After upgrading to Ventura, cannot start dropbox app

Hey Dropbox Team, hey community:

This is from an open support ticket I am working on with the Support. I guess a lot of people have similar problems after updating the software and experiencing the same errors as I did. Prior to that I already did the following attempts to solve the problems in dialog with the customer support team
- Restarted the Computer
- Restarted the Dropbox App
- Reinstalled the Dropbox App from scratch

I am running a brand new Apple Macbook Pro with M2 Pro and 1 TB internal SSD. I have currently over 800.000 Files in my dropbox which is for me currently completely unusable. 

My Issues and Solutions I would expect:

1. Problem:

On first, blank installation Dropbox desktop will try to download the whole dropbox content. Yes, it gives me the Indication that I can choose which folders I want to see on my machine and which not, but nothing about the location change to cloud storage directory later on. In my case, it then proceeds to download around 800.000 Files which takes up to 16 Hours. After completion it then will give me an alert in the app saying that everything needs to be moved to the new directory - OK. It then moves the whole Dropbox over to the new library/CloudStorage - Here it would be helpful to have at least some progress bar and not only a moving Icon on the Button. Looks stuck, bad UX. After completion it then tries to re-index all files which will take again like 16-20 hours. After that it is not able to sync properly.

Workaround I found:
When I first only choose one little file to be synced on startup I will get way faster to moving everything to the new directory. After moving this one small file I can then move on to syncing all the files with selective sync and everything will be set up directly in the new cloud storage. Saved me around 20-30 Hours of waiting.

Solution - How it should be:
I would expect Dropbox on a blank install directly setting up everything in library/CloudStorage which will save a lot of time and also get around a lot of communicative problems prior to the setup.

————————

2. Problem
After everything is set up in library/CloudStorage Dropbox will not indicate any icons next to filenames as expected from the user. Only thing that can be seen is the apple cloud icon. Here the next problems begin. It now looks like everything is no locally on my machine but turns out it is not. What I would like to understand: It downloads hours and hours for 800.000 Files but in the end still nothing is there really - Weird. In the Desktop App it gives indication of downloading like „800.000 files synchronizing“ and „96,5 GB“ so it seems to be doing something here. The Online Only / Local Storage Setting that is sometimes asked to be changed in the settings is not there for me in the current version of the dropbox app. Only the Directory Selection which will then download directories but still no files on the local machine. Screenshot attached.

Workaround I found - somehow because it really is not:

I need to click on the cloud Icons - yes, on each file again - to really get them downloaded on my machine. For 800.000 files. This is really no acceptable workaround in any case.
Then - in some random cases the dropbox sync items will appear and dropbox will indicate small numbers of files getting synced again.

Solution - How it should be
The Implementation of the File Provider API is faulty. There is no other way to describe this, this needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY. Also I would expect from the Dropbox desktop app to guide me through the new icons from apple File Provider API. Maybe it would be better to not have the dropbox icons any longer as they tell an incorrect status about the files shown. If the cloud icons from Apple are now recommended - then just use them and tell the users. Simple as that.

————————

3. Problem
The syncing is only working for downloading files but not for uploading in v168.4.4802. Period. I have no control what so ever.

Workaround I found:
None.

Solution - How it should be:
Again completely faulty implementation, this needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY.


I hope that this will be transferred to the right People, if this will not get fixed there will be no other way for me than to cancel subscription after more than 5 years. I like dropbox but in this case this is a total showstopper for me. Please keep me and also the other Mac users updated on this topic otherwise you will see a lot of Mac users cancelling their accounts. We know it is not totally your fault but still you are a paid service and if something is absolutely not working then this needs to be highly prioritized and clearly communicated to not loose trust of the customers.

Greetings from Germany,

Eric

Hey pizzadoh, sorry to hear about this.

Would it be OK if we reach out via email to have a further look into this matter?

Let us know and we'll use the email address that's associated with your Community's profile. 

Thanks!

I'm having the same issue please help! 

