"Out of Sync" and "access denied" issues after syncthing re-installation

JSM05 · June 16, 2026, 12:32pm

Hello everyone,

I have encountered a problem after I reinstalled syncthing version v2.1.0, Windows (64-bit Intel/AMD, without windows installer; Syncthing | Downloads ) on a laptop that is only connected to and android mobile phone acting as a relay (connecting devices one at a time and not simultaneously) to 2 other devices (1 windows office computer + 1 android tablet). Before the re-installation the system worked fine, however afterwards my laptop shared (“send & recieve”) files could send but not receive data (“Out of Sync” new files and “Failed items - access denied” with modified/removed files, except for one shared file that is working properly). All other devices work and sync perfectly. Currently Both the office computer and laptop have the same portable syncthing windows V.2.1.1, that was updated from a syncthing-windows-amd64-v1.23.4 portable installer. I have I have tried to solve the issue by following a few measures from the forums/web without success:

1) Resetting shared folders in syncthing: removing and re-adding folder option within syncthing

2) Resetting shared folders in file system: recreating folders from scratch and re-add folders (with the original and manually created “.stfolder”; syncthing was not capable of creating a new “st.folder” prompting “folder marker missing” error) (https://www.resilio.com/blog/syncthing-out-of-sync). I was considering “POST/Rest/System/reset” but I’m not sure If it is the right action to take (https://docs.syncthing.net/rest/system-reset-post.html) .

3) Doing a full reset – uninstalling/deleting portable version + deleting Appdata syncthing files + reinstalling with and without windows installer (https://www.resilio.com/blog/syncthing-out-of-syn c)

4) Changing SyncOwnership/ignore permissions/Extended Attributes between LAPTOP, office computer and mobile (android syncthing v 1.28.1 has “ignore permissions” by default, and all files have block indexing activated) .

5) Modified/deleted files show “access denied” errors in failed items notification. Assuming it was a permissions issue. I tested re-installing with and without admin rights (current setting is without admin rights, as it was before re-installation). (https://forum.syncthing.net/t/access-denied/21 526)

6) Assuming it was an issue with android syncing, I tried syncing it up only with the office computer. Same “Out of Sync/access denied” problem prev ails.

7) Forcing data override – setting up updated Mobile/Office Computer end to “send” and laptop to “receive” settings but override option doesn’t appear to change anything. (https://www.resilio.com/blog/syncthing-out-of -sync)

8) Debug reset-database and deleting index data (https://walterebert.com/blog/fixing-syncthing-out-of-sync/ ; https://docs.syncthing.net/users/syncthing.html#cmdoption-reset-da t aba se)

Below are snapshots of the GUI. I have already transferred manually the bulk of the files to my laptop, any new files are “out of Sync” and modified/removed files from other devices are “failed items” with “access denied” errors. By activating “ignoring permissions” in LAPTOP it seems to resolve modified files, but not the removal of files (https://forum.syncthing.net/t/cannot-sync-chmod-fails-operation-not-permitted/25383/3). I have also checked the file properties and they have “read only” attributes and has user full control (https://forum.syncthing.net/t/access-denied-when-deleting-folde r/10162).

MOBILE GUI

The only shared file that seems to be working fine and passed all test transfers (Office <> mobile <> Laptop) is the REF-Z file. I haven’t seen any differences between the settings of the other shared files other than the fi le path.

I don’t know what else i might be missing and I still can’t pin down the problem (although I might have messed up on something, as I have a very limited understanding of these systems). Any help on this issue would be much app reciated.

All The best,

J.

acolomb · June 16, 2026, 7:56pm

Your issue is related to permissions that are granted on the files to the the user account running Syncthing. No amount of reinstalling will change that, nor any database resetting tricks.

You say the failed files have the “read only” flag set. That means Syncthing cannot delete them, of course.

If the directory also has the “read only” flag, new files can naturally not be created. Same for the folder marker.

Syncing permissions may be part of the problem if the files already are read-only where they originated from. I could see those failing.

In general, Syncthing is not a special privileged process and thus can do exactly what the calling user account has access to. This has nothing to do with the user account which does the unpacking / portable setup.

JSM05 · June 17, 2026, 9:29pm

Thank you André for your reply and for the clarification. I understand, I intially though that the new installer might have added changes to the permissions since before that everything worked ok.

I apologize, I meant that the folders have the “[-] read only” check but the files themselves are not “read only”. I tried to deactivate it for the Documents + ESF folder + subfolders, but after I check again they revert to the [-] setting (without syncthing being active). Although I’m not sure if thats causing the problem, since the same settings are present in the REF-Z folder (storage) and other synced device (OFFICE, TAB and MOBILE) folders, which works just fine.

I guess it has to do with the C:\Users\T\Documents Folder. I tried creating another shared file within it and it was unable to generate a new file with “.stfolder”, and showed the same problems as the other ESF and OVault folders. Creating the file outside of it (e.g. C:\User\T\Desktop) showed no issues.

acolomb · June 19, 2026, 7:39pm

Sorry, I don’t know what Windows Explorer tries to tell you with this [-] marking. Not a Windows expert here.

Could you show what exactly you did and what went wrong, when you tried to create a file in that folder? Did you try creating some file or folder named .stfolder, or was it a different name? Have you checked whether this folder is already there, as it might be hidden by default on Windows?

chaos · June 19, 2026, 10:24pm

That minus sign means that some files in this directory are read-only, and some are not.

JSM05 · June 20, 2026, 9:27pm

Hello André & Chaos,

Everything is work now . After I tried deactivating the “[-] read only” attributes from C:\Users\T\Documents Folder in the last message, nothing really happend (still appeared with the [-] mark), and the files continued to show error messages in syncthing. However, now its working again. I guess that the laptop needed a reboot for the changes to take effect (?).

Thank you chaos for clarification, I now know that that [-] mark is a normal (albiet confusing and misleading) feature ( Win 11 folders in all drives keep reverting to Read-only status - Microsoft Q&A ).

I don’t know how the file properties were changed as I did not previously tamper with the attributes of the C:\Users\T\Documents folder. But as André said:

This could have been caused by transfering android file properties via “extended attributes” (which I can imagine is a whole other can of worms), when I was tinkering with the syncthing settings, thinking it was a permission issue triggered by the re-installation (which, as you said, was a false lead):

But this should have affected syncing with the other devices, which it didn’t, so it still not clear… The important thing is that is now working and I dont have to worry about managing file versions manually across different devices .

Thank you André and Chaos for your time and disposition, your insights were very helpful to pin down the problem.

I wish you all the best,

J.