"The Dropbox installer failed to start"

[Nautek]

I moved some dropbox files from the C: drive to the 😧 and now i can't run the installer after i uninstalled Dropbox. Here is what happens:

[Jane]

Hi there Nautek, 

We 'd really like to follow-up on that. Could you please write in to us at http://bit.ly/1K3sAVW and respond to this post with your ticket ID or the email address you used? 

Thank you in advance!

Kind Regards,

JaneA

[Welshjm]

Did you figure out how to fix it? Just did the same thing and have been trying to fix it for much longer than I should need to. I have tried Dropbox support but they tell me to do what I have done before and failed with 😕

Thanks 

[mb60893 · Accepted solution]

Hi, I'm assuming you're running Windows and your installer isn't working... Have you installed Dropbox before by any chance?? I had this problem when I tried uninstalling dropbox, my computer crashed, and then I was unable to reinstall Dropbox.

So here's what I tried.

I downloaded a program called RegAlyzer from PortableApps.

I installed the application, then under the "Search" feature I said search for the string "Dropbox".

Tick all the boxes that say "Keys" "Values" "Data" "Strings" "Numerics", but NOT Binary Data. Under Search Range, select Whole Registry, and under Misc, select "Ignore Case".

Hit Search. Leave the computer for a few minutes. The results will hopefully accumulate a number of Windows "Registry" entries.

Some of these entries stop the installer from doing its thing.

When the search is complete, right click on any of the results, press select all, then right click again, and press "Delete Selected."

When this is done, download the dropbox installer and try installing again now.

Good Luck!

[das43958]

Thank you for your post and reply. I had the same problem and your advice solved it.

You saved me many hours trying to figure this out.

Thank you !!!!!

[Welshjm]

Thanks soo much :). After 2 days of trying to fix this problem, your solution definitely helped. I tried everything and wish something like this came up much earlier. Couldn't find any working solution until this came along.

Thanks 😄

[VnALounge]

OMG! This worked for me too! I had to change Dropbox to a different drive folder, and it would no longer sync and would fail when re-installed. Saved me so much time, as I've been trying to fix this for about 2 weeks now. Now, it'll take 2 days to complete and download all my files. Thanks again 🙂

[mb60893]

It's my pleasure. There must be some kind of setting that doesn't get removed, and hence the Dropbox installer merely got confused. You should always proceed with caution when editing Registry entries, however I looked over most of the entries and couldn't see anything that would potentially cause instabilities across the Windows Operating System.

It was also confusing that no error code came up. Dropbox need to check their registry entries don't cause problems when the installer is run.

[mb60893]

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@Nautek wrote:

I moved some dropbox files from the C: drive to the 😧 and now i can't run the installer after i uninstalled Dropbox. Here is what happens:

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Nautek, did you get your problem resolved? Have you tried my method I list in this thread?

[Nautek]

Yes i am running Windows 10 and i will try this if my monitor isn't dead :d