# Windows - beginner question - Ignore files

**URL:** <https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [December 18, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627 "2022-12-18T02:35:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ollibraun](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/ollibraun/32/551_2.png) [@ollibraun](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/ollibraun)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/1 "2022-12-18T02:35:21Z")

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Hello,

this might be a stupid question, but: How do I create exceptions in Windows?

I have added the following to the policy under Files → Ignore Files:

```auto
"S:\$RECYCLE.BIN\"
"S:\System Volume Information\".

```

Nevertheless I get errors in the snapshot:

`snapshotted directory {"path": "System Volume Information", "error": "unable to read directory: open S:\\\\\\System Volume Information: Access is denied.", "dur": "0s"}`

I’ve also tried it without quotes.

Does anyone have a tip?

Best regards  
Oliver

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**Author:** ![dimejo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/dimejo/32/287_2.png) [@dimejo](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/dimejo)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/2 "2022-12-18T14:57:34Z")

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The help text states that this needs to be **specified as relative to the directory they are in and not absolute**. This should work:

```auto
$RECYCLE.BIN/
System Volume Information/

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ollibraun](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/ollibraun/32/551_2.png) [@ollibraun](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/ollibraun)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/3 "2022-12-20T15:11:09Z")

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Thanks for the tip! Yes, that apparently works.

But: If I have a directory D:\Images and I want to exclude this directory, but I **don’t** want to exclude all other subdirectories with “images” (for example D:\CompanyData\Images and D:\Neighborhood\Images), how to do it with the exceptions?

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**Author:** ![ZebCorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/5fc32e/32.png) [@ZebCorp](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/ZebCorp)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/4 "2022-12-20T16:17:15Z")

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You can use:

/Images/

This ignore only direct subdirectory - Images.

Kopia uses gitignore syntax:

[https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ollibraun](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/ollibraun/32/551_2.png) [@ollibraun](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/ollibraun)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 8:06am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/5 "2022-12-21T08:06:48Z")

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Thank you! Most of the help texts refer to Linux and macOS. I didn’t realize that in Windows, too, the slash must always be used in path specifications and not the backslash.

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**Author:** ![denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@denis](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/denis)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:42am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/windows-beginner-question-ignore-files/1627/6 "2025-04-26T05:42:19Z")

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Thanks, now I was able to exclude only the parent directory, and not its subdirectories and/or files with its same name.