# Nc-import-ncp export file does not exist

**URL:** <https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nc-import-ncp-export-file-does-not-exist/246179>\
**Category:** 📦 Appliances (Docker, Snappy, VM, NCP, AIO)\
**Tags:** ncp\
**Created:** [June 23, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nc-import-ncp-export-file-does-not-exist/246179 "2026-06-23T19:13:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fred2](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/fred2/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Fred2](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/Fred2)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nc-import-ncp-export-file-does-not-exist/246179/1 "2026-06-23T19:13:42Z")

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> ****
>

I’m trying to recreate an existing nextcloudpi server on another machine. I want to import the settings to begin, so I copied the saved nc-config\_xxx.tar on a drive accessible for the new machine , and launched nc-import-ncp.  
The file path I gave is correct (I read path exists in green) but the command doesn’t succeed

`[nc-import-ncp] (Tue Jun 23 17:24:43 UTC 2026)`  
`export file does not exist`

What does it mean? I don’t understand what the export file refers to? The import file? Another file?

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**Author:** ![schoetju](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/schoetju/32/44547_2.png) [@schoetju](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/schoetju)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nc-import-ncp-export-file-does-not-exist/246179/2 "2026-07-02T18:13:12Z")

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Hi Fred2,

i looked into the source code  
[https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloudpi/blob/master/bin/ncp/BACKUPS/nc-import-ncp.sh](https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloudpi/blob/master/bin/ncp/BACKUPS/nc-import-ncp.sh)

to understand the message little bit better.

```auto
  [[-f "$FILE"]] || { echo "export file $FILE does not exist"; return 1; }

```

Answer to your question: The Error message refers to the file that

- has been exported some time earlier using nc-export-ncp
- is about being imported now

Looking at your errormessage, it seems that $FILE has not been provided

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**Author:** ![system](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/system/32/29333_2.png) [@system](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/nc-import-ncp-export-file-does-not-exist/246179/3 "2026-09-21T19:14:17Z")

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