Can't get Dropbox to start with Mac 13.2.1. Get error message:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 167.4.4719
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 60
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: fde518ef-df44-53d3-9e5c-13ff268df53f
pid: 2610
ppid: 1
uid: 502
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='wilburbud2', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='WG 2020', pw_dir='/Users/wilburbud2', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='wilburbud2', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='WG 2020', pw_dir='/Users/wilburbud2', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 502
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'MacBook2016'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'MacBook2016'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/wilburbud2'
appdata: '/Users/wilburbud2/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/wilburbud2/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/wilburbud2/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/wilburbud2/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/yp/571tn8bs2dq0mqvxlqfnfbxc0000gp/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/yp/571tn8bs2dq0mqvxlqfnfbxc0000gp/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 816, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6302, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 306, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5844, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5768, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 225, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 245, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 322, in __init__
File "dropbox/client/gandalf/legacy.pyc", line 296, in add_on_changed_callback
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 473, in _update_feature_configs
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_thin_client.pyc", line 286, in UpdateFeatureConfigForFswRules
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/fp_client.pyc", line 236, in __getattr__
dropbox.sync_engine.nucleus.thin_client.exceptions.NucleusConnectionTimeoutError: Nucleus clients are not running. Connection error: None

Hi there. Having the same issue and receiving the same error message. Thank you for your help.

Can someone please help?

After recent update to macOS 13.3.1, Dropbox cannot start and quits after showing the following message

Couldn't start Dropbox.

This may be a temporary error. Please restart Dropbox.

For more information, click the help button.

If the issue persists, please contact

Dropbox support with the following info for help:

Details from the log file:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 171.4.6182
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 61
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 89152cb6-6b41-5f54-9816-3a672b7ad13f
pid: 5597
ppid: 1
uid: 502
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user1567', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='user1567', pw_dir='/Users/user1567', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user1567', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='user1567', pw_dir='/Users/user1567', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
euid: 502
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
     real_path='/'
           	mode=0o40755	uid=0	gid=0
     parent	mode=0o40755	uid=0	gid=0
HOME: '/Users/user1567'
appdata: '/Users/user1567/.dropbox/instance1'
         real_path='/Users/user1567/.dropbox/instance1'
               	mode=0o40700	uid=502	gid=20
         parent	mode=0o40755	uid=502	gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/user1567/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox'
              real_path='/Users/user1567/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox'
                    	mode=0o40700	uid=502	gid=20
              parent	mode=0o40755	uid=502	gid=20
sys_executable: '/Users/user1567/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
                real_path='/Users/user1567/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
                      	mode=0o100755	uid=502	gid=20
                parent	mode=0o40755	uid=502	gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Users/user1567/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
                real_path='/Users/user1567/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
                      	not found
                parent	not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/yh/xbqnt_rx2v19v038fx3c95480000gp/T'
         real_path='/private/var/folders/yh/xbqnt_rx2v19v038fx3c95480000gp/T'
               	mode=0o40700	uid=502	gid=20
         parent	mode=0o40755	uid=502	gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 823, in wrapper
  File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6348, in finish_dropbox_boot
  File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 306, in _wrapped
  File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5890, in _init_components_for_account
  File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5814, in create_sync_engine
  File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 225, in make_sync_engine
  File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 243, in __init__
  File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 282, in __init__
  File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 169, in __init__
  File "dropbox/sync_root/fp_helpers.pyc", line 96, in fp_get_temporary_url
dropbox.mac.internal.MacError: [Errno -2001] Error Domain=NSFileProviderErrorDomain Code=-2001 "No valid file provider found with identifier ‘com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider/3040d309-f54e-46e0-b56d-d9db25c5a43a’." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=No valid file provider found with identifier ‘com.getdropbox.dropbox.fileprovider/3040d309-f54e-46e0-b56d-d9db25c5a43a’.}

After Dropbox working fine on Ventura since the initial upgrade, it suddenly stopped loading today.