diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/issue-3202 b/changelog/unreleased/issue-3202
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88751deab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/issue-3202
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Enhancement: Add warmup support for check command on S3 backend
+
+https://github.com/restic/restic/pull/5248
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3202
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/2504
diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_check.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_check.go
index 27f7720e4..0a5f119d0 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_check.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_check.go
@@ -383,10 +383,9 @@ func runCheck(ctx context.Context, opts CheckOptions, gopts global.Options, args
 	}
 
 	if readDataFilter != nil {
-		p := printer.NewCounter("packs")
 		errChan := make(chan error)
 
-		go chkr.ReadPacks(ctx, readDataFilter, p, errChan)
+		go chkr.ReadPacks(ctx, readDataFilter, printer, errChan)
 
 		for err := range errChan {
 			errorsFound = true
@@ -396,7 +395,6 @@ func runCheck(ctx context.Context, opts CheckOptions, gopts global.Options, args
 				salvagePacks.Insert(err.PackID)
 			}
 		}
-		p.Done()
 	}
 
 	if len(salvagePacks) > 0 {
diff --git a/doc/faq.rst b/doc/faq.rst
index c479886de..259c9fac8 100644
--- a/doc/faq.rst
+++ b/doc/faq.rst
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ Archive** storage classes is available:
 - Currently, only the following commands are known to work:
 
   - ``backup``
+  - ``check`
   - ``copy``
   - ``prune``
   - ``restore``
diff --git a/internal/checker/checker.go b/internal/checker/checker.go
index 522729a16..e89416bda 100644
--- a/internal/checker/checker.go
+++ b/internal/checker/checker.go
@@ -293,10 +293,10 @@ func (c *Checker) UnusedBlobs(ctx context.Context) (blobs restic.BlobHandles, er
 // with an unmodified parameter list
 // Otherwise it calculates the packfiles needed, gets their sizes from the full
 // packfile set and submits them to repository.ReadPacks()
-func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64, p *progress.Counter, errChan chan<- error) {
+func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64, printer progress.Printer, errChan chan<- error) {
 	// no snapshot filtering, pass through
 	if !c.IsFiltered() {
-		c.Checker.ReadPacks(ctx, filter, p, errChan)
+		c.Checker.ReadPacks(ctx, filter, printer, errChan)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -315,5 +315,5 @@ func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID
 		return filter(filteredPacks)
 	}
 
-	c.Checker.ReadPacks(ctx, packfileFilter, p, errChan)
+	c.Checker.ReadPacks(ctx, packfileFilter, printer, errChan)
 }
diff --git a/internal/checker/checker_test.go b/internal/checker/checker_test.go
index 106ffd6b3..12942121d 100644
--- a/internal/checker/checker_test.go
+++ b/internal/checker/checker_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -18,10 +19,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/checker"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/data"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/errors"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/feature"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository/hashing"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/test"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/ui/progress"
 )
 
 var checkerTestData = filepath.Join("testdata", "checker-test-repo.tar.gz")
@@ -61,7 +64,7 @@ func checkData(chkr *checker.Checker) []error {
 		func(ctx context.Context, errCh chan<- error) {
 			chkr.ReadPacks(ctx, func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64 {
 				return packs
-			}, nil, errCh)
+			}, &progress.NoopPrinter{}, errCh)
 		},
 	)
 }
@@ -434,6 +437,61 @@ func TestCheckerModifiedData(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// warmupBackend simulates a backend where all handles needs to be warmed up.
+type warmupBackend struct {
+	backend.Backend
+	handlesToWarmup []backend.Handle
+	handlesAwaited  []backend.Handle
+}
+
+func (be *warmupBackend) Warmup(ctx context.Context, h []backend.Handle) ([]backend.Handle, error) {
+	if be.handlesToWarmup == nil {
+		be.handlesToWarmup = []backend.Handle{}
+	}
+	be.handlesToWarmup = append(be.handlesToWarmup, h...)
+	return h, nil
+}
+
+func (be *warmupBackend) WarmupWait(ctx context.Context, h []backend.Handle) error {
+	if be.handlesAwaited == nil {
+		be.handlesAwaited = []backend.Handle{}
+	}
+	be.handlesAwaited = append(be.handlesAwaited, h...)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func TestCheckerWarmup(t *testing.T) {
+	defer feature.TestSetFlag(t, feature.Flag, feature.S3Restore, true)()
+
+	repo, _, be := repository.TestRepositoryWithVersion(t, 0)
+	_ = archiver.TestSnapshot(t, repo, ".", nil)
+	wBackend := &warmupBackend{Backend: be}
+	checkRepo := repository.TestOpenBackend(t, wBackend)
+	chkr := checker.New(checkRepo, false)
+
+	_, errs := chkr.LoadIndex(context.TODO(), nil)
+	if len(errs) > 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected no errors, got %v: %v", len(errs), errs)
+	}
+
+	if err := chkr.LoadSnapshots(context.TODO(), &data.SnapshotFilter{}, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	errs = checkData(chkr)
+	if len(errs) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected no data error, got %v: %v", len(errs), errs)
+	}
+
+	if len(wBackend.handlesToWarmup) == 0 {
+		t.Errorf("found no handles to warmup")
+	}
+
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(wBackend.handlesToWarmup, wBackend.handlesAwaited) {
+		t.Errorf("expected to wait for all cold handles")
+	}
+}
+
 // loadTreesOnceRepository allows each tree to be loaded only once
 type loadTreesOnceRepository struct {
 	*repository.Repository
diff --git a/internal/checker/testing.go b/internal/checker/testing.go
index eaa16382a..073923d87 100644
--- a/internal/checker/testing.go
+++ b/internal/checker/testing.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/data"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/ui/progress"
 )
 
