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Forum Discussion
Reinstalling Dropbox App and Retaining D drive location for Dropbox folder
I recently had to reinstall Windows 10 on a desktop. I had the Dropbox folder installed on my D drive, which is a separate physical drive (not a partition) from my C drive. The Dropbox app was instal...
MWilcox wrote:
The wording is "In which folder do you want the Dropbox folder?" I selected D:\user\me\Dropbox, and now I have a "new" Dropbox folder within my old Dropbox folder, both on D.
The question was asking what folder do you want your Dropbox folder to be located in; not what folder do you want your files in. Basically, you told it to create a new Dropbox folder inside your existing one. What you wanted to select was D:\user\me, and then Dropbox would have detected the existing folder and asked if you wanted to use it.
You likely have two options.
Exit the Dropbox application then uninstall it. Delete the newly created D:\user\me\Dropbox\Dropbox folder, being sure not to delete your original folder. Reinstall Dropbox again and when selecting a location for the Dropbox folder, be sure to select the folder ABOVE your existing Dropbox folder, so D:\user\me. Dropbox should ask if you want to use the existing folder.
The other option is how I move my Dropbox folder to a new computer, rather than re-downloading everything.
Uninstall Dropbox. Rename your existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder (D:\user\me). When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync. Exit the Dropbox application so syncing stops. Move the content of Dropbox_OLD into the newly created Dropbox folder. When the move is complete, and not before, launch Dropbox again.
At this point Dropbox will begin indexing all of your files. This process will take a while, especially if you have a lot of data to go through. During this time it may say that files are uploading or downloading, but it's only transferring comparison data and any changes that it finds. Be patient and LET IT WORK.
OK, I have uninstalled/reinstalled Dropbox. I selected Advance Settings during the installation setup and it did ask where I wanted to place the Dropbox folder. The wording is "In which folder do you want the Dropbox folder?" I selected D:\user\me\Dropbox, and now I have a "new" Dropbox folder within my old Dropbox folder, both on D. The old Dropbox folder has the plain Dropbox icon (five blue diamonds in v-shape) next to it. The "new" Dropbox folder has the generic windows yellow folder icon next to it, but also a blue circle with what looks like a white square next to it. It is now syncing my files into this "new" Dropbox folder. I did not see any place where the Dropbox installation setup can be directed to recognize an existing Dropbox folder. I assume I can merge these two Dropbox folders, but I would think the surviving folder needs to be the new one, correct?
Rich
Super User II
Super User II
MWilcox wrote:
The wording is "In which folder do you want the Dropbox folder?" I selected D:\user\me\Dropbox, and now I have a "new" Dropbox folder within my old Dropbox folder, both on D.
The question was asking what folder do you want your Dropbox folder to be located in; not what folder do you want your files in. Basically, you told it to create a new Dropbox folder inside your existing one. What you wanted to select was D:\user\me, and then Dropbox would have detected the existing folder and asked if you wanted to use it.
You likely have two options.
Exit the Dropbox application then uninstall it. Delete the newly created D:\user\me\Dropbox\Dropbox folder, being sure not to delete your original folder. Reinstall Dropbox again and when selecting a location for the Dropbox folder, be sure to select the folder ABOVE your existing Dropbox folder, so D:\user\me. Dropbox should ask if you want to use the existing folder.
The other option is how I move my Dropbox folder to a new computer, rather than re-downloading everything.
Uninstall Dropbox. Rename your existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder (D:\user\me). When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync. Exit the Dropbox application so syncing stops. Move the content of Dropbox_OLD into the newly created Dropbox folder. When the move is complete, and not before, launch Dropbox again.
At this point Dropbox will begin indexing all of your files. This process will take a while, especially if you have a lot of data to go through. During this time it may say that files are uploading or downloading, but it's only transferring comparison data and any changes that it finds. Be patient and LET IT WORK.
