here?   Also, for backing up photos?

I've never had any issues with it. Is your phone connected to the same wifi network as your laptop? I don't think it works over mobile data.

The latest update claimed to make some changes to how WeChat backs up chat logs. Not a feature I use, but think the blurb did mention making a local copy. Might be worth checking you've got the latest and giving it another go.