diff --git a/src/backend/utils.ts b/src/backend/utils.ts
index 7bd761c60..5548e4756 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils.ts
+++ b/src/backend/utils.ts
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ import {
   deviceNameCache,
   vendorNameCache
 } from './utils/systeminfo/gpu/pci_ids'
-import { copyFile, lstat, mkdir, readdir } from 'fs/promises'
+import { access, constants, copyFile, lstat, mkdir, readdir } from 'fs/promises'
 import { GameConfig } from './game_config'
 
 const execAsync = promisify(exec)
@@ -1306,14 +1306,43 @@ export const writeConfig = (appName: string, config: Partial<AppSettings>) => {
   }
 }
 
+// Helper function to check permissions
+async function checkPermissions(src: string, dest: string) {
+  try {
+    // Check if we can read from source
+    await access(src, constants.R_OK)
+
+    // Check if destination parent directory exists and is writable
+    const destDir = dirname(dest)
+    try {
+      await access(destDir, constants.W_OK)
+    } catch {
+      throw new Error(
+        `No write permission for destination directory: ${destDir}`
+      )
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error instanceof Error) {
+      throw new Error(`Permission error: ${error.message}`)
+    }
+    throw error
+  }
+}
+
+const COPY_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000 // wait time before throwing a timeout error
 export async function copyRecursiveAsync(src: string, dest: string) {
   if (!existsSync(src) || !src || !dest) {
     return
   }
+
+  // Check permissions before proceeding
+  await checkPermissions(src, dest)
+
   const stats = await lstat(src)
   if (stats.isSymbolicLink()) {
     return // Skip symbolic links
   }
+
   if (stats.isDirectory()) {
     try {
       await mkdir(dest, { recursive: true })
@@ -1321,16 +1350,32 @@ export async function copyRecursiveAsync(src: string, dest: string) {
       for (const file of files) {
         const srcFile = join(src, file)
         const destFile = join(dest, file)
-        await copyRecursiveAsync(srcFile, destFile)
+        await Promise.race([
+          copyRecursiveAsync(srcFile, destFile),
+          wait(COPY_TIMEOUT_MS).then(() => {
+            throw new Error(
+              `Timeout (${COPY_TIMEOUT_MS}ms) copying ${srcFile} to ${destFile}`
+            )
+          })
+        ])
       }
     } catch (error) {
       logError(`Failed to copy ${src} to ${dest}: ${error}`, LogPrefix.Backend)
+      throw error
     }
   } else {
     try {
-      await copyFile(src, dest)
+      await Promise.race([
+        copyFile(src, dest),
+        wait(COPY_TIMEOUT_MS).then(() => {
+          throw new Error(
+            `Timeout (${COPY_TIMEOUT_MS}ms) copying ${src} to ${dest}`
+          )
+        })
+      ])
     } catch (error) {
       logError(`Failed to copy ${src} to ${dest}: ${error}`, LogPrefix.Backend)
+      throw error
     }
   }
 }