I have a few Macs backup up to my Samba server, and this has worked without a
hitch for many years.
While trying to restart a backup on a machine where Time Machine was unhappy, I
decided to wipe the share and start over fresh. Since then, Time Machine gets
stuck after about 3.8 GB, never progressing any further. Another Mac is happily
backing up to the same server.
The server is Debian Trixie with the backport packages
(2:4.23.5+dfsg-1~bpo13+1), the Mac is running 26.2.
On the Mac, I'm getting these errors (slightly redacted):
$ printf '\e[3J' && log show --predicate 'subsystem ==
"com.apple.TimeMachine"' --info --last 30m | grep -F
'eMac' | grep -Fv 'etat' | awk -F']' '{print
substr($0,1,19), $NF}'
2026-01-30 09:20:55 Choosing destination volume
2026-01-30 09:20:56 Prepare destination
2026-01-30 09:20:56 mountNetworkURL: smb://stb at REDACTED/Backup%20gray
airDiskFlags: 0x0
2026-01-30 09:20:56 NetAuth session for 'smb://stb at
REDACTED/Backup%20gray' will use options: {
AuthType = Time AuthType = TimeMachine;
2026-01-30 09:20:56 Reporting preparation progress message: 'Mounting
?Backup gray? from ?REDACTED??', fractionDone: nil
2026-01-30 09:20:58 NAOpenSessionAsync reports sessionStatus: 0, sessionInfo: {
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Mounting share 'Backup gray' with options: {
TimeMachineMoun TimeMachineMount = 1;
2026-01-30 09:20:58 NAMountAsync reports mountStatus: 0, mountInfo: {
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Reporting preparation progress message: 'Checking
capabilities of ?Backup gray? from ?REDACTED??', fractionDone: nil
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Initial network volume options for 'Backup gray'
are {disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 0, reconnectTimeOut:
0, QoS: 0x0, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Setting network volume options for 'Backup gray' to
{disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 1, reconnectTimeOut: 30,
QoS: 0x20, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Fsctl reported error while setting network volume options
for 'Backup gray', error: 7 Argument list too long
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Current network volume options for 'Backup gray'
are {disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 0, reconnectTimeOut:
30, QoS: 0x0, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:20:58 Ignoring E2BIG error while setting network volume options
for 'Backup gray
2026-01-30 09:20:59 Stored password in system keychain for account
'stb', url 'smb://stb at REDACTED/Backup%20gray'
2026-01-30 09:20:59 Choosing destination options
...
2026-01-30 09:21:26 User tried to start a backup
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Backup requested to next destination in rotation.
specifiedOptions: TMBackupOptions(rawValue: 0)
2026-01-30 09:21:26 lastDestinationID: 976F41AD-BFAE-49A6-BC52-3C534CA920A1;
nextDestinationID: 976F41AD-BFAE-49A6-BC52-3C534CA920A1
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Not rotating backup destinations, next destination is the
same as the last destination.
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Attempting backup with mode "manual backup"
2026-01-30 09:21:26 > { AssertionType '(null)' (4), Assertion Retain:
(1)} - device locking is prevented
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Device locking is prevented.
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Mounting destination 976F41AD-BFAE-49A6-BC52-3C534CA920A1
for backing up
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Rejecting candidate mount point: /Volumes/Backup gray, not
owned by root
2026-01-30 09:21:26 Attempting to mount 'smb://stb at
REDACTED/Backup%20gray'
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Failed to read capabilities for '/Volumes/Backup
gray', error: Operation not permitted
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Failed to read capabilities for '/Volumes/Backup
gray', error: Operation not permitted
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Failed to read capabilities for '/Volumes/Backup
gray', error: Operation not permitted
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Failed to read capabilities for '/Volumes/Backup
gray', error: Operation not permitted
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Mounted 'smb://stb at REDACTED/Backup%20gray' at
'/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray'
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Initial network volume options for 'Backup gray'
are {disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 0, reconnectTimeOut:
0, QoS: 0x0, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Setting network volume options for 'Backup gray' to
{disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 1, reconnectTimeOut: 30,
QoS: 0x20, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:21:27 Current network volume options for 'Backup gray'
are {disablePrimaryReconnect: 0, disableSecondaryReconnect: 0, reconnectTimeOut:
30, QoS: 0x20, attributes: 0x1C}
2026-01-30 09:21:28 attrVolumeWithMountPoint
'file:///Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup%20gray/'
failed, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=13 "Permission
denied"
2026-01-30 09:21:28 Mountpoint
'/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray' is still valid
2026-01-30 09:21:28 Mountpoint
'/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray' supports required network capabilities (4.4 TB of 4.4 TB available)
2026-01-30 09:21:30 attrVolumeWithMountPoint
'file:///Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup%20gray/'
failed, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=13 "Permission
denied"
2026-01-30 09:21:30 Mountpoint
'/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray' is still valid
2026-01-30 09:21:30 Creating an unencrypted sparsebundle diskimage at
/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray/gray 2026-01-30-092130.incomplete
2026-01-30 09:21:31 Using a band size of 1.07 GB (on a volume with size of 4.4
TB)
...
2026-01-30 09:21:44 attrVolumeWithMountPoint
'file:///Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup%20gray/'
failed, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=13 "Permission
denied"
2026-01-30 09:21:45 Failed to find Time Machine volume on
'/Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup
gray/gray 2026-01-30-092130.incomplete', found:
2026-01-30 09:21:45 Backup volume device entry did not appear in IOKit registry
in a timely manner!
2026-01-30 09:21:45 Erasing 'Backups of gray' as Case-sensitive APFS
2026-01-30 09:21:45 attrVolumeWithMountPoint
'file:///Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup%20gray/'
failed, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=13 "Permission
denied"
2026-01-30 09:21:46 attrVolumeWithMountPoint
'file:///Volumes/.timemachine/REDACTED/8EFC83A6-7B92-4DD7-A168-299E3BCBD023/Backup%20gray/'
failed, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=13 "Permission
denied"
The permission denied error then repeats until I cancel the backup. Time Machine
reports that it wrote about 3.8 GB, then it never progresses.
Share filesystem permission:
# ls -al /shared/backup/gray/
total 101
drwxr-xr-x 3 stb root 4 Jan 30 08:40 .
drwxrwxr-x 16 stb lassitude 16 Jan 29 23:42 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 stb lassitude 6148 Jan 29 17:28 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x 4 stb lassitude 13 Jan 30 08:40 gray.sparsebundle
(I've not set any ACLs).
smb.conf:
[global]
workgroup = LASSITUDE
server string = REDACTED
security = user
; load printers = yes
; printing = cups
max log size = 50
interfaces = 44.128.77.1/26
;log level = 3
log file = /var/log/samba/smb-%m.log
min protocol = SMB2
vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
fruit:metadata = stream
fruit:model = MacSamba
fruit:posix_rename = yes
fruit:veto_appledouble = no
fruit:wipe_intentionally_left_blank_rfork = yes
fruit:delete_empty_adfiles = yes
fruit:aapl = yes
fruit:copyfile = yes
hide files = /.DS_Store/Network Trash
Folder/TheFindByContentFolder/TheVolumeSettingsFolder/Temporary
Items/.TemporaryItems/.VolumeIcon.icns/Icon?/.FBCIndex/.FBCLockFolder/
[Backup gray]
path = /shared/backup/gray
writeable = yes
vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
fruit:time machine = yes
Any suggestions?
--
Stefan Bethke <stb at lassitu.de> Fon +49 175 3288861
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