# File already Exist **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [October 19, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486 "2019-10-19T19:45:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Red2021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/red2021/32/34649_2.png) [@Red2021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Red2021)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/1 "2019-10-19T19:45:09Z")
My domain is: roots.systems I ran this command: sudo certbot renew The version of my client is 0.35.1 So I quickly ran out of retries last week (rate of 5 per week), Came close to running out again before I began to dig a bit further into it. For whatever reason my certificate files in the “/live” folder are holding the initial certificate request and not updating to the new certificates after renewal. Is this normal? ---
**Author:** ![mnordhoff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mnordhoff/32/22583_2.png) [@mnordhoff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/mnordhoff)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/2 "2019-10-19T20:14:02Z")
Don’t run it again, but do you have a copy of what “`sudo certbot renew`” displayed last time it issued a certificate? If so, can you post it? Can you post the output “`sudo ls -alR /etc/letsencrypt/{archive,live,renewal}`”? ---
**Author:** ![rg305](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/rg305/32/91314_2.png) [@rg305](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/rg305)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/3 "2019-10-19T20:20:36Z")
Did you happen to copy files around in/out of any of the LE folders? [backup/restore] ---
**Author:** ![Red2021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/red2021/32/34649_2.png) [@Red2021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Red2021)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/4 "2019-10-20T16:57:45Z")
I wish I kept it (the output), I do know it just said what it should normally say, that it was successfully renewed. Its odd cause if I do try it again it will just say the cert is out of date cause its not updating those files. > /etc/letsencrypt/archive: > total 20 > drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 . > drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 Oct 20 14:46 .. > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 19:25 roots.systems > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:15 roots.systems-0001 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 roots.systems-0002 > > /etc/letsencrypt/archive/roots.systems: > total 28 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 19:25 . > drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 .. > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1911 Oct 19 18:57 cert2.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1647 Oct 19 18:57 chain2.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3558 Oct 19 18:57 fullchain2.pem > -rw------- 1 root root 1704 Oct 10 02:44 privkey1.pem > -rw------- 1 root root 1704 Oct 19 18:57 privkey2.pem > > /etc/letsencrypt/archive/roots.systems-0001: > total 24 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:15 . > drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 .. > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2256 Jul 10 04:15 cert1.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1647 Jul 10 04:15 chain1.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3903 Jul 10 04:15 fullchain1.pem > -rw------- 1 root root 3272 Jul 10 04:15 privkey1.pem > > /etc/letsencrypt/archive/roots.systems-0002: > total 24 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 . > drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:18 .. > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2256 Jul 10 04:18 cert1.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1647 Jul 10 04:18 chain1.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3903 Jul 10 04:18 fullchain1.pem > -rw------- 1 root root 3272 Jul 10 04:18 privkey1.pem > > /etc/letsencrypt/live: > total 16 > drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:20 . > drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 Oct 20 14:46 .. > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 740 Apr 19 2019 README > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 19:14 roots.systems > > /etc/letsencrypt/live/roots.systems: > total 12 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 19:14 . > drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jul 10 04:20 .. > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Oct 19 18:57 cert.pem -\> ../../archive/roots.systems-0002/cert1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Oct 19 18:57 chain.pem -\> ../../archive/roots.systems-0002/chain1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 47 Oct 19 18:57 fullchain.pem -\> ../../archive/roots.systems-0002/fullchain1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 45 Oct 19 18:57 privkey.pem -\> ../../archive/roots.systems-0002/privkey1.pem > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 692 Jul 10 04:18 README > > /etc/letsencrypt/renewal: > total 12 > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 18:57 . > drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 Oct 20 14:46 .. > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 574 Oct 19 18:57 roots.systems.conf The roots.systems0001 and roots.systems0002 are obviously old certs that are now inactive. (Just haven't deleted them yet) > [@rg305](#): > > Did you happen to copy files around in/out of any of the LE folders? > [backup/restore] No. I only use the cat command to concentrate fullchain and private to my cert directory used by my webserver (locked to only root) Original files are never moved, copied, or deleted. ---
**Author:** ![rg305](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/rg305/32/91314_2.png) [@rg305](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/rg305)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/5 "2019-10-20T19:50:06Z")
It seems like all these links: > [@Red2021](#): > > /etc/letsencrypt/live/roots.systems: > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Oct 19 18:57 cert.pem -\> …/…/archive/roots.systems-0002/cert1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Oct 19 18:57 chain.pem -\> …/…/archive/roots.systems-0002/chain1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 47 Oct 19 18:57 fullchain.pem -\> …/…/archive/roots.systems-0002/fullchain1.pem > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 45 Oct 19 18:57 privkey.pem -\> …/…/archive/roots.systems-0002/privkey1.pem point to expired files: > [@Red2021](#): > > /etc/letsencrypt/archive/roots.systems-0002: > -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 2256 Jul 10 04:18 cert1.pem > -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1647 Jul 10 04:18 chain1.pem > -rw-r–r-- 1 root root 3903 Jul 10 04:18 fullchain1.pem > -rw------- 1 root root 3272 Jul 10 04:18 privkey1.pem Maybe I'm missing something... ---
**Author:** ![Red2021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/red2021/32/34649_2.png) [@Red2021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Red2021)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/6 "2019-10-22T02:43:18Z")
Yeah i’m not sure what could have caused that. Its odd that the certbot doesn’t overwrite the files anyway when it renews the certs. Still unsure what to do. ---
**Author:** ![mnordhoff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mnordhoff/32/22583_2.png) [@mnordhoff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/mnordhoff)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/7 "2019-10-22T03:07:24Z")
You need to adjust the symlinks in `/etc/letsencrypt/live/roots.systems/`. They’re supposed to point to the files in `../../archive/roots.systems/` but they’re pointing to `../../archive/roots.systems-0002/` instead. ---
**Author:** ![Red2021](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/red2021/32/34649_2.png) [@Red2021](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Red2021)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/8 "2019-10-26T04:30:03Z")
> [@mnordhoff](#): > > archive/roots.systems/ I see, I have made the appropriate changes and did a dry run. Certbot found one error with my corrections but looked promising since it said the certs were not due for renewal. Not really sure how the other directory got created in the first place. Thanks for the help. Red ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/file-already-exist/104486/9 "2019-11-25T04:30:04Z")
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