diff --git a/src/server/worker_task.rs b/src/server/worker_task.rs
index b2e2abd5..409e7b49 100644
--- a/src/server/worker_task.rs
+++ b/src/server/worker_task.rs
@@ -345,7 +345,12 @@ fn lock_task_list_files(exclusive: bool) -> Result<std::fs::File, Error> {
 pub fn rotate_task_log_archive(size_threshold: u64, compress: bool, max_files: Option<usize>) -> Result<bool, Error> {
     let _lock = lock_task_list_files(true)?;
     let path = Path::new(PROXMOX_BACKUP_ARCHIVE_TASK_FN);
-    let metadata = path.metadata()?;
+    let metadata = match path.metadata() {
+        Ok(metadata) => metadata,
+        Err(err) if err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => return Ok(false),
+        Err(err) =>  bail!("unable to open task archive - {}", err),
+    };
+
     if metadata.len() > size_threshold {
         let mut logrotate = LogRotate::new(PROXMOX_BACKUP_ARCHIVE_TASK_FN, compress).ok_or_else(|| format_err!("could not get archive file names"))?;
         let backup_user = crate::backup::backup_user()?;