diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d4afd7c5..fec59991 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1303,6 +1303,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "predicates",
  "regex",
  "reqwest",
+ "retry",
  "semver",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
@@ -1868,6 +1869,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "web-sys",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "retry"
+version = "2.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a1e211f878258887b3e65dd3c8ff9f530fe109f441a117ee0cdc27f341355032"
+dependencies = [
+ "rand",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ring"
 version = "0.17.14"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 968fa6db..37d425a8 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ path-absolutize = "3"
 numeric-sort = "0.1"
 regex = "1"
 toml = "0.9"
+retry = "2"
 
 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 windows = { version = "0.62", features = ["Win32_Foundation", "Win32_UI_Shell", "Win32_Security", "Win32_System_JobObjects", "Win32_System_Console", "Win32_System_Threading", "Services_Store", "Foundation", "Foundation_Collections", "Web_Http", "Web_Http_Headers", "Storage_Streams", "Management_Deployment"] }
diff --git a/src/operations.rs b/src/operations.rs
index dfec2ab4..0a17061c 100644
--- a/src/operations.rs
+++ b/src/operations.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use crate::utils::get_bin_dir;
 use crate::utils::get_julianightlies_base_url;
 use crate::utils::get_juliaserver_base_url;
 use crate::utils::is_valid_julia_path;
+use crate::utils::retry_rename;
 use crate::utils::{print_juliaup_style, JuliaupMessageType};
 use anyhow::{anyhow, bail, Context, Error, Result};
 use bstr::ByteSlice;
@@ -676,7 +677,7 @@ pub fn install_from_url(
     if target_path.exists() {
         std::fs::remove_dir_all(&target_path)?;
     }
-    std::fs::rename(temp_dir.keep(), &target_path)?;
+    retry_rename(&temp_dir.keep(), &target_path)?;
 
     Ok(JuliaupConfigChannel::DirectDownloadChannel {
         path: path.to_string_lossy().into_owned(),
@@ -1585,7 +1586,7 @@ pub fn update_version_db(channel: &Option<String>, paths: &GlobalPaths) -> Resul
     new_config_file.data.last_version_db_update = Some(chrono::Utc::now());
 
     if let Some(temp_versiondb_download_path) = temp_versiondb_download_path {
-        std::fs::rename(&temp_versiondb_download_path, &paths.versiondb)?;
+        retry_rename(&temp_versiondb_download_path, &paths.versiondb)?;
     } else if delete_old_version_db {
         let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&paths.versiondb);
     }
diff --git a/src/utils.rs b/src/utils.rs
index d5b1c999..f52e7868 100644
--- a/src/utils.rs
+++ b/src/utils.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 use anyhow::{anyhow, bail, Context, Result};
 use console::style;
+use retry::{
+    delay::{jitter, Fibonacci},
+    retry, OperationResult,
+};
 use semver::{BuildMetadata, Version};
-use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use url::Url;
 
 pub fn get_juliaserver_base_url() -> Result<Url> {
@@ -223,3 +227,29 @@ pub fn print_juliaup_style(action: &str, message: &str, message_type: JuliaupMes
 
     eprintln!("{} {}", styled_action, message);
 }
+
+/// Retry a rename with Fibonacci backoff to handle transient permission errors
+/// from e.g. antivirus scanners. Similar approach to rustup.
+pub fn retry_rename(src: &Path, dest: &Path) -> Result<()> {
+    // 20 fib steps from 1 millisecond sums to ~18 seconds
+    retry(
+        Fibonacci::from_millis(1).map(jitter).take(20),
+        || match std::fs::rename(src, dest) {
+            Ok(()) => OperationResult::Ok(()),
+            Err(e) => match e.kind() {
+                std::io::ErrorKind::PermissionDenied => {
+                    log::debug!("Retrying rename {} to {}.", src.display(), dest.display());
+                    OperationResult::Retry(e)
+                }
+                _ => OperationResult::Err(e),
+            },
+        },
+    )
+    .with_context(|| {
+        format!(
+            "Failed to rename '{}' to '{}'.",
+            src.display(),
+            dest.display()
+        )
+    })
+}