### Please describe the problem.

When following the walkthough, I'm unable to sync or copy files to/from special remote.

### What steps will reproduce the problem?

Follow the walkthrough:

 - Create an annex
 - add a special remote (dir, rsync, etc.)
 - create a file
 - try to sync
 - try to copy the file


```bash
cd && pwd  # /home/vagrant
mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp
rm -rf source && rm -rf dir
git init source
# Dir for special directory remote
mkdir dir
cd source
git annex init "the source of it all"
git annex initremote dir type=directory directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir encryption=none
# A file to test with
echo "Whatever the heck I want" > file
#
# Testing copy
#
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
#
# Maybe adding the file to git will help?
#
git add .
git commit -m "A file"
#
# Testing copy again
#
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
#
# Enable it doesn't help either
#
git annex enableremote dir directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
```


### What version of git-annex are you using? On what operating system?


>$ git annex version                                                     
                                                                                                                       
>git-annex version: 6.20160923-gd1dabb3                                                                                 
>build flags: Assistant Webapp Pairing Testsuite S3(multipartupload)(storageclasses) WebDAV Inotify DBus DesktopNotify MPP ConcurrentOutput TorrentParser MagicMime Feeds >Quvi                                                                
>key/value backends: SHA256E SHA256 SHA512E SHA512 SHA224E SHA224 SHA384E SHA384 SHA3_256E SHA3_256 SHA3_512E SHA3_512 HA3_224E SHA3_224 SHA3_384E SHA3_384 SKEIN256E SKEIN256 >SKEIN512E SKEIN512 SHA1E SHA1 MD5E MD5 WORM URL                
>remote types: git gcrypt S3 bup directory rsync web bittorrent webdav tahoe glacier ddar hook external                 
>local repository version: 5                                                                                            
>supported repository versions: 5 6                                                                                     
>upgrade supported from repository versions: 0 1 2 3 4 5                                                                
>operating system: linux x86_64                                                                                         

On a vagrant box `vagrant init "ubuntu/trusty64"`.

### Please provide any additional information below.

[[!format sh """
# If you can, paste a complete transcript of the problem occurring here.
# If the problem is with the git-annex assistant, paste in .git/annex/daemon.log

## Script
set -euo pipefail
IFS=$'\n\t'
set -v # verbose - command echoing

cd && pwd  # /home/vagrant
mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp
sudo rm -rf source && sudo rm -rf dir
git init source
# Dir for special directory remote
mkdir dir 
cd source 
git annex init "the source of it all"
git annex initremote dir type=directory directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir encryption=none
# A file to test with
echo "Whatever the heck I want" > file
#
# Testing copy 
#
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
#
# Maybe adding the file to git will help?
#
git add .
git commit -m "A file"
#
# Testing copy again
#
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
#
# Enable it doesn't help either
#
git annex enableremote dir directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir

######################
# Start of transcript or log.
cd && pwd  # /home/vagrant
/home/vagrant
mkdir -p tmp && cd tmp
sudo rm -rf source && sudo rm -rf dir
git init source
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/vagrant/tmp/source/.git/
# Dir for special directory remote
mkdir dir
cd source
git annex init "the source of it all"
init the source of it all ok
(recording state in git...)
git annex initremote dir type=directory directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir encryption=none
initremote dir ok
(recording state in git...)
# A file to test with
echo "Whatever the heck I want" > file
#
# Testing copy
#
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
total 0
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
commit  
On branch master

Initial commit

Untracked files:
        file

nothing added to commit but untracked files present
ok
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir                                                                                                                                                                                                      
total 0                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
#                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
# Maybe adding the file to git will help?                                                                                                                                                                                                    
#                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
git add .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
git commit -m "A file"                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
[master (root-commit) 10c3ad1] A file                                                                                                                                                                                                        
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)                                                                                                                                                                                                              
 create mode 100644 file                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
#                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
# Testing copy again                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
#                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output                                                                                                                                                                                                  
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir                                                                                                                                                                                                      
total 0                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
commit  
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
ok
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
total 0
#
# Enable it doesn't help either
#
git annex enableremote dir directory=/home/vagrant/tmp/dir
enableremote dir ok
(recording state in git...)
git annex copy file --to dir # Empty output
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
total 0
# Testing sync
git annex sync # No sync
commit  
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
ok
ls -l /home/vagrant/tmp/dir # Empty dir
total 0

# End of transcript or log.
#####################
"""]]

### Have you had any luck using git-annex before? (Sometimes we get tired of reading bug reports all day and a lil' positive end note does wonders)

Hey, the git-assistant works well :) I'm doing this as an exercise to get prepared for provisioning raspis running git-annex ;)

> closing per comment [[done]] --[[Joey]]
