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Forum Discussion
Dropbox constantly creating desktop.ini files - how do disable this?
As per the title; the latest dropbox is now generating desktop.ini files pretty much as soon as they're deleted (they were recreated only on dropbox starts earlier, so a delete upon startup was all I needed). This is detrimental for me; how can I disable this behaviour?
They are pretty meaningless files, too, this is all in it:
■[ . S h e l l C l a s s I n f o ]
I c o n R e s o u r c e = C : \ P r o g r a m F i l e s ( x 8 6 ) \ D r o p b o x \ C l i e n t \ D r o p b o x . e x e , - 2 3 0 1
Edit:
-for anyone stumbling onto this one-
There is no solution, dropbox support is unable to reproduce the issue (using windows built-in file manager does not show the file!).
There's also no promise of any solution, ever. This is what you get you bloody miserable user for paying for this product.
Best Option: use another product.
TC does not create any garbage files - it's the native Windows Explorer that does it, when you open a folder and either pre-configured to save the view or do so manually.
However; today morning as I turned the computer on, the issue is gone. So at least for now, this is solved, thanks for the help, mate!
p.s. Dropbox still creates these files, but now my regular delete batch file keeps them at bay; they don't come back instantly.
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hi ysu - welcome to our Community and sorry this had to be your first post here.
I'll have to admit, this seems rather strange. I'll be glad to look into it!
As it sounds like the desktop app is acting up, I'd like you to try re-installing first. Maybe that will do the trick.
If it doesn't help improve the app's behavior, please let me know and -if possible- provide me with a screenshot of where you've spotted these files and under which circumstances you notice them populate your Dropbox folder so I can have a visual too.
Thanks!
Actually the first thing I did was to reinstall with the latest, and it did not do anything.
These files are appearing;- in the main dropbox directory
- in all sub-directories from dropbox main
As I look at it; any depth as long as said directory is shared with someone directly (i.e. a sharing rule exists on the folder)
Thanks for looking into it!
p.s. Visually there's not much to look at; a file in TotalCommander, titled 'desktop.ini' that now reappears immediately after delete (as I wrote earlier; this used to keep its state until the next drobox restart)
Anyway, this is one such file:
And TBH I'd prefer if I could completely disable this behaviour; but maybe dropbox' file access method is what's creating them (using some explorer object?) no idea, just musing here.- Walter
Thanks for the additional information ysu; I appreciate it!
As I see you're using an alternative file explorer (i.e. TotalCommander), could you let me know if you notice the same behavior when using Window's native File Explorer?
In that case, I'd really like to look into it so let me know if you'd like me to reach out via your Dropbox email address to get an account and device specific view of the matter.
Thanks again!
