# Permission problem when mounting with FUSE (macOS)

**URL:** <https://kopia.discourse.group/t/permission-problem-when-mounting-with-fuse-macos/3188>\
**Category:** General Topics\
**Created:** [August 10, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/permission-problem-when-mounting-with-fuse-macos/3188 "2024-08-10T11:49:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![permildner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@permildner](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/permildner)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/permission-problem-when-mounting-with-fuse-macos/3188/1 "2024-08-10T11:49:57Z")

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Is there some way to ensure the permissions on the FUSE mounted files are actually readable/copiable by the local user that mounts the backup using FUSE?

Background:

I try to restore a backup on a new machine New, the backup was made on an old (destroyed) machine Old. Both are macs, but the user id on Old (userOld) is different from what I use on New (userNew), and the backed up folder hierarchy are owned by userOld, and has file system permission rw for userOld and no-access for other users.

I can successfully mount the backup on machine New, using FUSE, but now all files and directories are owned by userOld, and since I am running as userNew, I am unable to copy the file hierarchy from the FUSE file system to the local file system on machine New. On machine New, trying to do the copy, Finder gives me the error message:

> Items can’t be copied to “Test from Kopia 2024-08-10” because you don’t have permission to read them.

Trying to do the copy with sudo cp … from the command line also does not seems to work, presumably because the FUSE mounted file system is only visible to the original user (userNew), not to the root user.

So, long story short, after a catastrophic event destroying the Old machine, currently **my backups are accessible but unusable** on my New machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Details: The New machine is running 14.6.1 (Intel). KopiaUI 0.17.0. The backup was made on some older version of macOS, probably macOS 13 or 14, and probably some older version of Kopia. The backups are stored on an S3 compatible cloud service. The userOld user exists also on the New machine, but is used for some service, so it is is not a ordinary user account I can log in as, and I do not have the password (if there is one) of userOld on the New machine.

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**Author:** ![kapitainsky](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/kapitainsky/32/535_2.png) [@kapitainsky](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/kapitainsky)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 12:21pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/permission-problem-when-mounting-with-fuse-macos/3188/2 "2024-08-10T12:21:19Z")

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FUSE has its limitations. I doubt anybody will work on this.

> [@permildner](#):
>
> currently **my backups are accessible but unusable**

It is FAR from that:)

Your options:

1. 

Use `kopia restore` cmd with `skip-owners` flag. See docs for details:

> **[restore](https://kopia.io/docs/reference/command-line/common/restore/)**
>
> $ kopia restore Restore a directory or a file.
> Restore can operate in two modes:
> from a snapshot: restoring (possibly shallowly) a specified file or directory from a snapshot into a target path. By default, the target path will be created by the...

1. 

Use kopia UI where you can disable “Restore File Ownership”

 ![Screenshot 2024-08-11 at 06.38.03](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/kopia/original/2X/b/bf731b58db14ef902e1a2cae18081b678c61f586.png)

1. 

Restore to external drive - by default ownership is ignored on external drives. Typical `Get Info` on macOS external drive:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/kopia/original/2X/2/233da6b223b6b27e35bf04a793bd8cb0b4195652.png)