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When I set up my Windows 11 computer, it created an Administrator Account (called "Owner"). I put the Dropbox folder directly under the C drive instead of under C:/Users/Owner so that it would be accessible to all users on the computer. I just created a local standard account (called "MyUser") that I sign into separately. When I opened the Dropbox app on my standard account, it asked me to sign in. It created another Dropbox folder under C:\Users\MyUser, which will put two redundant folders on my computer. When I try to move the Dropbox folder location under Preferences/Sync, Windows asks me to sign into the folder but then Dropbox says that it cannot create a folder at that location. So - two questions: (1) how do I use my existing Dropbox installation on this computer without creating a redundant folder, and (2) how do I undo what Dropbox just set up on my account? Do I need quit Dropbox and delete the entire Windows user account?
I suspect the answer is to NOT open the Dropbox app on my standard account, but instead to open the folder that was already created on the administrator account, and to edit and save in that folder. If that's the case, I just need to know how to undo or uninstall the app/folder that was created on my standard account (I suspect I just have to delete my Windows user account and start over, but it would be nice to have an easier solution).
A few issues with Advanced Reinstall (referring to the steps in the article):
#6-7 There is no "Dropbox" folder under "KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE". There was only a "Dropbox Update" folder under WOW6432Node.
#8-10 using the "%.....%" search does not pull up any folders. The only referenced folder I found was "Dropbox Update" under Users/Owner/Appdata/Local, which I had to find from scrolling through the folders rather than searching File Explorer using the percent (%) syntax.
The Dropbox install website said to sign in (my account uses my business email), which I did. After installing, when I tried to point to the Dropbox folder (which I had put directly under C instead of the default location) in Advanced Settings, it is stuck. The icons in the box are just spinning. This should have taken a few seconds. And, it appears that Dropbox installed using my gmail account instead of my business account, even though I signed in using my business account. Meanwhile, it's a Saturday and I've told everyone that anyone using DB while I'm doing "deep reinstall" will have conflicted files. Do I uninstall and reinstall again? This is a hot mess!
Someone should rewrite the instructions so that they make sense to a Windows 11 user.
And .... I uninstalled again, followed the Deep Reinstall instructions, reinstalled and made sure it used my business email to sign in again, and it got stuck again trying to point to my Dropbox folder. I had to exit out of the advanced installation box, and go to Dropbox Preferences to under sync to move it to that folder. However, now it returns a message that there is already a Dropbox folder at that location.
So, it looks like my only option now is to uninstall Dropbox again, the delete the folder, and then reinstall Dropbox and have it re-download everything again at that folder.
In other words, Deep Reinstall just made everything worse. And taking up my entire Saturday!
Thanks for the update on this matter. Keep us informed on how it's proceeding after uninstalling the app and deleting the Dropbox folder.
Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Works fine now - thanks.
Hi there!
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