Thanks Rich, Megan, Hannah, Nancy. Having the installation place the Dropbox folder in the folder above the existing folder was the answer. Seems obvious in hindsight, but the installation does not tell you this. But it did work.
i have the same problem as Mitch. I think I understand the idea of pointing the Dropbox to D;\user\me, however, in the drop down menu that appears when I try to change the location it keeps the DROPBOX folder at the end of the line. How do I edit that to only use D:\user\me ?
Thanks for your help, jherber
My message shows a SOLVED icon. I have received any suggestions or solutions. Thank again, jherber
My message shows a SOLVED icon. I have NOT received any suggestions or solutions. Thank again, jherber
Howdy Jay. Thanks for the replay. I sent you an email replay because I could not get the link you sent to work. I finally figured out I was using an old browser, IE, and have no idea how I was doing that. I am using Chrome.
Your answer confuses me because I was following an earlier answer on this topic. I will include it below. It seems to conrtradict your advice.
The wording is "In which folder do you want the Dropbox folder?" I selected D:\user\me\Dropbox, and now I have a "new" Dropbox folder within my old Dropbox folder, both on D.
The question was asking what folder do you want your Dropbox folder to be located in; not what folder do you want your files in. Basically, you told it to create a new Dropbox folder inside your existing one. What you wanted to select was D:\user\me, and then Dropbox would have detected the existing folder and asked if you wanted to use it.
You likely have two options.
Exit the Dropbox application then uninstall it. Delete the newly created D:\user\me\Dropbox\Dropbox folder, being sure not to delete your original folder. Reinstall Dropbox again and when selecting a location for the Dropbox folder, be sure to select the folder ABOVE your existing Dropbox folder, so D:\user\me. Dropbox should ask if you want to use the existing folder.
When I tried to follow this advice, I ended up with a Dropbox folder on 😧 and inside that folder were these 'extra' files
a. dropbox.cache
b. .dropbox
Can you get me straightened out? I am fighting an issue where my C: drive is full and I am trying to move Dropbox program and data to D:.
I think I now have data and programs on both C: and D:, but the Dropbox program on 😧 does NOT find the data.
Thanks, jherber
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Essentially, the Dropbox folder is always created as a new folder. You can try moving the Dropbox folder to a different location entirely, and then just move it back to the location you mentioned earlier, which was D :\user\me.
I have a similar issue to the OP in that I had to reset my Windows 11 Pro installation on Drive C. All of the data on my separate D drive was retained. My Dropbox folder has been on my D drive for years because I don't like keeping data on my C drive and because my Dropbox is now too large for the C drive.
I have uninstalled Dropbox and re-installed it several times to attempt to get it to recognize my Dropbox folder on the D drive. It always defaults to the C:\Users\my_user\Dropbox folder. I sign in, get the 6-digit code, and then click on Advanced Settings. The screen simply will not allow me to select a different location for my Dropbox folder. It shows c:\Users\my_user\Dropbox in the input field. When I click the drop-down arrow, I see a checkmark by C:\Users\my_user\Dropbox and "Other location". If I click on Other Location, the set up simply ignores me and starts to do a Selective Sync. After some time, all of my Dropbox folders/files have been populated in C:\Users\my_user\Dropbox.
In other words, Advanced Settings does not seem to work at all on my computer running Windows 11 Pro.
If I go into the Dropbox app, select preferences > sync and try to move my Dropbox folder location to D:\, the error message is that there is already a Dropbox folder at that location. If I try to move the Dropbox folder to D:\Dropbox, I get a whole download of the Dropbox folder embedded in the directory structure, so my new location for a synced folder becomes D:\Dropbox\Dropbox - a file organization nightmare!
What am I doing wrong? Reinstalling the Dropbox desktop app and pointing it to an already existing Dropbox folder location shouldn't so hard.
#Desktop App #Dropbox folder
- Jay
Hi dearnold, If you're not on a Dropbox Basic plan with more than 3 devices connected, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?
During the installation process is when you get to see the Advanced Settings, before the default Dropbox folder is created. From there, you can choose the 'parent' folder to store the Dropbox folder, so if it's D:\Dropbox, you need to pick D:\.
