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MikeLV's avatar
MikeLV
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

Dropbox app won't start on M1 Mac running Big Sur

I just got a new MacBook Air M1 running BigSur.  Dropbox does show up in the Finder sidebar and it appears the Dropbox files and folders on my Mac have synced with Dropbox.com.  However the dropbox icon does not show up in the tool bar at the top of the screen.  Plus, I downloaded the Dropbox app but it won't start.  error message is shown below.  I am not on a network share.  Don't know what is the deal with permissions.  Suggestions?

 

  • MKschmitt's avatar
    MKschmitt
    Explorer | Level 4

    I am having major issues with it as well.  Just updated to BIG SUR and I can't even download the app.  I can't find the folder in FINDER, nothing and nobody to call and talk to.  I have been messing with it for the last week and am beyond frustrated.  Sorry this doesn't help you but know you are not alone.  

    • MikeB2's avatar
      MikeB2
      Explorer | Level 3

      MKschmitt 

       

      What "might" have worked for me... I changed my regular user account to an administrator and ran through the Advanced Reinstall.  I'm pretty sure it failed the first time through, but then I removed administrator from the user account, rebooted, and suddenly it was working properly...

       

      (To change administrator status, log out of the account, log in as an administrator, open System Preferences, select Users & Groups, click the padlock icon if needed, then select the user account and check/uncheck "Allow user to administer this computer").

      • MikeB2's avatar
        MikeB2
        Explorer | Level 3

        Out of the blue, with no changes to my system or environment, the startup failures have returned.  This is extremely frustrating!

         

        bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
        bn.VERSION: 127.4.4265
        bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 48
        bn.is_frozen: True
        machine_id: 81473c3e-02f8-54bb-bc0e-2632fb565d70
        pid: 754
        ppid: 1
        uid: 502
        user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='User', pw_dir='/Users/user', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
        effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='User', pw_dir='/Users/user', 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', 'mjbunnell', 'user', 'mike', 'boinc_master', 'boinc_project'])
        effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mjbunnell', 'user', 'mike', 'boinc_master', 'boinc_project'])
        DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
        cwd: '/'
             real_path='/'
                    mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
             parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
        HOME: '/Users/user'
        appdata: '/Users/user/.dropbox/instance1'
                 real_path='/Users/user/.dropbox/instance1'
                        mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
                 parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
        dropbox_path: '/Users/user/Dropbox'
                      real_path='/Users/user/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/vw/hs31tvjn26d1mypmb2zsztn80000gp/T'
                 real_path='/private/var/folders/vw/hs31tvjn26d1mypmb2zsztn80000gp/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 827, in wrapper
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6650, in finish_dropbox_boot
          File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 307, in _wrapped
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6147, in _init_components_for_account
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6073, 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 278, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 219, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 150, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 223, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 591, in _init_new_engine_locked
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 182, in __init__
          File "desktop/extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
        nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Marking Nucleus cache directory as ignored |>> Writing to xattr |>> fsetxattr syscall: write_xattr |>> Permission denied"

         

  • victoriabaum's avatar
    victoriabaum
    Explorer | Level 4

    I have same problem and have 2T Pro, 3 allowed. Works on iPhone and old MacBook Air 😞

    • Walter's avatar
      Walter
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      Hey there MikeLV & victoriabaum, thanks for posting on our Community and sorry to hear about this.

      Could both of you please click on the hypertext from your error message and send us the full error log?

      This will help us assist further!
      • MikeLV's avatar
        MikeLV
        Explorer | Level 4

        Thank you for getting back to me.  The error message I receive is at the top of this stream.  FYI  I have deleted and re-downloaded the installer numerous times and always get the same result.  Also shut down and restarted the computer after deleting the installed app and the installer.  None of that worked.  I am running Mac OS BigSur version 11.4.

         

        You asked for the full error log.  It is very long.  Here it is:

         

        bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
        bn.VERSION: 125.4.3474
        bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 48
        bn.is_frozen: True
        machine_id: 3c855c8f-1be4-5167-9ada-50e978519c94
        pid: 12896
        ppid: 1
        uid: 501
        user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Mike', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michael Vaughn', pw_dir='/Users/Mike_1', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
        effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Mike', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michael Vaughn', pw_dir='/Users/Mike_1', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
        euid: 501
        gid: 20
        egid: 20
        group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mike', 'Patty', 'Mike', '_nsurlstoraged', '_serialnumberd'])
        effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mike', 'Patty', 'Mike', '_nsurlstoraged', '_serialnumberd'])
        DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
        cwd: '/'
             real_path='/'
                    mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
             parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
        HOME: '/Users/Mike_1'
        appdata: '/Users/Mike_1/.dropbox/instance1'
                 real_path='/Users/Mike_1/.dropbox/instance1'
                        mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
                 parent mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
        dropbox_path: '/Users/Mike_1/Dropbox'
                      real_path='/Users/Mike_1/Dropbox'
                            mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
                      parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
        sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
                        real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
                              mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
                        parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 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/dp/6dr17q2s32s1p26mmx5tt44m0000gn/T'
                 real_path='/private/var/folders/dp/6dr17q2s32s1p26mmx5tt44m0000gn/T'
                        mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
                 parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
        Traceback (most recent call last):
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 819, in wrapper
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6472, in finish_dropbox_boot
          File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 307, in _wrapped
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6005, in _init_components_for_account
          File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5932, 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 275, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 219, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 149, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 223, in __init__
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 597, in _init_new_engine_locked
          File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 182, in __init__
          File "extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
        nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> Opening dst |>> open syscall |>> Permission denied"

         

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