Dropbox Windows 10 app stuck on 'connecting'

[Charl E.]

My Windows 10 Dropbox app v. 169.4.56874 gets intermittently stuck on 'connecting' and displays a greyed out icon in the system tray. I have a fast wired Ethernet connection, I have allowed Dropbox in my firewall (the standard Windows firewall), no antivirus/blockers other than Windows Defender. Sometimes it connects, sometimes it just refuses. It is intermittent!  I took it to the shop to see if they could resolve the issue, no luck. It is seriously annoying. I appreciate that there must be some app or setting that is blocking it (and which somehow it avoids occasionally) but I have no idea what. How do I check?

I have a laptop running the same version of Dropbox on W10 and this connects faultlessly every time.

[Megan]

Hi @Charl E., I'd be happy to look into this with you! 

I'm glad that you mentioned that you have allowed Dropbox in your firewall, and that the connection issue you're experiencing isn't related to any antivirus on the device. 

Could you try some additional troubleshooting steps related to the issue at hand, that I had mentioned here, and let me know more? 

Keep me posted!

[Charl E.]

Hi. OK:

1. clock is synced
2. Firewall allows access to all ports and all protocols to Dropbox
3. No proxies
4. No SSL scanning (I think).
5. I have Windows Defender Firewall for W10 and I haven't made any changes to it. The problem is that Dropbox connects sometimes, but much more often it just sits in the #'Connecting' state. I have tried everything I can think of, including cache and cookie clearing (via CCleaner), rebooting, etc. Nothing I do seems a reliable way of getting it to connect - it just sometimes does, but most of the time it doesn't.

[Walter]

Hey @Charl E., thanks for all the additional information you've provided us. 

Would it be OK with you if we reached out via email to have a further look internally at this point?

[Charl E.]

Yes of course. Do you want me to post my email address here, or do you have it already?

[Megan]

Hi @Charl E., no need to post your email on a public forum.

I just sent you an email, in order for us to have a closer look into this. I'll see you there! 

[Charl E. · Accepted solution]

I think I *may* just have solved the issue. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. Then I right-clicked on the dropbox.exe file, and opened Properties. Then I ran the compatibility troubleshooter in the Compatibility tab. This suggested I should run in Windows 8 compatibility mode (no idea why; my Win 10 install is completely up to date). But I set it to that and now it seems to be running properly.

[Megan]

Awesome news @Charl E.!

Have a lovely weekend ahead,enjoy!