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Forum Discussion

patrick minas's avatar
patrick minas
Explorer | Level 3
5 years ago

My AppData folder is more than 24 GB. What gives?

Hi,

I have up to 24GB in Users/UserName/AppData/Local/Dropbox/Update/Install. 

It contains hundreds of subfolders all with some version of Dropbox clients.

See attached.

I cannot delete them and I want to know how to avoid having them again.

 

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi patrick minas; welcome to our Community!

     

    Your computer seems to be storing the executable files for our desktop app's installer and updater service since some of those come from previous builds (as shown within your screenshot). 

     

    Can you let me know if you've installed multiple instances of our desktop app on this machine? Do you happen to be dual booting perhaps or using roaming profiles on your computer? 

     

    In any case, I'd suggest a clean, advanced re-install to clear all previous traces of our desktop app and make sure to do it with admin privileges

     

    Let me know how you get on, Patrick.

    • patrick minas's avatar
      patrick minas
      Explorer | Level 3

      The system is running Windows Server and I have few other users also using it remotely but none with admin priviledge or even signed in with a dropbox account. Only admin is.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi patrick minas, generally, whenever the Dropbox desktop application needs to update, the installation files are stored in that directory temporarily, and are then deleted from there once done.

     

    If there is an issue with the installation, or the app doesn't have permission to delete, then the files remain there, as you can see.

     

    You'll need to manually delete the files using admin privileges, or by accessing the machine directly.

    • patrick minas's avatar
      patrick minas
      Explorer | Level 3

      I've uninstalled Dropbox and I am trying to delete these files while logged in as Administrator but still cant. Can't even change the persimssions or the owner of these files. See attached.

       

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Thanks for the images. Could you clarify if you're signed in under a normal user profile, or the Administrator profile, when making the deletions?

         

        Generally, that profile is hidden by default, and it isn't possible to elevate normal users to that level.

         

        Deletion wouldn't be possible if you're on a normal user profile, since the app was installed in the Administrator account according to the filepath you have there.