 // TestCheckRepo runs the checker on repo.
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ func TestCheckRepo(t testing.TB, repo checkerRepository) {
 	errChan = make(chan error)
 	go chkr.ReadPacks(context.TODO(), func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64 {
 		return packs
-	}, nil, errChan)
+	}, &progress.NoopPrinter{}, errChan)
 
 	for err := range errChan {
 		t.Error(err)
diff --git a/internal/repository/checker.go b/internal/repository/checker.go
index d11a95b22..6e530d74b 100644
--- a/internal/repository/checker.go
+++ b/internal/repository/checker.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/debug"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/errors"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/feature"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository/index"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository/pack"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
@@ -199,7 +200,7 @@ func (c *Checker) Packs(ctx context.Context, errChan chan<- error) {
 }
 
 // ReadPacks loads data from specified packs and checks the integrity.
-func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64, p *progress.Counter, errChan chan<- error) {
+func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64, printer progress.Printer, errChan chan<- error) {
 	defer close(errChan)
 
 	// compute pack size using index entries
@@ -209,7 +210,30 @@ func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID
 		return
 	}
 	packs = filter(packs)
+
+	p := printer.NewCounter("packs")
 	p.SetMax(uint64(len(packs)))
+	defer p.Done()
+
+	packSet := restic.NewIDSet()
+	for pack := range packs {
+		packSet.Insert(pack)
+	}
+
+	if feature.Flag.Enabled(feature.S3Restore) {
+		job, err := c.repo.StartWarmup(ctx, packSet)
+		if err != nil {
+			errChan <- err
+			return
+		}
+		if job.HandleCount() != 0 {
+			printer.P("warming up %d packs from cold storage, this may take a while...", job.HandleCount())
+			if err := job.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
+				errChan <- err
+				return
+			}
+		}
+	}
 
 	g, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 	type checkTask struct {
@@ -258,11 +282,6 @@ func (c *Checker) ReadPacks(ctx context.Context, filter func(packs map[restic.ID
 		})
 	}
 
-	packSet := restic.NewIDSet()
-	for pack := range packs {
-		packSet.Insert(pack)
-	}
-
 	// push packs to ch
 	for pbs := range c.repo.ListPacksFromIndex(ctx, packSet) {
 		size := packs[pbs.PackID]
diff --git a/internal/repository/testing.go b/internal/repository/testing.go
index 1cdca4110..c0c1fcf11 100644
--- a/internal/repository/testing.go
+++ b/internal/repository/testing.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/crypto"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/test"
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/ui/progress"
 
 	"github.com/restic/chunker"
 )
@@ -188,7 +189,7 @@ func TestCheckRepo(t testing.TB, repo *Repository) {
 	errChan = make(chan error)
 	go chkr.ReadPacks(context.TODO(), func(packs map[restic.ID]int64) map[restic.ID]int64 {
 		return packs
-	}, nil, errChan)
+	}, &progress.NoopPrinter{}, errChan)
 
 	for err := range errChan {
 		t.Error(err)