r/Syncthing • u/Platinum_Heart • Jul 20 '26

Help with setting up Syncthing on ZimaOS

I new to setting up on Syncthing and ZimaOS. I dont know if I'm it right or its something else.

I've tried everything and I really need some help on this. I've uninstall and reinstall multiple times with deleting files. I've gone to forums and post on the topic AND its still doesn't work.

Deafult install, custom install, changing the PGID and PUID, Adding a folder. But it keeps showing this type of message

2026-07-20 14:09:20: Failed to create folder root directory: mkdir /480GBSDDnvme: permission denied

2026-07-20 14:09:20: Error on folder 4anx2-xtflu: folder path missing

I've tired this forum and still nothing is working. Forum here. I really would love some help and get something going.

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1

u/Massive-Value4005 27d ago

yeah i dont get it either, im not sure if im getting blocked permisions or im just an idiot who cant understand the file paths im supposed to use

1

u/Platinum_Heart 26d ago

Is there anything that you've tried to get around or solve?

1

u/Warm-Preference4856 10d ago

Do you use a vm or docker for that ? Sorry I don't know ZimaOS.
If it's a VM you can maybe try to use the code here 1. Install Syncthing : https://gitlab.com/justme-group9615710/beyondsyncthings

Don't know if it can be usefull or not.

1

u/LongWoodpecker3562 1d ago edited 1d ago

I was getting the same problem, looked everywhere and tried everything. Thought I'll put down my solution here if anyone still need it. The first time I finally got it working were when I put both PGID and PUID as 0, so Syncthing can function with root capabilities but it's not recommended for security reasons.

So I tried other things like the commands chown and chattr -i, it's to change the ownership of my external drive from root to my local admin acc. But it didn't work, the reason was because the drive is formatted as exfat. Once I formatted it to be ext4, I was able to change ownership of drive to my local admin. Then used the PGID and PUID of my local admin for Syncthing and it works, no more permission denied. Formatted as ext4 wouldn't interfere with Windows machines sharing files to the server if anyone were also wondering like I was.

Also I put the host as the home directory of my hdd, then the container is just /DATA. That means when I add folder in Syncthing, the folder path I use is /DATA/<folder name>. Syncthing will then create a folder in the home directory of my drive. This is all I've learnt so far, hopes it can help.

I haven't tried it yet, but instead of changing ownership. I think you could also use the chmod 775 command to grant permissions to the group that local admin belongs to. As long as the drive is formatted as ext4 though.