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ComfyUI "model not found" / missing .safetensors — how to fix

Also seen as: "Could not find model", "FileNotFoundError", "No such file .safetensors"

Direct answer

How do I fix "Could not find model"?

ComfyUI couldn't find the checkpoint/LoRA the workflow references. The filename in the graph doesn't match any file in the models directory — often an exact-name or subfolder mismatch.

Key facts

  • iFilename in the workflow differs from the downloaded file (e.g. _0.9vae suffix).
  • iModel downloaded to the wrong subfolder (checkpoints vs unet vs diffusion_models).
  • iDownload never completed or was interrupted.

Next step

  1. 1Match the CheckpointLoaderSimple ckpt_name to the exact filename on disk.
  2. 2Confirm the file is in the right subfolder for its type.
  3. 3Re-download and verify the file size matches the source.

If that didn't fix it

  • A partial download shows the file present but fails to load — check the byte size.

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Other ComfyUI errors

Fix

GPU Memory Exhausted

Fix

Missing Python Package

Fix

Disk Space Exhausted

Fix

Gated Model Access

Fix

missing custom nodes (node type not found)

Fix

MetadataIncompleteBuffer / HeaderTooLarge (truncated safetensors)

Frequently Asked Questions

What causes "Could not find model" in ComfyUI?

Filename in the workflow differs from the downloaded file (e.g. _0.9vae suffix).

How do I fix "Could not find model"?

Match the CheckpointLoaderSimple ckpt_name to the exact filename on disk. Confirm the file is in the right subfolder for its type.