# Syncthing on umbrel, unable to create sync directory

**URL:** <https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874>\
**Category:** Support and Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [September 8, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874 "2025-09-08T23:28:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fbrichs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@fbrichs](https://community.umbrel.com/u/fbrichs)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874/1 "2025-09-08T23:28:00Z")

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Hey all,

I’m running into a frustrating issue trying to set up Syncthing on my Umbrel. I’m trying to sync a folder from my Mac to my Umbrel, but the remote folder on the Umbrel side fails to initialize with the following error:

2025-09-08 19:18:32: Failed to create folder root directory (folder.label=Downloads folder.id=uksjq-ec4in folder.type=sendreceive error=“mkdir /Apps: permission denied” log.pkg=model)

2025-09-08 19:18:32: Failed initial scan (error=“folder path missing” folder.label=Downloads folder.id=uksjq-ec4in folder.type=sendreceive log.pkg=model)

Here’s what I’ve tried:

**My setup**

- **Syncthing version** : 2.3

- **Umbrel user** : umbrel

- **Syncthing process user** : Confirmed with ps aux | grep syncthing, it’s running as umbrel

- **Target folder on Umbrel** : /home/umbrel/umbrel/home/Downloads

Permissions are OK  
drwxr-xr-x 2 umbrel umbrel 4096

any help is appreciated

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**Author:** ![chrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@chrip](https://community.umbrel.com/u/chrip)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874/2 "2025-09-10T22:41:03Z")

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Hi @fbrichs, I don’t use Syncthing on my Umbrel, but I think Syncthing is unable to find your target directory `/home/umbrel/umbrel/home/Downloads` because it is running inside a Docker container. Therefore, Syncthing will only have access to the volume defined by the associated [docker-compose.yml](https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel-apps/blob/master/syncthing/docker-compose.yml) file.

This file defines the single volume `${APP_DATA_DIR}/data:/var/syncthing`. Therefore, if you define your paths in Syncthing to have root `/var/syncthing` then the files should get written on your host at `${APP_DATA_DIR}/data` (I think this would be`/home/umbrel/umbrel/app-data/syncthing/data`)

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**Author:** ![fbrichs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@fbrichs](https://community.umbrel.com/u/fbrichs)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874/3 "2025-09-10T23:27:59Z")

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Thanks I was able to fix it using the full suggested path /var/syncthing/MYDIR

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**Author:** ![gitwag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gitwag](https://community.umbrel.com/u/gitwag)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://community.umbrel.com/t/syncthing-on-umbrel-unable-to-create-sync-directory/23874/4 "2025-11-26T16:16:02Z")

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Hi all,

I try to set up Paperless-ngx together with Syncthing. I´m lost with the volumes config. I unterstand the docker isolation but I hope you can help me.I want to sync the consume folder with a external server using Syncthing.

How I have to config the volume settings in the docker-compose.yml file and what to type in the sync folder at Syncthing?

> volumes:
> 
> - ${APP\_DATA\_DIR}/data:/var/syncthing
> - /home/umbrel/umbrel/home/paperless/consume:/consume

THX