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Forum Discussion

Taffelzips's avatar
Taffelzips
Explorer | Level 3
9 years ago

Does dbxsvc.exe in Windows System32 folder actually belong to Dropbox program?

Hi, I'm running Dropbox on Windows 10 and everything is basically working fine. Some time ago I noticed a new service called "Dbxsvc" running on my computer. It runs from a file named dbxsvc.exe in my Windows System32 folder.

 

Is this some kind of malware or some new part of the Dropbox program?

 

I know there are two other dbxsvc.exe files on my computer. They are in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\driver_amd64\dbxsvc.exe

C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\driver_x86\dbxsvc.exe

 

They seems legitimate. But this third one in System32 is the one running the "Dbxsvc" service.

 

I've managed to shut down and delete the service and then delete the file itself. Dropbox still works just fine.

 

The thing is, this file reappears randomly.

 

So should I leave it or be worried about it?

 

No other strange behavior on my pc and Windows Defender doesn't seem to have a problem with this file.

 

If anyone can help, thanks!

  • Hey Taffel,

    The new service you're seeing is an intended part of the application, I'd advise leaving it as is.

    You noted sync still appears to work correctly without this service however should you encounter any sync issues with the service removed it will limit our ability to resolve the issue.
  • Hey Taffel,

    The new service you're seeing is an intended part of the application, I'd advise leaving it as is.

    You noted sync still appears to work correctly without this service however should you encounter any sync issues with the service removed it will limit our ability to resolve the issue.
    • MarcusJT's avatar
      MarcusJT
      New member | Level 2

      I keep seeing errors in the Windows Application log relating to DbxSvc, which all look like this:

       

      Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.

       

      Why is this happening? What driver?

      • Ilrizzo's avatar
        Ilrizzo
        New member | Level 2

        I'm seeing the same issue with DBXSRV service. Its leaving a log every second in the event viewer.

    • DM77's avatar
      DM77
      New member | Level 2
      If Dropbox is removed, why isn't this service uninstalled/removed?
      • SChalice's avatar
        SChalice
        Helpful | Level 6
        Because DropBox appears to be a really shady company. I am going to try my best to never ever use DropBox even though I have clients that do.

        DropBox cannot be trusted!!!!
    • Josh L.20's avatar
      Josh L.20
      Collaborator | Level 10
      WHAT does the "intended part of the application" do, which Dropbox.exe doesn't do?

      Now I have three services related to Dropbox:

      - Dbxsvc.exe = SYSTEM account - Started
      - Dropbox Update Service (dbupdate) - Automatic (Delayed)
      - Dropbox Update Service (dbupdatem) - Manual

      Someone please chime in...
      • Roger P.16's avatar
        Roger P.16
        Explorer | Level 4

        As Dropbox will not specify what these services do, I have completely disabled dbupdate and dbupdatem using Autoruns, and set dbxsvc.exe to start manually through Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services, all without any adverse effect on the program's functionality as far as I can detect.

    • Josh L.20's avatar
      Josh L.20
      Collaborator | Level 10
      It's funny - the file hash is now showing "oldf917.tmp" rather than "DbxSvc.exe"