File Recovery Job Fails With Incorrect Credentials Issue

Product version: 11.0

Last modified: 15 January 2026

Problem

After a File-Level Recovery from a File-Level Backup or File share backup completes successfully, restarting the recovery from the Activities dashboard fails with the following error message:

The file recovery cannot be executed on the \\<server>\<share> share. Incorrect credentials.

This occurs when exporting recovered data to a CIFS/SMB network share using the job Restart action, even though the same recovery completed successfully before the restart.

Background

When a File-Level Recovery job is restarted, NAKIVO Backup & Replication attempts to reuse the network share credentials provided during the initial recovery.

On Windows-based installations, NAKIVO Backup & Replication services run under the Local System account by default. While this account has full local privileges, it does not reliably retain or reuse network credentials for CIFS/SMB shares.

Scenarios that can lead to this error

  1. Changed credentials

  • You perform a File-Level Recovery (FLR) to a specific network share.

  • You then change the username or password for that share.

  • When you restart the recovery job, an incorrect credentials error is displayed.

  1. Network credentials not reused on restart

  • When you restart a File-Level Recovery job, the system may fail to reuse the previously provided network credentials.

  • This behavior is intermittent: the restart may fail in some cases and succeed in others.

Solution

Use one of the following approaches to solve the issue:

  1. Start a new File-Level Recovery job instead of using the Restart option.

  2. Re-enter the network share credentials when configuring the new File-Level Recovery job.

  3. On the Transporter host (for Windows environments), open Local Security Policy > Local Policies > Security Options and ensure that the following policy is disabled:

    Network access: Do not allow storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication

  4. If frequent recoveries to network shares are required, consider running the NAKIVO Backup & Replication services under a dedicated user account that has permanent access to the target share.