Time Machine not backing up to network

I have been using a Samba share as a Time Machine source for a while now. It was a Raspberry with a Western Digital USB drive attached. For various reasons, I needed to rebuild the OS image on the Pi. Ever since, I can't get Time Machine to complete a backup. I can copy, rename, and delete files from both the Time Machine share and other shares without issue. I've played with permissions on the file system (even doing 777, just to test). I've also done a fair bit of googling to find issues.


My MacBook is running MacOS 26.


The `smb.conf` is pretty stock. The relevant section for `[Global]`:



[Global]
ea support = yes

vfs objects = catia fruit streams_xattr
fruit:metadata = stream
fruit:model = MacSamba
fruit:veto_appledouble = no
fruit:nfs_aces = no
fruit:wipe_intentionally_left_blank_rfork = yes
fruit:delete_empty_adfiles = yes
fruit:posix_rename = yes

min protocol = SMB3
fruit:zero_file_id = yes



for the Time Machine share:



[timemachine]
  comment = Time Machine Backup
  path = /mnt/lotsadisk/backups
  fruit:time machine = yes
  browseable = yes
  read only = no
  writeable = yes
  guest ok = no
  force user = smbuser
  create mask = 0777
  directory mask = 0777
  fruit:time machine max size = 4T



Running a backup, I can see it create a temporary file on the share, and copy data over. It will fail, with most errors pointing to a permission issue (log below). As I said, I've opened the permissions wide to test, and, through Finder on the Mac, create, manipulate, and delete files on the share. The Time Machine log is attached. Is there any obvious thing I'm missing?


MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 12:15 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 10:52 PM

Time Machine is getting as far as creating the .incomplete sparsebundle but can’t finish the rename/commit step because the Samba share is either blocking the metadata/ACL/xattr operations TM requires or the underlying filesystem/permissions don’t actually support the POSIX semantics macOS expects.


Quick checklist to debug and fix: run testparm -s (you already did) and inspect /var/log/samba for permission errors, confirm vfs objects = catia fruit streams_xattr is active on the timemachine share (not just global), and that fruit:time machine = yes is set there; verify the backing filesystem on the Pi actually supports extended attributes and POSIX rename/flush (NTFS/exFAT via FUSE often fails for TM) and that /mnt/lotsadisk/backups is owned/mapped to the force user you set; from the Mac, try creating/renaming/deleting files in the share with Finder and with smbclient to reproduce the permission error, remove any partial *.incomplete sparsebundles, then remove and re-add the destination in Time Machine prefs, if problems persist, enable verbose Samba logging and post the Samba error lines or consider using a True APFS/SMB Time Machine target (a NAS with validated TM support) or attach the drive directly to the Mac

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Time Machine not backing up to network

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