diff --git a/src/libstore/gc.cc b/src/libstore/gc.cc
index ad97d6fae..67199ade6 100644
--- a/src/libstore/gc.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/gc.cc
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
 
     /* Helper function that deletes a path from the store and throws
        GCLimitReached if we've deleted enough garbage. */
-    auto deleteFromStore = [&](std::string_view baseName) {
+    auto deleteFromStore = [&](std::string_view baseName, bool isKnownPath) {
         Path path = storeDir + "/" + std::string(baseName);
         Path realPath = config->realStoreDir + "/" + std::string(baseName);
 
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
         results.paths.insert(path);
 
         uint64_t bytesFreed;
-        deleteStorePath(realPath, bytesFreed);
+        deleteStorePath(realPath, bytesFreed, isKnownPath);
 
         results.bytesFreed += bytesFreed;
 
@@ -793,7 +793,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
             if (shouldDelete) {
                 try {
                     invalidatePathChecked(path);
-                    deleteFromStore(path.to_string());
+                    deleteFromStore(path.to_string(), true);
                     referrersCache.erase(path);
                 } catch (PathInUse & e) {
                     // If we end up here, it's likely a new occurrence
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ void LocalStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & results)
                 if (auto storePath = maybeParseStorePath(storeDir + "/" + name))
                     deleteReferrersClosure(*storePath);
                 else
-                    deleteFromStore(name);
+                    deleteFromStore(name, false);
             }
         } catch (GCLimitReached & e) {
         }
diff --git a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-overlay-store.hh b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-overlay-store.hh
index 1d69d3417..c0efdece8 100644
--- a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-overlay-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-overlay-store.hh
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ private:
      * Check which layers the store object exists in to try to avoid
      * needing to remount.
      */
-    void deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed) override;
+    void deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed, bool isKnownPath) override;
 
     /**
      * Deduplicate by removing store objects from the upper layer that
diff --git a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-store.hh b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-store.hh
index 320e9ff90..ef24fe059 100644
--- a/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-store.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/include/nix/store/local-store.hh
@@ -117,6 +117,20 @@ public:
           > While the filesystem the database resides on might appear to be read-only, consider whether another user or system might have write access to it.
         )"};
 
+    Setting<bool> ignoreGcDeleteFailure{
+        this,
+        false,
+        "ignore-gc-delete-failure",
+        R"(
+          Whether to ignore failures when deleting items with the garbage collector.
+
+          Normally the garbage collector will fail with an error if the nix daemon cannot delete a file, with this setting such errors will only be printed as warnings.
+        )",
+        {},
+        true,
+        Xp::LocalOverlayStore,
+    };
+
     static const std::string name()
     {
         return "Local Store";
@@ -312,8 +326,11 @@ public:
      * Called by `collectGarbage` to recursively delete a path.
      * The default implementation simply calls `deletePath`, but it can be
      * overridden by stores that wish to provide their own deletion behaviour.
+     *
+     * @param isKnownPath true if this is a known store path, false if it's
+     *        garbage/unknown content found in the store directory
      */
-    virtual void deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed);
+    virtual void deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed, bool isKnownPath);
 
     /**
      * Optimise the disk space usage of the Nix store by hard-linking
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-overlay-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-overlay-store.cc
index c8aa1d1a2..edd549801 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-overlay-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-overlay-store.cc
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ void LocalOverlayStore::collectGarbage(const GCOptions & options, GCResults & re
     remountIfNecessary();
 }
 
-void LocalOverlayStore::deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
+void LocalOverlayStore::deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed, bool isKnownPath)
 {
     auto mergedDir = config->realStoreDir.get() + "/";
     if (path.substr(0, mergedDir.length()) != mergedDir) {
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ void LocalOverlayStore::deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed
         } else {
             // Path does not exist in lower store.
             // So we can delete via overlayfs and not need to remount.
-            LocalStore::deleteStorePath(path, bytesFreed);
+            LocalStore::deleteStorePath(path, bytesFreed, isKnownPath);
         }
     }
 }
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ void LocalOverlayStore::optimiseStore()
         if (lowerStore->isValidPath(path)) {
             uint64_t bytesFreed = 0;
             // Deduplicate store path
-            deleteStorePath(toRealPath(path), bytesFreed);
+            deleteStorePath(toRealPath(path), bytesFreed, true);
         }
         done++;
         act.progress(done, paths.size());
diff --git a/src/libstore/local-store.cc b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
index 1e255068f..ede73a89c 100644
--- a/src/libstore/local-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/local-store.cc
@@ -408,9 +408,26 @@ AutoCloseFD LocalStore::openGCLock()
     return toDescriptor(fdGCLock);
 }
 
-void LocalStore::deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed)
+void LocalStore::deleteStorePath(const Path & path, uint64_t & bytesFreed, bool isKnownPath)
 {
-    deletePath(path, bytesFreed);
+    try {
+        deletePath(path, bytesFreed);
+    } catch (SystemError & e) {
+        if (config->ignoreGcDeleteFailure) {
+            logWarning(
+                {.msg = HintFmt(
+                     isKnownPath ? "ignoring failure to remove store path '%1%': %2%"
+                                 : "ignoring failure to remove garbage in store directory '%1%': %2%",
+                     path,
+                     e.info().msg)});
+        } else {
+            e.addTrace(
+                {},
+                isKnownPath ? "While deleting store path '%1%'" : "While deleting garbage in store directory '%1%'",
+                path);
+            throw;
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 LocalStore::~LocalStore()