Dropbox doesn't start at startup in Windows 10. Tried reboot. No luck. It's been doing thos for some time and sometimes it does start. But not the last couple of days. Not listed in services but in Task Manager -> Services but can't be stopped. Thought I'd restart it, but... Does not show up in Notification area. What to do?

This was happening to me, but I finally found a solution after trying removing and reinstalling, and starting as administrator, neither of which worked.In Win10 I went to Windows' "Startup Apps" setting, and lo and behold DropBox was set to "off". I set it to "on", and all is well.

Dropbox fails to start with Windows 10

Norah
Dropbox Staff
7 years ago

Hi bamsematt, welcome to Dropbox Community!

In this case, I would suggest you to reinstall the Dropbox software you have currently installed on your computer.

First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder and follow the steps below:

1) Stop Dropbox (If needed):

Click the Dropbox icon in the system tray at the bottom of your screen.

Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select "Quit Dropbox".

2) Uninstall Dropbox:

Keep in mind that if Dropbox was installed by a Windows administrator in Program Files, you will need admin permissions to remove the application.

Click on the Start button on the bottom left of your screen, and select "Control Panel" (7), or type Control Panel at the Start screen or start menu, and click on it (10, 8).

Click "Uninstall a Program".

Select Dropbox from the list of programs and click "Uninstall".

3) When the uninstall finishes, reboot your computer. This will make sure the uninstall is complete and then Download and install the newest version of Dropbox here.

Let me know if this helps!
- taavi511
  Helpful | Level 5
  7 years ago
  I have exactly the same problem, only dropbox shows on notification area. it says starting and after some time starting it just dissapares, I have uninstalled dropbox and installed it agan several times, but still no luck
  - ebernardino
    Explorer | Level 4
    7 years ago
    Yes. This happens to me. Support responded me saying that there was nothing they could do and cancelled my subscription. For some reason I uninstalled Dropbox yesterday all over and started over. Worked again. I had to pause the sync for half a day and when I started again, same problem. The crashing.
occamman
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
This was happening to me, but I finally found a solution after trying removing and reinstalling, and starting as administrator, neither of which worked.
In Win10 I went to Windows' "Startup Apps" setting, and lo and behold DropBox was set to "off". I set it to "on", and all is well.
- taavi511
  Helpful | Level 5
  7 years ago
  I have it enabled, windows is tring to load dreopbox, but dropbox does not load itself working, says that is starting and just cloese itself after a little while, there is no crash information or any other report about it and it is in two sepparate computers now.
  - Lusil
    Dropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hi there, taavi511!
    
    Could you please send me a screenshot (omitting any personal info) of what the Dropbox icon that’s next to your desktop’s clock reads when you hover over it? Maybe a reboot of your computer might do the trick?
    
    Let me know of any updates! :upside_down:
- arthurlr
  New member | Level 2
  7 years ago
  Great, thanks - that solved it for me!
  - Will-E-Mammoth
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago
    I struggled with all of the above solutions but created my own.
    
    Windows stopped showing DB as an app in any of its lists. My solution is to get the app back in the startup apps list, by pasting the shortcut to the app in the following location:
    
    C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
    aka
    %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
    
    This adds DB to the startup list, then you can enable it.
    
    Hope this helps anyone stuck with this issues. Windows is always trying to shoulder competition out.
- graphicport
  Explorer | Level 4
  6 years ago
  I Never think to look there. Gets me too often. THANKS!
antodi
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
I had the same problem on Win10, although everything was fine few weeks before. I don't know what happened.
I solved it without reinstalling Dropbox. What I did was to add Dropbox to the startup routine of the computer using this protocol:
https://www.wintips.org/how-to-add-a-program-at-windows-10-startup/
Simply type shell:startup in the command box. Then, instead of moving the program in the startup folder, just create a shortcut to the Dropbox program. For me it was: C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe
Restart your computer and see the magic happen! You should also see Dropbox among your startup apps in the task manager.