I have a home server running ZimaOS. I’ve a couple of drives shared on my network. I can access those drives through Windows Explorer. The problem is I cannot seem to copy files from Windows Explorer from one network drive to another. It starts the process and the progress bar gets to about 100%, then resets and tries again, then I get an error popup that says “Could not find this item. This is no longer located in XXX. Verify the item’s location and try again”. If I click the Try Again button, it goes through the same process and gives me the same error.
The only way I can seem to copy files is through the ZimaOS Files app and Upload the file from one drive to another.
How can I make it work properly in Windows Explorer?
This is expected behavior on ZimaOS, not a Windows bug.
What’s happening
- When you copy between two ZimaOS SMB shares in Windows Explorer, Windows tries a server-side SMB copy.
- ZimaOS doesn’t fully support cross-share server-side copy.
- The copy reaches ~100%, then fails and retries with “Could not find this item”.
Why the Files app works
- ZimaOS Files does a local server-side filesystem copy, not SMB offload.
What won’t fix it
- SMB1/MTU tweaks, permissions changes, remapping drives, or reinstalling Windows.
Workarounds
- Use ZimaOS Files app (recommended).
- Copy via your local PC (Share A > PC > Share B).
- Or use robocopy:
robocopy \\zima\ShareA \\zima\ShareB /E /R:1 /W:1
Bottom line
Windows Explorer can’t reliably copy between two ZimaOS shares. This is a platform limitation, not data loss.