diff --git a/gradle/changelog/import_export.yaml b/gradle/changelog/import_export.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1d7ba899b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gradle/changelog/import_export.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- type: fixed
+  description: Various issues for repository dump export and import without metadata
diff --git a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/util/Archives.java b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/util/Archives.java
index 841c08b442..734c827fd4 100644
--- a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/util/Archives.java
+++ b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/util/Archives.java
@@ -142,12 +142,14 @@ public final class Archives {
       }
     }
 
-    @SuppressWarnings("java:S1075") // We use / here because we build tar entries, not files
+      @SuppressWarnings("java:S1075") // We use / here because we build tar entries, not files
     private void bundleFileOrDir(String path, Path fileOrDir, TarArchiveOutputStream taos) {
       try {
         String filePath = path + "/" + fileOrDir.getFileName().toString();
         if (Files.isDirectory(fileOrDir)) {
           createTarEntryForFiles(filePath, fileOrDir, taos);
+        } else if (Files.isSymbolicLink(fileOrDir)) {
+          createArchiveEntryForLink(filePath, fileOrDir, taos);
         } else {
           createArchiveEntryForFile(filePath, fileOrDir, taos);
         }
@@ -159,6 +161,14 @@ public final class Archives {
       }
     }
 
+    private static void createArchiveEntryForLink(String filePath, Path path, TarArchiveOutputStream taos) throws IOException {
+      String linkTarget = Files.readSymbolicLink(path).toString();
+      TarArchiveEntry entry = new TarArchiveEntry(filePath, TarArchiveEntry.LF_SYMLINK);
+      entry.setLinkName(linkTarget);
+      taos.putArchiveEntry(entry);
+      taos.closeArchiveEntry();
+    }
+
     private void createArchiveEntryForFile(String filePath, Path path, TarArchiveOutputStream taos) throws IOException {
       TarArchiveEntry entry = new TarArchiveEntry(filePath);
       entry.setSize(path.toFile().length());
@@ -189,7 +199,17 @@ public final class Archives {
         while ((entry = tais.getNextTarEntry()) != null) {
           Path filePath = targetPath.resolve(entry.getName());
           createDirectoriesIfNestedFile(filePath);
-          Files.copy(tais, filePath, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
+          if (entry.isDirectory()) {
+            Files.createDirectories(filePath);
+          } else if (entry.isSymbolicLink() || entry.isLink()) {
+            String linkTarget = entry.getLinkName();
+            if (linkTarget == null || linkTarget.isEmpty()) {
+              throw new ArchiveException("Symbolic link entry '" + entry.getName() + "' has no target", null);
+            }
+            Files.createSymbolicLink(filePath, Path.of(linkTarget));
+          } else {
+            Files.copy(tais, filePath, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
+          }
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/spi/HgUnbundleCommand.java b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/spi/HgUnbundleCommand.java
index 1e05b81682..debb20ca18 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/spi/HgUnbundleCommand.java
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/spi/HgUnbundleCommand.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import sonia.scm.repository.RepositoryHookEvent;
 import sonia.scm.repository.api.UnbundleResponse;
+import sonia.scm.util.IOUtil;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -57,6 +58,10 @@ public class HgUnbundleCommand implements UnbundleCommand {
     if (!Files.exists(repositoryDir)) {
       Files.createDirectories(repositoryDir);
     }
+    Path hgDir = repositoryDir.resolve(".hg");
+    if (Files.exists(hgDir)) {
+      IOUtil.delete(hgDir.toFile());
+    }
 
     unbundleRepositoryFromRequest(request, repositoryDir);
     fireHookEvent(request);
diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
index 6a3be4e977..584fa1dcfe 100644
--- a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/api/v2/resources/RepositoryExportResource.java
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ public class RepositoryExportResource {
         };
         return createResponse(repository, fileExtension, compressed, output);
       }
-    } catch (IOException e) {
+    } catch (Exception e) {
       notificationHandler.handleFailedExport(repository);
       throw new ExportFailedException(entity(repository).build(), "repository export failed", e);
     }