diff --git a/usr/bin/lxchelper b/usr/bin/lxchelper
index c64e9ba..8fe31d2 100755
--- a/usr/bin/lxchelper
+++ b/usr/bin/lxchelper
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 import argparse
 import os
-import shutil
+import subprocess
 import sys
 import tempfile
 
@@ -16,22 +16,13 @@ def get_layers(container):
             if line.startswith('lxc.hook.pre-start'):
                 return line.split()[-1].split(',')
 
-def copy(source, destination):
-    if os.path.isdir(source):
-        shutil.copytree(source, destination, True)
-    else:
-        shutil.copy2(source, destination)
-
 def extract(args):
     with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_rootfs:
         layers = get_layers(args.container)
         lxcmgr.mount_rootfs(args.container, layers, tmp_rootfs)
         source = os.path.join(tmp_rootfs, args.source.lstrip('/'))
-        try:
-            copy(source, args.destination)
-        except:
-            lxcmgr.unmount_rootfs(tmp_rootfs)
-            raise
+        # Plain cp -pr as shutil.copytree() requires nonexistent target and copy2() doesn't retain owner
+        subprocess.run(['cp', '-pr', source, args.destination])
         lxcmgr.unmount_rootfs(tmp_rootfs)
 
 def main(args):