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Forum Discussion
Desktop client stuck a "Syncing..."
Edit #2 tldr: Dropbox on Ubuntu works fine on fresh install, but quickly decides every file is "unwatched" and refuses to sync anything. ----------- Hey folks — I have Dropbox v100.4.409 ins...
Okey dokey, I seem to have fixed it. Here's a solution post.
Symptoms: Upon start-up, Dropbox was stuck perpetually syncing upon start-up. Every single file was "unwatched". This persisted through re-install. Fiddling with Inotify settings had no effect. However, a clean install, downloading select files to a clean Dropbox/ folder, worked as long as I deleted the .dropbox.cache/ folder right after setting up syncing.
Diagnosis: I believe the issue was that I had a full backup of my computer on Dropbox, which included hidden Dropbox settings files. I normally keep Dropbox on an external hard drive; it includes a directory called computer-backup/, where I periodically use rsync to backup my entire local disk. In a recent backup I copied hidden files as well as normal ones. This worked for the first upload, but I think after that the hidden dropbox files within computer-backup/ were causing chaos. This persisted on a clean install because when Dropbox started downloading, it included those hidden files in the list of files to download, that's why deleting .dropbox.cache/ helped.
My solution:
1) I fully uninstalled Dropbox
2) I removed both .dropbox and .dropbox.cache/ from my external disk Dropbox/ folder
3) I removed all hidden files from computer-backup/ (both on my external drive and on dropbox.com)
4) I re-installed Dropbox & re-aligned the Dropbox location with the Dropbox/ folder on my external drive
I did a couple of restarts, some general fooling around, and this fix seems to be stable.
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi mayhplumb; welcome to our Community!
First off, thanks for your detailed description of the issue you're having and the steps you've already took to amend it.
If you've ensured that there's no firewall, antivirus or perhaps a VPN/proxy setting that might be causing this, I'd recommend a clean, advanced re-install at this point.
Please let me know how you get on!
Hi Walter,
I completed the advanced reinstall and the problem has persisted (i.e. Dropbox initially started indexing files, but as soon as I restarted Dropbox it was stuck again). The main difference between the "advanced reinstall" and a normal reinstall is making sure the permissions are all in order, I guess?
Things that came up:
- nautilus-dropbox could not be uninstalled as it was never installed; as far as I can tell, nautilu-sdropbox is no longer part of the normal dropbox package for ubuntu?
- chattr identified a variety of symlinks
- when I went to move Dropbox to a new location, it got stuck at 99% moved; I had to quit the application to move forward
Alright, another update. Progress is being made, I think.
1) I did ANOTHER full reinstall (getting very bored of this process).
2) I left Dropbox linked to the default location on my local disk. I changed the selective sync settings to include ONLY an empty test folder I had previously made using the web interface. Dropbox successfully settled having downloaded that one test folder + the three files that are loose in my Dropbox folder.
3) I restarted Dropbox. The syncing error was back. All the files were unwatched. [I take this to mean that there is something going on with Dropbox, not with my files.]
4) On a mere whim, I deleted the .dropbox.cache folder that is in the main Dropbox folder. I was surprised but delighted to see that the problem went away! I restarted Dropbox again to check — all good!
5) I moved the Dropbox location to my external disk. Restarted again — still all good!
6) I paused syncing. Changed the selected sync preferences to include my normal range of foldes.
7) I quit Dropbox. I did the rename dance to make my original Dropbox folder line up with Dropbox's location. I deleted .dropbox.cache from my original Dropbox folder. I restarted Dropbox. Sadly, my problem is back. Whomp whomp.
Okey dokey, I seem to have fixed it. Here's a solution post.
Symptoms: Upon start-up, Dropbox was stuck perpetually syncing upon start-up. Every single file was "unwatched". This persisted through re-install. Fiddling with Inotify settings had no effect. However, a clean install, downloading select files to a clean Dropbox/ folder, worked as long as I deleted the .dropbox.cache/ folder right after setting up syncing.
Diagnosis: I believe the issue was that I had a full backup of my computer on Dropbox, which included hidden Dropbox settings files. I normally keep Dropbox on an external hard drive; it includes a directory called computer-backup/, where I periodically use rsync to backup my entire local disk. In a recent backup I copied hidden files as well as normal ones. This worked for the first upload, but I think after that the hidden dropbox files within computer-backup/ were causing chaos. This persisted on a clean install because when Dropbox started downloading, it included those hidden files in the list of files to download, that's why deleting .dropbox.cache/ helped.
My solution:
1) I fully uninstalled Dropbox
2) I removed both .dropbox and .dropbox.cache/ from my external disk Dropbox/ folder
3) I removed all hidden files from computer-backup/ (both on my external drive and on dropbox.com)
4) I re-installed Dropbox & re-aligned the Dropbox location with the Dropbox/ folder on my external drive
I did a couple of restarts, some general fooling around, and this fix seems to be stable.
