siyuan-note/siyuan · error

read notebook crypt backup failed: %w

Error message

read notebook crypt backup failed: %w

What it means

This error wraps a lower-level failure while reading the notebook's BoxCrypt backup file (the JSON envelope that stores the encrypted-notebook key backup). It is produced by readBoxEncryptionFile when filelock.ReadFile fails, preserving the underlying cause via %w. It means the backup file exists (or was expected) but could not be read from disk.

Source

Thrown at kernel/model/crypto.go:2557

}

// readNotebookCryptBackup 读取加密笔记本的 BoxCrypt 备份。
// 备份文件不存在时返回 (nil, nil)，调用方据此区分"非加密笔记本"和"备份不存在"。
func readNotebookCryptBackup(boxID string) (*conf.BoxEncryption, error) {
	if !ast.IsNodeIDPattern(boxID) {
		return nil, errors.New("invalid notebook ID")
	}
	backupPath := notebookCryptoBackupPath(boxID)
	if !filelock.IsExist(backupPath) {
		return nil, nil
	}
	return readBoxEncryptionFile(backupPath)
}

func readBoxEncryptionFile(backupPath string) (*conf.BoxEncryption, error) {
	data, err := filelock.ReadFile(backupPath)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("read notebook crypt backup failed: %w", err)
	}
	var crypt conf.BoxEncryption
	if err = gulu.JSON.UnmarshalJSON(data, &crypt); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unmarshal notebook crypt backup failed: %w", err)
	}
	if err = validateBoxEncryption(&crypt); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return &crypt, nil
}

// copyAssetDecryptIfEncrypted 把 srcPath 的 asset 复制到 destPath。
// 若 srcPath 在已解锁的加密笔记本下，读密文→解密→写明文到 destPath（导出目录）；
// 否则走 filelock.Copy 原路径（字节级复制，密文/明文均可）。
func copyAssetDecryptIfEncrypted(srcPath, destPath string) error {
	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(destPath), 0755); err != nil {
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 8641553a1f)

Solutions

1. Check OS permissions/ownership of <workspace>/data/<notebook>/.siyuan/ crypt backup file and fix with chown/chmod or icacls
2. Close other processes (backup/antivirus/sync tools) locking the file and retry
3. Check disk health (dmesg/Event Viewer) and free space; restore the file from backup if it is truncated or unreadable
4. Re-run the kernel as the same user that owns the workspace

Example fix

// before (OS level)
cat data/20240101120000-abcd/.siyuan/crypt.json  # permission denied
// after
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER data/20240101120000-abcd/.siyuan/
cat data/20240101120000-abcd/.siyuan/crypt.json  # works

// pre-check readability
const fs = require("fs");
if (!fs.accessSync(backupPath, fs.constants.R_OK)) { /* proceed */ }

try {
    await callKernel();
} catch (e) {
    if (String(e.message).includes("read notebook crypt backup failed")) {
        // check file permissions / disk, then retry after fixing
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: readNotebookCryptBackup finds notebookCryptoBackupPath(boxID) exists, then readBoxEncryptionFile calls filelock.ReadFile(backupPath) and the OS read fails — permission problems, the file vanishing between the IsExist check and the read, disk I/O errors, or a locked file on Windows.

Common situations: Running SiYuan as a different user than the one who owns the workspace data; antivirus or backup software holding the file; workspace moved across machines/users with mismatched ownership; failing disk.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

• read session file failed: %w
• create session dir failed: %w
• save session file failed: %w
• write data [%s] failed: %s
• read AI editor actions failed: %w

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@8641553a1f (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/752b74b56f7c9421. Report an issue: GitHub.