Failed Items (Out of Sync) Keep Reappearing in Syncthing even though they no longer exist

[GaryScottMartin (Gary S. Martin)]

This has been driving me crazy. I am running Syncthing 2.10 on a Linux desktop computer, Windows 11 Laptop, and Synology NAS (DSM7). The folders on the NAS are all “Receive Only”, the desktop and laptop folders are “Send & Receive.” I had two directories in my eBooks folder for which I tried to correct the case of the author’s name (part of the folder titile) on the desktop. This led to 21 Failed Items (Out of Sync) since they still had the original case on the laptop. I moved the corrected files to a non-shared location on the desktop and deleted the offending folders on all three systems before copying the corrected one back to the shared folder on the desktop system. The Failed Items and Out of Sync indications on the laptop remained, and from the desktop and NAS, I still saw the 21 Failed Items in the remote device status for the laptop even though they no longer exist on any of the systems. Rescans did not help. Deleting the folders from Syncthing on all three systems and creating a new shared folder did not help.

I can get rid of the indications if I:

• Delete the eBooks folder from Syncthing on all three systems
• Copy my book folders from the previously shared folder on the desktop to a brand new folder
• Delete the original synced folders in all three locations
• Stop Syncthing on all three systems
• Delete the metadata (contents of …/syncthing/index-v2/) on all three systems
• Restart the systems one at a time, allowing each to fully sync before moving on to the next
• Create a new Media/eBooks folder on the desktop system using a newly created shared folder
• Share the newly created Media/eBooks folder with the NAS and then the laptop and allow the empty folder to sync
• Copy all of my books except the corrected ones into the new shared folder.

Everything is fine until/unless I copy the two corrected books into the shared folder. If I do that, suddenly Media/eBooks on the laptop shows “Out of Sync” and the Out of Sync Items list and the Failed Items list on that system again show the files in the original case that no longer exist anywhere. In addition, on both the NAS and the desktop, the remote device status for the laptop shows 21 items out of sync and lists the file names in the original case that no longer exist anywhere. Where is Syncthing squirreling away information on these zombie files and how do I get rid of it for good?

Laptop Screenshots

Desktop Screenshots

[marbens (Marcus B Spencer)]

Are the directories with the correct and incorrect case coexisting in the same folder? If that is the case, you need to delete one of them (which is in this case presumably the one with incorrect casing) on the desktop or NAS, as Windows is case-insensitive filesystem-wise.

[GaryScottMartin (Gary S. Martin)]

No. I have repeatedly verified that only one copy of each folder and file now exists in my preferred case. That was why I deleted all copies except the ones on the desktop system. The specific filenames listed in the Out of Sync Items lists DO NOT EXIST ANYWHERE ON ANY OF THE THREE SYSTEMS ANY LONGER.

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My Apologies. After doing a case sensitive search, I found a hidden copy of the incorrect versions. I will see if removing that fixes things.

[GaryScottMartin (Gary S. Martin)]

After removing the hidden copies (in a subfolder), everything has synced up properly. Sorry to waste your time. I should have realized that the simplest solution is that I still had the old files hiding somewhere.