autorestic/docs/pages/cli/unlock.md

Unlock

In case autorestic throws the error message an instance is already running. exiting, but there is no instance running you can unlock the lock.

To verify that there is no instance running you can use ps aux | grep autorestic.

Example with no instance running:

> ps aux | grep autorestic
root       39260  0.0  0.0   6976  2696 pts/11   S+   19:41   0:00 grep autorestic

Example with an instance running:

> ps aux | grep autorestic
root       29465  0.0  0.0 1162068 7380 pts/7    Sl+  19:28   0:00 autorestic --ci backup -a
root       39260  0.0  0.0   6976  2696 pts/11   S+   19:41   0:00 grep autorestic

If an instance is running you should not unlock as it could lead to data loss!

autorestic unlock

Use the --force to prevent the confirmation prompt if an instance is running.

autorestic unlock --force