Desktop App stuck on "Updating Dropbox account..." after 10/14 Update was Pushed Out

[abelke]

Hello,

I logged on this morning to find that my desktop app (Windows 10) for Dropbox is stuck on "Updating Dropbox Account..." and won't budge. I even attempted to re-install Dropbox, and that didn't work. Can someone help me with this, please?

Thanks,

Aimee

screenshot of message from windows app

[rodneyseverson]

The Support agent didn't really offer any useful help to me, so I'm at least glad the reinstall route worked for you. I was pretty reluctant in considering reinstalls, too. We keep about 1TB in company files, with the average user syncing 250-500GB.

The Support agent's response was 'It appears your Dropbox account contains a large amount of files. The performance of the Dropbox application starts to decline after reaching about 300,000 files. You can read more about this issue in the Help Center' and they closed the ticket. My users already use Selective Sync and the other features to limit what files are saved on their PCs. I know this wasn't the issue, not to mention we all have the same files. 

In the end, I instructed all users to close everything on their PCs, leaving only the Dropbox service running when they left for the day. Every Windows 10 Pro machine resolved itself by the AM. For the Windows 11 Machines, it was a little more complicated; some worked after (1) Quitting the Dropbox service, (2) removing Bitdefender (anti-virus software) , (3) re-opening Dropbox. Others resolved themselves. I gave up and uninstalled/reinstalled Dropbox on the remaining PCs--I couldn't have another day of users without company files.

The whole experience has been pretty aggravating and has already created some issues and headaches I have to figure out:

1. The API link to Microsoft Power Automate has changed, breaking many of my file-saving automations.

2. A quarter of users are seeing the company Team folder inside their name folder in Dropbox (Company Dropbox > User Name > Team folder), while the others just see it normally (Company Dropbox > Team folder) and next to their username folder. Needlessly confusing.

3.  The Sync/Cloud/Off-line available symbols are spotty and don't always seem to work.

[Graham]

Hey @rodneyseverson,

So sorry to hear about the issues you have been experiencing and I totally understand your frustration with the outcome. Sometimes, these things are caused by simply having a large Dropbox account with lots of files. I just wanted to pop on and say thank you for taking the time to post your experience here, even when you have been left using a workaround you hoped to avoid. Your responses to this thread are already helping other Community members so again, thanks for helping to make this Community better!

Have a great day!

Graham

[trishadionne]

I just tried the solution (uninstall and reinstall the app). The reinstalled app is still updated almost than 11K files. I also have zero files selected to sync.

Is there another solution? 

Thanks!

[Walter]

Hey @trishadionne, could you please send us a screenshot of the app's exact status and version as shown in your menu bar/system tray?

Also, has it been stuck like that for a while now? 

[ak47uk]

I had a report this morning from a client using Dropbox for Business that their computers have stopped syncing with Dropbox and are saying "Updating Dropbox account". Windows 11 Pro systems, Dropbox seems to have updated to a Beta version (186.3.6141).

I tried restarting Dropbox, rebooting the system, removing Dropbox and reinstalling but I cannot get it to sign in and sync files. 

Has anyone else had any more luck? When I signed into dropbox.com it says "Update scheduled Sat, Oct 28, brings more file organisation. Expect limited access for a few hours, starting at 02:00." but it is now nearly 12:00 and I wouldn't have expected this to affect the sync client. 

[ak47uk]

Update:

Of the two systems with this issue, on Saturday I removed the Beta vesion of Dropbox (still not sure how this was installed, must have been pushed by Dropbox as an auto update) from one and installed the latest 185.x version from winget, I left the other system as-is. Both systems were left on and did not sleep over the weekend, this morning the one I had downgraded started to sync again but the other did not.

I removed the Beta, installed latest from Winget, was asked to sign in again and now it is syncing. The Dropbox folder name has changed from "Dropbox (Company Name)" to "Company Name Dropbox". I believe this issue was caused by the updates Dropbox made to the folder names etc. I read the guides sent to me from Dropbox over the weeks before these updates and had completed all the prep steps.

[Hannah]

Hey @ak47uk, from what you've mentioned, this update didn't have to do with the app itself, but the update of the Dropbox Business account to the new Business structure.

You can read more about this here.

[ak47uk]

@Hannah Just a shame the guide didn't say to be prepared for extended time (>48 hours in our case) without desktop access to the files, working on dropbox.com is far less efficient.

[TonyEnglund]

I've got the same issue on about every Windows 11 computer. They have been stuck on "Updating Dropbox System" for ever, and the solution has been to quit Dropbox app > Uninstall > Download and reinstall latest version.

The major problem here is that a lot of users have been working on files for a week without knowing nothing gets synced, and after you uninstall the client you don't get the changed files to the new folder structure.

[ak47uk]

I had an email from Dropbox about another of my customer accounts to say they are delaying the upgrade so I wonder if this was a bug they are working on and delaying upgrades to buy time.