Dropbox stopped executing, restarted it and I can't specify my Dropbox folder

[rossmcm]

For some unknown reason, Dropbox stopped running on my laptop.  I restarted it and it behaved like it had just been freshly installed - it had me sign in,  but when I checked the location of the dropbox file it was set to c:\Users\Ross (I had it set to the root of C:).  I went to settings and tried to change the location to c:\ it reported "There is already a Dropbox folder at that location" (because that's where I had it before the crash), so I was prevented from changing it.

So I uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox.  No change to behaviour.  So I'm now in this situation:

• A fresh install of dropbox connected to my 2Tb of storage on the cloud.
• Dropbox trying to sync that 2Tb to an (empty) folder at c:\Users\Ross\Dropbox
• The original folder at c:\Dropbox with all my files in it, no longer getting sync'ed because Dropbox won't let me tell it that's where my files are.

I really need to climb out of this hole in a way that doesn't involve downloading the entire fileset again, and preferably allows me to put the dropbox folder back to the root of c: again.  One method I thought of might be:

• Pause syncing
• rename my original existing Dropbox folder out of the way, so C:\Dropbox becomes c:\Dropbox-Original
• Go into dropbox settings and move the Dropbox folder from c:\Users\Ross\Dropbox to c:\Dropbox (which it presumably will now permit me to do)
• move the contents of  c:\Dropbox-Original to C:\Dropbox
• Enable sync

Any comments or advice appreciated.

[Jay]

Hi @rossmcm, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

You can have the Dropbox desktop application detect the Dropbox folder by performing an advanced reinstallation, and during the installation, choose the advanced settings, to select the location of your old Dropbox folder. 

Make sure to select the parent folder (which should be C: for you), and it should detect the old folder. It will need to reindex it to check for file changes, but it wouldn't need to redownload all the files. 

Keep me updated with any progress!

[rossmcm]

Thanks Jay.  I found a post from Rich that details a sequence that doesn't involve all those registry tweaks.  Also I was using Ninite to re-install and I wasn't offered the advanced reinstallation, so maybe I'll start again using the Dropbox.com install.

I'm sort of in a half-way no-mans land now.

• I uninstalled Dropbox
• Renamed C:\Dropbox to Dropbox-old
• Installed it with Ninite
• Paused Sync
• Went into Settings and moved it from C:\users\Ross to C:\

That's when I read your reply, so currently, I have:

• Dropbox sync is paused
• my original files are still at C:\Dropbox-Old
• My newly moved folder at C:\Dropbox

By the time I paused sync Dropbox had created a few of the folders in the root, but no files apart from a few desktop.ini's.

Before I saw your post I was poised to move the contents of c:\Dropbox-old to c:\Dropbox and stand well clear.   Are those registry mods necessary in my case?  If they are, then Rich's post is a little incomplete.

So what is the suggestion at this point?  Uninstall again and follow the advanced install instructions?

Many thanks for the assistance.

[Walter]

Hi there @rossmcm - sorry to jump in here.

At this point, I'd suggest following Jay's suggestion for an advanced reinstall as this would be the safest way to go. 

If you stumble upon an issue during that process, please let us know and we'll take it from there. 

[rossmcm]

Thanks, Walter - I shall.  I'm still unsure about the registry tweaks - whether they are part of this install process?

[Hannah]

Hey @rossmcm, if you'd like to make sure you're following the correct steps for the advanced reinstall, you can find them below and please make sure to follow them exactly as they are:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall 

[rossmcm]

Hi Hannah,

I've followed the instructions as detailed three times now, and the end result is the same.   I uninstall dropbox, restart the PC, nuke the registry entries and folders, download the installer, open it (I don't "run as administrator" as the directions say not to, I just click on the installer exe, but it still asks if I want to run it.  It downloads the app, then spends ages installing it, but I never get to see anything that looks remotely like "Advanced settings during the download prompts" - it just goes away and installs it in the wrong place.

Did anyone ever think of something along the lines of "Oh, I see you already seem to have a dropbox folder. shall I resume your installation with that one?"

Well, after 20 minutes of "Installing" it just finished with this:

So the next rabbit hole is the offline installer.  No, that seems to have decided to download something as well, despite being billed as not needing the internet.

We are now back to the:

which is looking more like a cruel joke.  If it were going to give me the opportunity to influence the installation in some way it should have done so by now, I'm not prepared to wait another 20 minutes to be disappointed.

Look, I appreciate the help, I really do, but you folks need to know that this must be happening to other people as well.

A quick trawl of the forums shows plenty of customers reporting the "I tried to move my dropbox folder to where it was and it wouldn't let me" problem.  That's where you need to start.  And the solution shouldn't involve any registry modifications, deletion of folders that might or might not be present (update - I just received this again:   

)

It's a simple enough issue.  The fix might be complex, but you shouldn't load that complexity onto your customers - only you know how to carry it out safely and reliably.  

It is 2:40am.  I've spent hours on this over the last 3 days.  

[Nancy]

Sorry for jumping in here, @rossmcm, but is it OK to log a ticket for you, and look into this internally? 

Since we don’t have account visibility on the forum, it may be easier to investigate this way.

[rossmcm]

Hi Nancy,

Whatever works is fine by me. 

I'm now having difficulty deleting the folder Program Files (x86)\Dropbox:

(this is immediately after an uninstall and a restart).  I had a poke around and there were 40 handles like this:

explorer.exe pid: 20040 type: Section P50\Ross 103C: \Device\NamedPipe\DropboxDataPipe

I also noticed the service DbxSvc is still there and running.  I stopped the service to see if that might allow me to delete the x86\Dropbox folder but no dice - it still won't let me delete it, saying there are files or folders open again.

My next hunch was whether the problems were due to a browser window logged into the account in the Dropbox Web interface, so I logged out, closed all browser windows and tried to reinstall from the offline installer again.

So far it's looking like it always has,

• initializing, ...
• connecting to the Internet, ...
• waiting to download Dropbox...
• installing dropbox ... (for 10-15 minutes now)

no sign of any advanced installer options

Aaahh... Oh:

---

@Nancy wrote:

Sorry for jumping in here, @rossmcm, but is it OK to log a ticket for you, and look into this internally? 

Since we don’t have account visibility on the forum, it may be easier to investigate this way.

---

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @rossmcm, thanks for updating us on the issue.

Just before we send you an email about this, can you try these steps and let me know if they work for you or if you're having an issue?

1. Uninstall the Dropbox app, if it's installed. 
2. Rename your original Dropbox folder to "Dropbox (old)" or similar. 
3. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder. 
4. When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync, so pause syncing or exit the Dropbox app. 
5. Move only the contents of "Dropbox (old)" into the newly created Dropbox folder. 

6. When the move is complete, and not before, resume syncing or re-launch Dropbox.