About "Unencrypted database" warning and preload.json file

[amloessb]

My understanding is that no, you cannot delete the preload file, as Duplicati needs to be able to read the encryption key every time it starts:

@kenkendk

Because Duplicati needs access to the database on startup, the encryption key must be available on each startup, but is not expected to be entered manually during normal operations.

As an alternative to providing the plaintext of the key in the preload file, you could use one of the new secret providers and substitute the key in. For example, I’m using the Windows Credential Manager as my provider, and my preload file looks like this:

{
    "env": {
        "*": {
            "SETTINGS_ENCRYPTION_KEY": "$duplicati-settings-key"
        }
    },
    
    "args": {
        "*": [ "--secret-provider=wincred://" ]
    }
}