Dropbox corrupts Windows 10 Start Menu

[JCplusULTRA]

Dropbox keeps corrupting my Windows 10 start menu after a few days. The symptom it creates is folders pinned to the start menu no longer close the start menu when clicked. The only solution to fixing this I find is to uninstall Dropbox. I then reinstall Dropbox and everything works fine for a few days until Dropbox corrupts the start menu again. So, I need to continually uninstall and reinstall Dropbox to keep my Start Menu working properly.

[Hannah]

A screenshot of the folder opening behind the start menu, for example, would have been helpful. 

Also, are the pinned folders, folders from your Dropbox? Or does this happen with any kind of folder you pin to your start menu?

[JCplusULTRA]

I don't see how that would be helpful at all. I've uninstalled and reinstalled anyway, so we'll have to wait for it to rear its ugly head again.

Any and all folders, dropbox included, pinned to the start menu will not close the start menu until dropbox is uninstalled.

[Rich]

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@JCplusULTRA wrote:

I've uninstalled and reinstalled anyway, so we'll have to wait for it to rear its ugly head again.

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Have you left it uninstalled for a few days, to make sure it doesn't happen when Dropbox isn't installed? If it's consistently failing after a days, leave it uninstalled for at least that long and see what happens.

[JCplusULTRA]

OK, it's started again. I will leave Dropbox uninstalled for a week.

[JCplusULTRA]

It's been over a week with Dropbox uninstalled and no problems.

[JCplusULTRA]

A new development: upon installation, the problem now IMMEDIATELY presents itself. After completing Dropbox installation, the start menu is immediately corrupted and stays so after reboot. The only solution is to uninstall Dropbox to return proper function.

[Hannah]

Thanks for keeping us updated on this, @JCplusULTRA.

Can we send you an email, so we can investigate this a bit further?

[JCplusULTRA]

Sure

[Nancy]

Hi again, @JCplusULTRA. I’ve sent you an email. Reply back to me, when you can, please.

[LummoxJR]

This has been happening to me too—not just for pinned folders on the start menu but for any folder I open from the start menu (even by manually typing it in) except for the main drive. It appears to be a Windows bug that's being exacerbated by an annoying feature in Dropbox that isn't configurable. I only thought to consider Dropbox the culprit because it didn't start until after I recently installed Dropbox on my new computer after having left it alone for a while.

Here's the discussion on Microsoft's answers forum (see WillCampbell7's response near the beginning of page 3, since Microsoft has no permalinks):

Microsoft discussion of start menu not closing 

The problem therefore appears to be the "Send a copy" shell extension that Dropbox adds, which is interacting with a known Windows bug.

This is a request another user made to remove the context menu items:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Apps-and-Installations/Can-I-delete-the-Dropbox-context-menu-items-t...

There appear to be two solutions. One is for Dropbox to either make the context menu item removable like it should be. (I don't know why certain shell extensions have an issue and others don't. That's something Dropbox should investigate if possible.) The other is to block the shell extensions entirely, which I haven't tried yet but I intend to as it appears to be the only workaround for now. I can't keep having folders opening in the background.