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Forum Discussion
changed home folder name, now db will not start
On my Mac I changed my home folder/user name folder. Now, when dp starts, it attempts to change permissions on the original home folder, which no longer exists, and then exits. Is there a way to tell...
Hi Ian,
You'd need to do a complete reinstall in order to fix this. First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder.
- Download the newest version:
- Stop Dropbox (If needed):
- Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen - Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select 'Quit Dropbox'- Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:
- To delete this folder open a Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal for Mac OS) - Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal and press RETURN: mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old mv ~/.dropbox-master ~/.Trash/dropbox-master.old - This will move the folder to the Trash and make it visible. Please note that you could see an error message regarding the existence of the folder ".dropbox-master" when you run the last of the lines above. This is completely normal and you can go on with the next step.- Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin
- Open the Finder and select Go to folder... from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G) - A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key: /Library/ - Finally drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action.- Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application
- Open the Dropbox .dmg file and double click the Dropbox icon. - Dropbox should appear in your menu bar. - Relink your account.I hope this helps!
Stefanie
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi Ian,
You'd need to do a complete reinstall in order to fix this. First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder.
- Download the newest version:
- Stop Dropbox (If needed):
- Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen
- Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select 'Quit Dropbox'
- Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:
- To delete this folder open a Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal for Mac OS)
- Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal and press RETURN:
mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old
mv ~/.dropbox-master ~/.Trash/dropbox-master.old
- This will move the folder to the Trash and make it visible. Please note that you could see an error message regarding the existence of the folder ".dropbox-master" when you run the last of the lines above. This is completely normal and you can go on with the next step.
- Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin
- Open the Finder and select Go to folder... from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G)
- A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key:
/Library/
- Finally drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action.
- Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application
- Open the Dropbox .dmg file and double click the Dropbox icon.
- Dropbox should appear in your menu bar.
- Relink your account.
I hope this helps!
Fantastic, Stefanie.
Worked like a charm. Thank you so much.
Does this solution erase the huge dropbox folder on my drive?
My internet connection is slow and I sure don't want to redownload all those files.
Also - why wouldn't "repair permissions" fix this?
How I got here - all I did was do a Security Update and update printer driver (suggested by App Store). Same hard drives, same everything else. Yosemite 10.10.5.
This saved my day, thank you!
- "No such file or directory" is the message on terminal for the first step
Help!- Zed
Hey stacy a. , is your Dropbox folder in its default location ( for example /Users/username/Dropbox ) or in another location?
Thanks!
it is in the correct location.
i have another bad thing happening.
i just received an email saying large deletions were occurring in my dropbox.
it referred me to a link where i could restore them.
only a few files out of the large number of files
were really deleted by me. most were deleting themselves.
also, i had to shut down my drop box because it was affecting my gmail,
which slowed down to just barely working because of the tremendous
download or upload activity of dropbox.
very scary whats happening.
any suggestions? i may just have to restore all and setup my own backup as
drop box seems to have gone crazy doing things i have not done.
Thank you. I tried everything I could think of. Turns out I should have just done more research so I could find this gem of a process. Many thanks!
- Perfect, thanks!
- Thank you. Worked like a charm.
- Also worked for me. Uninstalled Dropbox, stopped on process that was running. Followed above steps which did not appear to necessarily do anything in Terminal. DropboxHelperTools was not in Library. Reinstalled Dropbox and it appears it is syncing all folders now.
Feb 17, 2018
Same problem here on a brand new iMac PRO 14 core OS 10.13.3
I had changed my home folder name due to a screwed up Migration Assistant process.Tried pretty much everything I knew several times but this process using the Terminal access window solved it quick and easy.
No files were lost or damaged in the resolution of this problem and I approve this message!
RobStar
Las Vegas
Super. It worked exactely as described :relieved:
absolute best
