Qubes Backup Verify fails

User Support General
1

Hi,
When I verify a backup (via the GUI), I get the following error:

Failed to decrypt […]/private.img.enc: b’scrypt: Input is not valid scrypt-encrypted block\n Partially restored files are left in […], investigate them and/or clean them up.

Am running the backup through sys-firewall. Backup size is c. 44gb. There is c. 120 gb free on the disk, I’ve given sys-firewall a 100gb private storage max. Have tried to verify a few times and the results are the same.

Any ideas?

2

Maybe these two threads help:

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3

Thanks - Didn’t come across the second one when looking into this.
Will try a fresh backup with no compression and see how that goes.

4

Tried with no compression. Same error results when I try to verify

5

So this problem hasn’t gone away for me. I’ve just been living rather dangerously.

The error I get when trying to verify a backup (made onto a removable disk, no compression, using a password) is

Finished with errors!
Failed to decrypt /var/tmp/restorel9pvmnc5/vm2/root.img.007.enc: b'scrypt is not valid scrypt-encrypted block\n'
Partially restored files left in /var/tmp/restore_*, investigate them and/or clean them up

Now, I can’t find any partially restored file, either in dom0 or in sys_firewall which was the qube that I was using to run the backup

6

Not a solution, but why are you storing your backup in a net-connected vm?

7

I’m not - its on a flash drive which is mounted on that VM, and the wifi switch is tripped to stop access.

However, you have raised a point which is kind of hard to defend…

8

Hence the vm has access to your backup.

You’re free to do as you please, but I guess you’ll agree with me: it’s safer to create an offline vm (\with the netvm set to none) and deal with the backup there. Might even make it a disposable.

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9

Related:

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10

I’m a bit confused as to why you’re connecting a flash drive to sys-firewall and telling the Qubes Backup tool to create your backup in that qube. That seems like an odd and unintended use of sys-firewall. Any special reason for that?

I suspect the problem might be with your flash drive (or the way it’s failing to work with Qubes in some way). You can eliminate several variables by creating a backup in a fresh app qube directly and seeing whether it verifies successfully. (Make sure to increase the private storage size sufficiently first.)

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11

You were right.

I created a new backup qube, stored the file there and it verified ok.

I then SCP’d it over to the other box where backups live.

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