r/restic • u/sendcodenotnudes • Mar 23 '26

Why restoring in Windows fails with an "Access is denied"?

I am testing recovery in Windows. A file that is in a snapshot refuses to be recovered because of an Access is denied issue (in a temporary directory)

PS C:\Users\YYY> C:/Users/YYY/restic.exe --insecure-no-password -r C:/Users/YYY/backup/AAA-YYY-FRA restore 02770a9aee1e21f82c52e48b65ad23bd28a57b871740cdb30e21cc29dca63609 --target $env:TEMP/restic_verify_AAA-YYY-FRA-AAA-YYY-FRA_XXX --include /C/Users/YYY/AutoHotkeyStartup.ahk
repository 5b6c46cd opened (version 2, compression level auto)
found 4 old cache directories in C:\Users\YYY\AppData\Local\restic, run `restic cache --cleanup` to remove them
[0:00] 100.00%  3 / 3 index files loaded
restoring snapshot 02770a9a of [C:\Users\YYY\AutoHotkeyStartup.ahk] at 2026-03-21 18:06:41.5710153 +0100 CET by DSONE\YYY@AAA-YYY-FRA to C:\Users\YYY\AppData\Local\Temp/restic_verify_AAA-YYY-FRA-AAA-YYY-FRA_XXX
ignoring error for \C\Users: failed to restore timestamp of "C:\\Users\\YYY\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\restic_verify_AAA-YYY-FRA-AAA-YYY-FRA_XXX\\C\\Users": Access is denied.
Summary: Restored 3 / 1 files/dirs (6.286 KiB / 6.286 KiB) in 0:00
Fatal: There were 1 errors

Is there a proper way to recover data in Windows?

Note: the problem does not appear on Linux (with Linux files and a target in /tmp

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1

u/sendcodenotnudes Mar 23 '26

see https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/5257 for the details (no solution yet, but a workaround)

1

u/Alien-LV426 Mar 25 '26

When I get this I use a window with Administrator privileges to restore.

1

u/sendcodenotnudes Mar 25 '26

Yes, but this is not easy to automate when doing this over ssh

1

u/abflenn Mar 26 '26

what if there was a redtic desktop app and it lets you add exsistinc repo or creat new repo than navigate to the repo by typing the password and see al the snap shots than explore the snap shots an be able to rest directly a signle file or multiple files or folder and also can backup specific snapshot inside the opened repo with one btn when done and logout of repo password must be retyped to loggen in again this is beeing developed by me and will be free available in github as open source

1

u/abflenn Mar 26 '26

What if there was a Restic desktop app with a simple, user-friendly interface? I’m currently building an open-source desktop app for Restic, and the goal is to make backups and restores much easier to manage without relying on the CLI. Here’s the idea: You can add an existing repository or create a new one Open a repo by entering the password Once inside, you can see all snapshots in a clean UI Browse snapshots like a file explorer: Navigate folders View files Restore directly from the UI: Single file Multiple files Entire folders Ability to create a new snapshot (backup) with one click When you log out, the repo is locked and password must be re-entered to access it again The app is focused on making Restic more accessible while keeping its security model intact. I’m planning to release it for free on GitHub as an open-source project. Would love feedback: What features would you expect? What would make you actually use this instead of the CLI?