diff --git a/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift b/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
index e24bdf67..01ba82ae 100644
--- a/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
+++ b/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
@@ -26,6 +26,18 @@ import SystemPackage
 
 import struct ContainerizationOS.Terminal
 
+private final class CopyOutProducerError: Sendable {
+    private let value = Mutex<(any Error)?>(nil)
+
+    func store(_ error: any Error) {
+        value.withLock { $0 = error }
+    }
+
+    func load() -> (any Error)? {
+        value.withLock { $0 }
+    }
+}
+
 /// `LinuxContainer` is an easy to use type for launching and managing the
 /// full lifecycle of a Linux container ran inside of a virtual machine.
 public final class LinuxContainer: Container, Sendable {
@@ -1353,31 +1365,51 @@ extension LinuxContainer {
             let listener = try state.vm.listen(port)
 
             let (metadataStream, metadataCont) = AsyncStream.makeStream(of: Vminitd.CopyMetadata.self)
+            let producerError = CopyOutProducerError()
+            defer {
+                metadataCont.finish()
+                try? listener.finish()
+            }
 
             try await withThrowingTaskGroup(of: Void.self) { group in
                 group.addTask {
-                    try await state.vm.withAgent { agent in
-                        guard let vminitd = agent as? Vminitd else {
-                            throw ContainerizationError(.unsupported, message: "copyOut requires Vminitd agent")
-                        }
-                        try await vminitd.copy(
-                            direction: .copyOut,
-                            guestPath: guestPath,
-                            vsockPort: port,
-                            onMetadata: { meta in
-                                metadataCont.yield(meta)
-                                metadataCont.finish()
+                    do {
+                        try await state.vm.withAgent { agent in
+                            guard let vminitd = agent as? Vminitd else {
+                                throw ContainerizationError(.unsupported, message: "copyOut requires Vminitd agent")
                             }
-                        )
+                            try await vminitd.copy(
+                                direction: .copyOut,
+                                guestPath: guestPath,
+                                vsockPort: port,
+                                onMetadata: { meta in
+                                    metadataCont.yield(meta)
+                                    metadataCont.finish()
+                                }
+                            )
+                        }
+                    } catch {
+                        // Guest validation can fail before either stream yields.
+                        // Finish both so the sibling task can release the state lock.
+                        producerError.store(error)
+                        metadataCont.finish()
+                        try? listener.finish()
+                        throw error
                     }
                 }
 
                 group.addTask {
                     guard let metadata = await metadataStream.first(where: { _ in true }) else {
+                        if let error = producerError.load() {
+                            throw error
+                        }
                         throw ContainerizationError(.internalError, message: "copyOut: no metadata received")
                     }
 
                     guard let conn = await listener.first(where: { _ in true }) else {
+                        if let error = producerError.load() {
+                            throw error
+                        }
                         throw ContainerizationError(.internalError, message: "copyOut: vsock connection not established")
                     }
                     try listener.finish()
diff --git a/Sources/Integration/ContainerTests.swift b/Sources/Integration/ContainerTests.swift
index 9c8edd88..3a527afd 100644
--- a/Sources/Integration/ContainerTests.swift
+++ b/Sources/Integration/ContainerTests.swift
@@ -2114,6 +2114,62 @@ extension IntegrationSuite {
         }
     }
 
+    func testCopyOutMissingSourceDoesNotBlockLifecycle() async throws {
+        let id = "test-copy-out-missing-source"
+
+        let bs = try await bootstrap(id)
+        let hostDestination = FileManager.default.uniqueTemporaryDirectory(create: true)
+            .appendingPathComponent("missing-output.txt")
+
+        let container = try LinuxContainer(id, rootfs: bs.rootfs, vmm: bs.vmm) { config in
+            config.process.arguments = ["sleep", "100"]
+            config.bootLog = bs.bootLog
+        }
+
+        do {
+            try await container.create()
+            try await container.start()
+
+            do {
+                try await Timeout.run(seconds: 5) {
+                    try await container.copyOut(
+                        from: URL(filePath: "/does-not-exist"),
+                        to: hostDestination
+                    )
+                }
+                throw IntegrationError.assert(msg: "copyOut should fail for a missing source")
+            } catch is CancellationError {
+                throw IntegrationError.assert(msg: "copyOut did not fail before the timeout")
+            } catch let error as IntegrationError {
+                throw error
+            } catch {
+                let message = String(describing: error)
+                guard !message.contains("copyOut: no metadata received"),
+                    !message.contains("copyOut: vsock connection not established")
+                else {
+                    throw IntegrationError.assert(msg: "copyOut replaced the guest error with '\(message)'")
+                }
+            }
+
+            let exec = try await container.exec("after-missing-copy") { config in
+                config.arguments = ["true"]
+            }
+            try await exec.start()
+            let status = try await exec.wait()
+            try await exec.delete()
+            guard status.exitCode == 0 else {
+                throw IntegrationError.assert(msg: "container lifecycle remained blocked after copyOut failure")
+            }
+
+            try await container.kill(.kill)
+            try await container.wait()
+            try await container.stop()
+        } catch {
+            try? await container.stop()
+            throw error
+        }
+    }
+
     func testCopyLargeFile() async throws {
         let id = "test-copy-large-file"
 
diff --git a/Sources/Integration/Suite.swift b/Sources/Integration/Suite.swift
index 440384ea..c24e3f2e 100644
--- a/Sources/Integration/Suite.swift
+++ b/Sources/Integration/Suite.swift
@@ -465,6 +465,7 @@ struct IntegrationSuite: AsyncParsableCommand {
             Test("container copy in file to missing directory fails", testCopyInFileToMissingDirectoryFails),
             Test("container copy in directory over existing file fails", testCopyInDirectoryOverExistingFileFails),
             Test("container copy out", testCopyOut),
+            Test("container copy out missing source does not block lifecycle", testCopyOutMissingSourceDoesNotBlockLifecycle),
             Test("container copy large file", testCopyLargeFile),
             Test("container copy in directory", testCopyInDirectory),
             Test("container copy out directory", testCopyOutDirectory),