Windows backup - error: invalid node type ""

Getting Help
1

Hey all,

I’m posting this to the forum since I’m not sure if it’s a bug or not, and I couldn’t find this error here or in GitHub. When running a backup on Windows 11 with:

PS C:\Windows\system32> restic_0.16.2_windows_amd64.exe --repo rest:https://username:password@backup_server.example.tld:3000/username backup --use-fs-snapshot -v C:\Users\MyUser

I get the following output:

open repository
enter password for repository:
repository 4d8e3d4d opened (version 2, compression level auto)
lock repository
using parent snapshot 34285ef5
load index files
[0:00] 66.67%  2 / 3 index files loaded
start scan on [C:\Users\MyUser]
start backup on [C:\Users\MyUser]
creating VSS snapshot for [c:\]
successfully created snapshot for [c:\]
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
error: invalid node type ""
scan finished in 19.413s: 6155 files, 838.270 MiB

Files:         175 new,    26 changed,  5954 unmodified
Dirs:            0 new,   136 changed,  2298 unmodified
Data Blobs:     52 new
Tree Blobs:     73 new
Added to the repository: 9.852 MiB (3.519 MiB stored)

processed 6155 files, 838.270 MiB in 0:20
snapshot 761ef75f saved
Warning: at least one source file could not be read

Same result as unprivileged user without --use-fs-snapshot option. Machine is a Windows 11 virtual machine.

Can I ignore the error: invalid node type "" messages, or is it a bug? What does it mean? I can open a bug report in GitHub if necessary, and also do further tests.

Thanks :wave:

1 Like
2

Please open an issue on GitHub. It looks like a few files have a filetype that restic currently unable to handle. The error message is unfortunately pretty unhelpful. Please run backup with --json option, that should tell use the filename of the problematic files.

The backup will not contain those files, but everything else is ok.

1 Like
3

Thanks for your quick answer, I did: Windows backup - error: invalid node type "" · Issue #4560 · restic/restic · GitHub

1 Like
4

Thanks. The same here using restic_0.16.2_windows_amd64.exe version

5

Note: This error is repeated when trying to backup a user’s entire folder, including appdata, etc…

If I manually choose the folders such as My Documents, Desktop, etc… the problem does not occur