Hundreds of background processes, new windows opened

[WillHermann]

Dropbox seems to be stuck in a loop, and opening hundreds of background processes. This consumes all my CPU capacity, then eats at my memory and disk space. See attached pics. There also seem to be windows being automatically opened, as my typing or mouse clicks in other apps is interrupted when the hundreds of background processes are opened. The number seems to level off after about 1650 (about 100 are from other sources; I waited for a few minutes after startup to start the dropbox app, and didn't have too much trouble until I opened other programs that access files on Dropbox).

I went through the file permissions troubleshooting, and it came back with an error about the cookies file. I couldn't find it in order to try to fix it. 

\Users\(username)\Cookies\*: Access is denied Performance Post Dropbox and other apps startupprocesses post startupprocesses pre-startupperformance pre-startupSuccessfully processed 644 files; Failed processing 1 files

[UnableToUse]

Having un-installed Dropbox so I can actually use my computer, I no longer can generate the desired images, sorry.

I can share the method I used to make my computer responsive enough to un-install Dropbox:

PowerShell> Stop-Process -name "Dropbox"

I really hope you can fix this, as I'd prefer not to have to migrate to another service (with all of my family and all of our devices).

[Lusil]

Thanks for your swift reply, @UnableToUse. 

I'd be more than happy to send you a ticket so as to have a better look into this with you, if you'd like. 

Just give me a shout and I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Cheers!

[Pierre38]

Same problem for me. Hundreds of processes launch, and provoked a disk failure. Now I have to pay to recover all my working files. Had to uninstall it. Please fix it quiclky

[UnableToUse · Accepted solution]

I appear to have resolved this, by uninstalling, removing my local dropbox folder and re-installing (and allowing the subsequent download). Now I only see 4 Dropbox related processes, and system performance is normal.

It appears that the issue was actually related to firewall changes in my network. Apparently Dropbox was spawning processes that would then wind up waiting indefinitely, instead of completing and exiting. Apparently there is no check for system load, number of child processes, etc. And the question remains as to why the Dropbox servers are now showing up on my block list.

While this fix worked for me, if folks have a significant amount of data in their Dropbox, they may be more reluctant to try it.

[Minas S.]

Dear Lusil,
since I have uninstalled Dropbox I cannot send you any image right now.
It took me quite a bit of time to manage to uninstall Dropbox (since my computer was becoming unresponsive) and hence will not take the risk to install it again until a patch for this bug is posted.
As other users have said it is impossible to stop the processes (I finally did a safe mode logging and uninstalled it).
In my computer I could have up to 2000-3000 Dropbox process running in parallel before becoming completely unresponsive.
I don’t want to delete my folder and reinstall as I have quite a few files (and selective sync) and it would take me a long time .
Please help.

[WillHermann]

I uninstalled Dropbox, deleted all associated files, and re-installed with severe restrictions on which files even smart sync to my computer. 30 minutes after those files are indexed, and I haven't seen any odd jumps in activity.

After Dropbox said it probably wasn't them (Also, since the desktop app isn't running when you experience high CPU, the cause could be related to an external factor, such as a third party app (for example, I can see that you're running a few that show up at the very top of the list under Power usage). For this reason, I'd recommend looking into other third party apps that could be causing this.) I went to a Microsoft store's help desk to see if they had any ideas, and they advised me to re-install windows 10, which I found even less helpful. I'm thankful for other users who had less trepidation about being drastic with the program and their files. Would have taken a lot longer to re-install the OS.

What was especially odd is that other members of my team that have access to many of the same files I do, and have not experienced the same issues. I had access to a computer from someone leaving our team recently, and was able to use dropbox on that computer fine. All the programs installed are the same on both computers, but I only had the issue on the one. I would guess that some security setting was messing with Dropbox, or that there is a conflict between competing updates. Hopefully it doesn't happen again...

[Minas S.]

Reinstalled dropbox and now, even if  with "smart" sync disabled dropbox "syncronizes" all files in my computer (99.999% of them are the same with my cloud backup but that doesnot seem to matter).

I had to unsistall it again to prevent the huge download/upload operation.

Basically dropbox is behaving like a virus. In my case there was absolutely no other app involved.

Is it possible to get a refund (I just update my subscription a month ago) and terminate my subscription? It is just not worth the trouble any more!

Thank you very much in advance.

[Lusil]

Hey @Minas S. - thanks for nudging us on this thread and sorry to hear about your frustration. 

I'd be more than happy to help look into this with you a bit more in depth, so I've sent you a ticket. When you have the chance, please check your inbox for my latest message and we'll take it from there. 

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

[TheSolarZone]

Hi

I have the same problem - no tray icon - multiple processes, but I have the added issue of not being able uninstall dropbox!

What's the next step?

[Lusil]

Hey @TheSolarZone, thanks for reaching out to us and sorry to hear that you're having trouble uninstalling the desktop app. 

Since you mention that you have a lot of processes running in the background, could you follow the steps below:

1. Open your Task Manager.
2. Go to the Processes tab (you may need to click on "Show processes from all users" to check all processes).
3. If you find items that refer to Dropbox or apps that you've linked to Dropbox, click on them and select End Process.
4. Once you've done this, try following the uninstall instructions one more time.

Let me know how it goes and I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!