Read/Write Files from Disk The file "xxx" is not writable.

[clwater]

Bug Description

In Linux System Docker deploy n8n@2.0.2, Read/Write Files from Disk node can not save file.
But In n8n@1.123.6 version, the same environment is success

To Reproduce

1. HTTP Request -> Any Image URL .
2. Read/Write Files from Disk. -> Write this Binary as local Image File.

Expected behavior

The file "/home/node/n8ndata/xxx.jpg" is not writable.

Debug Info

Debug info

core

• n8nVersion: 2.0.2
• platform: docker (self-hosted)
• nodeJsVersion: 22.21.0
• nodeEnv: production
• database: sqlite
• executionMode: regular
• concurrency: -1
• license: community
• consumerId: unknown

storage

• success: all
• error: all
• progress: false
• manual: true
• binaryMode: filesystem

pruning

• enabled: true
• maxAge: 336 hours
• maxCount: 10000 executions

client

• userAgent: mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 10.0; win64; x64) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/143.0.0.0 safari/537.36
• isTouchDevice: false

Generated at: 2025-12-17T02:27:50.209Z

Operating System

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

n8n Version

2.0.2

Node.js Version

22.21.0

Database

SQLite (default)

Execution mode

main (default)

Hosting

n8n cloud

[n8n-assistant]

Hey @clwater,

Thank you for reaching out! We’ve received your issue and are looking into it. To help us track this internally, we’ve created a Linear ticket with the reference: "GHC-5941".

We’ll keep you updated as we make progress, but if you have any additional details or context to share, feel free to add them here - it’s always helpful!

Thanks for your patience and for bringing this to our attention.

---

For INTERNAL use only: GHC-5941

[marceltoma]

I got the same issue in my docker instance
Tried multiple flags

✅ N8N_FILE_ACCESS_WHITELIST=/data - Explicitly allows file operations in the /data directory
✅ N8N_DISABLE_FILESYSTEM_OPERATIONS=false - Filesystem operations enabled
✅ N8N_BLOCK_FILE_ACCESS_TO_N8N_FILES=false - File access not blocked
✅ N8N_ENFORCE_SETTINGS_FILE_PERMISSIONS=false - Strict permissions disabled
✅ NODES_EXCLUDE=[] - All nodes including Execute Command enabled
✅ Directory permissions: 777 on /Users/mtoma/temp (where /data is mapped to)

[marceltoma]

If I use the execute command node and do a echo "teste" > /path/to/file.txt, it works

[drjimmy1990]

any fix?

[stefanpoensgen]

environment:
	N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO: "/shared;/home/node/.n8n-files"

works for me

https://docs.n8n.io/2-0-breaking-changes/#set-default-value-for-n8n_restrict_file_access_to

[marceltoma]

It also worked for me

[drewlaman90-byte]

@marceltoma @stefanpoensgen I'm having this issue with Windows Docker as well. I added the new property here in comments, but still having issues. Can you guys share your compose file?

[guhuajun]

Will N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO support wildcard configuration? It breaks a lot of my existing workflows.

[yagee]

Same as @guhuajun
N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO explicitly set files in this folder, but nested folders are ignored

[thimbleforth]

Had this same issue, set N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO; and then had Docker mount the volume normally.. and my nested folders worked fine. Once I made them, of course. :)

Bit of a hassle to figure out this was one of the breaking changes, but I guess that's what I get for not reading those more closely before I started screwing around with binary file writes.

[n8n-assistant]

Hi @clwater 👋

Thanks so much for your patience while we’ve been improving n8n. We know it’s taken some time to review this issue, and we’re currently updating our triage process to better keep up with our growth.

There have been a lot of improvements in recent releases, so we’d really appreciate it if you could check whether this issue still occurs in the latest release.

When you have a moment, please copy and paste the checklist below as a comment so our system can update the status automatically:

[ ] I have updated to the latest stable version of n8n [please specify version number] and I am still experiencing this issue
[ ] Please close this issue – I am no longer experiencing it
[ ] Please close this issue – [please specify a reason]

If we don’t hear from you in the next 14 days this issue will be automatically closed, feel free to reopen - don’t forget to add the checklist above so that our automated systems notify us of the issue.

Thanks again for helping us keep n8n healthy and up-to-date 💚