--skip-links no longer works on Windows

Suspected Bug
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

I have a script I've used for years that syncs a Windows directory to a file share.
I have used the --skip-links command to ignore the links in the directory, which has worked for some time. However, after updating to 1.69.2, those errors are no longer ignored, and the backup fails.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.69.2

  • os/version: Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise 23H2 23H2 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 10.0.22631.5189 (x86_64)
  • os/type: windows
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.24.2
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: cmount

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

Local Windows drive to Windows file server

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone.exe^
  sync^
  --log-level INFO^
  --stats-one-line-date^
  --skip-links^
  --checksum^
  --delete-excluded^
  --fix-case^
  --create-empty-src-dirs^
  --filter ... ^
  C:/^
  //server/share

There are many filter lines.

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

No config file is used.

A log from the command with the -vv flag

2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/NetHood: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/PrintHood: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/Recent: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/SendTo: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/Start Menu: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/02 17:48:24 ERROR : Users/user/Templates: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

Identical problem experienced with --links option since using v1.69.2.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.69.2

  • os/version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 22H2 22H2 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 10.0.19045.2006 (x86_64)
  • os/type: windows
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.24.2
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: cmount

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

Local Windows share to IDrive e2 bucket.

The command you were trying to run

rclone ^
sync ^
"\server\share" ^
--log-file "..." ^
--backup-dir "storage:/path" ^
--s3-copy-cutoff 100M ^
--create-empty-src-dirs ^
--exclude "..." ^
--ignore-case ^
--order-by name ^
--links ^
--progress -v

A log from the command

2025/05/01 23:00:00 ERROR : ...: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.
...
2025/05/01 23:39:41 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting files as there were IO errors
2025/05/01 23:39:41 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting directories as there were IO errors
2025/05/01 23:39:41 ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.
...
2025/05/01 23:49:20 ERROR : ...: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.
...
2025/05/02 00:03:34 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting files as there were IO errors
2025/05/02 00:03:34 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting directories as there were IO errors
2025/05/02 00:03:34 ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.
...
2025/05/02 00:13:22 ERROR : ...: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.
...
2025/05/02 00:27:55 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting files as there were IO errors
2025/05/02 00:27:55 ERROR : S3 bucket bak path ...: not deleting directories as there were IO errors
2025/05/02 00:27:55 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to open source object: The system cannot find the file specified.

3

welcome to the forum,

can you post the simplest command possible to reproduce the issue, no extra flags.
perhaps rclone ls c:\Users\user\NetHood --skip-links --retries=1 is enough to trigger the error.

and post two full debug logs, not snippets.
a debug log for the latest version that works, and a debug log for the latest version that does not work.

4

I cannot provoke anything more meaningful unless I sync the whole directory (even then, I am not certain the log hints at why).

Is there somewhere I can post full logs privately?

5

I am also seeing the same thing. The easiest example I could create is if I copy C:\Users\Public\ it fails on 3 links.

>rclone copy C:\Users\Public\ C:\00\ --skip-links --retries=1
2025/05/20 17:21:43 NOTICE: Config file "C:\\Users\\Me\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
2025/05/20 17:21:43 ERROR : Documents/My Music: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/20 17:21:43 ERROR : Documents/My Pictures: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/20 17:21:43 ERROR : Documents/My Videos: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/20 17:21:43 ERROR : Attempt 1/1 failed with 3 errors and: failed to open source object: Access is denied.
2025/05/20 17:21:43 NOTICE: Failed to copy with 3 errors: last error was: failed to open source object: Access is denied.

If I just "ls" then it does not create an error and shows the folders a 0 bytes

>rclone ls c:\Users\Public\  --skip-links --retries=1
2025/05/20 17:26:23 NOTICE: Config file "C:\\Users\\Me\\AppData\\Roaming\\rclone\\rclone.conf" not found - using defaults
      174 desktop.ini
      380 Videos/desktop.ini
      380 Pictures/desktop.ini
      174 Downloads/desktop.ini
      960 Libraries/RecordedTV.library-ms
      175 Libraries/desktop.ini
      380 Music/desktop.ini
        0 Documents/My Music
        0 Documents/My Pictures
        0 Documents/My Videos
      278 Documents/desktop.ini
      174 Desktop/desktop.ini
      196 AccountPictures/desktop.ini

If I revert back to Rclone version 1.69.1 then it works. It is only an issue with 1.69.2.

6

i can confirm this appears to be a bug.
someone can open an issue at github

7

Added as --skip-links no longer works on Windows · Issue #8561 · rclone/rclone · GitHub

8

I have the same problem with using --links in rclone v1.69.3
2025/06/14 11:57:15 ERROR : UserName/Local Settings: Failed to copy: failed to open source object: Access is denied.

9

See issue above your post. Corrected in the beta.

10

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