diff --git a/lib/model/rwfolder.go b/lib/model/rwfolder.go
index 42ffcb8d2..3cbd191e4 100644
--- a/lib/model/rwfolder.go
+++ b/lib/model/rwfolder.go
@@ -942,7 +942,7 @@ func (p *rwFolder) handleFile(file protocol.FileInfo, copyChan chan<- copyBlocks
 	tempName := filepath.Join(p.dir, defTempNamer.TempName(file.Name))
 	realName := filepath.Join(p.dir, file.Name)
 
-	if hasCurFile {
+	if hasCurFile && !curFile.IsDirectory() && !curFile.IsSymlink() {
 		// Check that the file on disk is what we expect it to be according to
 		// the database. If there's a mismatch here, there might be local
 		// changes that we don't know about yet and we should scan before