What causes "Unable to get file" in RocketChat/Rocket.Chat?

Re-list the directory (getWebdavFileList) and confirm file.filename still exists, then retry with the fresh value

RocketChat/Rocket.Chat · error · Meteor.Error

unable-to-get-file

unable-to-get-file

Error message

Unable to get file

What it means

Catch-all around the actual file transfer in getFileFromWebdav: building credentials from the account, constructing the WebDAV client, and client.getFileContents(file.filename). Any failure is rethrown as unable-to-get-file, so a missing file, a permissions change on the WebDAV server, expired stored credentials, or a mid-transfer network error all surface identically. The original exception is not attached, so diagnosis must happen on the WebDAV server side.

Source

Thrown at apps/meteor/server/bridges/webdav/methods/getFileFromWebdav.ts:44

				method: 'getFileFromWebdav',
			});
		}

		const account = await WebdavAccounts.findOneByIdAndUserId(accountId, userId, {});
		if (!account) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('error-invalid-account', 'Invalid WebDAV Account', {
				method: 'getFileFromWebdav',
			});
		}

		try {
			const cred = getWebdavCredentials(account);
			const client = new WebdavClientAdapter(account.serverURL, cred);
			const fileContent = await client.getFileContents(file.filename);
			const data = new Uint8Array(fileContent);
			return { success: true, data };
		} catch (error) {
			throw new Meteor.Error('unable-to-get-file', 'Unable to get file', {
				method: 'getFileFromWebdav',
			});
		}
	},
});

View on GitHub (pinned to b2c16d5842)

Solutions

Re-list the directory (getWebdavFileList) and confirm file.filename still exists, then retry with the fresh value
Re-authenticate the WebDAV account (remove and re-add it) if stored credentials or the OAuth token may have expired
Check the WebDAV server's logs for the rejected request (404 vs 401 vs 502 tells you which case it is)
For recurring transient failures, wrap the download in a single retry with backoff

Example fix

// before
await call('getFileFromWebdav', accountId, file); // → unable-to-get-file

// after — confirm the node still exists, then fetch
const list = await call('getWebdavFileList', accountId, dirname(file.filename));
if (!list.data.some((n) => n.filename === file.filename)) {
  throw new Error('File no longer exists on the WebDAV server');
}
await call('getFileFromWebdav', accountId, file);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const list = await Meteor.callAsync('getWebdavFileList', accountId, dirname(file.filename));
if (!list.data.some((n) => n.filename === file.filename)) {
  throw new Error('File no longer exists on the WebDAV server');
}
await Meteor.callAsync('getFileFromWebdav', accountId, file);

Try / catch

try {
  await Meteor.callAsync('getFileFromWebdav', accountId, file);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.error === 'unable-to-get-file') {
    // re-list the directory; if the file exists, re-auth the account;
    // one bounded retry helps only for transient network drops
  }
}

Prevention

Use filenames taken from a fresh getWebdavFileList result, not cached state
Re-link WebDAV accounts when their credentials or tokens rotate
Check the WebDAV server logs to distinguish 404/401/network cases

When it happens

Trigger: Requesting a file whose filename no longer exists or is not readable by the account's credentials; the stored OAuth token/password expired since the account was linked; connectivity or TLS failure between Rocket.Chat and the WebDAV server during the fetch.

Common situations: Files renamed or deleted on the WebDAV server after the file list was cached in the picker; token-based accounts whose access token expired; flaky links or proxies interrupting large downloads.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of RocketChat/Rocket.Chat@b2c16d5842 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cc438f02e86cf0cd. Report an issue: GitHub.