Dropbox is stuck syncing after an update, what can I do?

I am also using Boxifier app that has the option to prevent Dropbox updates. I have this switched on an using Dropbox 87.4.138. Still no fix or progress: endless "synching" message with no numbers, etc.

My Dropbox was stuck on Syncing since 14 Jan 2020. With the superb assistance of Dropbox livechat I now understand that the change in how Dropbox handles symlinks was the cause of my syncing being stuck.

I had the whole of the contents of my Windows 10 Desktop symlinked to Dropbox. Removing that symlink and Fix Hardlinks plus Fix Permissions resulted in my syncing to become unstuck. I now realise that any changes to my Desktop will no longer be backed up on Dropbox.

Alternatives to automatically backup folders that are outside Dropbox such as the Desktop that I am aware of are Boxifier and Windows 10 File History.

I posted in this thread originally (I think?) but it was moved to 'a more appropriate' thread which apparently has been marked as 'solved'.

My problem is certainly not solved.

I was experiencing a "Starting...", crash, restart, "Starting..." cycle with version 88.4.172.  I was advised to upgrade to 89.4.278 which I did.  Still the same cycle persisted.

Then I used the web settings to unlink the PC in question, uninstalled and reinstalled from scratch.  I setup a selective sync when logging in 'for the first time' and ultimately saw 'Syncing...'.  So I thought I'd give it some time and see what happens.  Well, after about 24 hours it crashed silently and restarted itself and I'm back to the dreaded 'Syncing...'.

It did, however, appear to sync a new file I copied to the DropBox directory on the affected PC.

It may be of interest that this is a Win10 x64 PC.  Another PC of mine running Win7 x64 appears to be working without any issues.

It may further be of interest that a few weeks ago I set a registry key to allow much longer filenames, i.e. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled has a value of 1.

For various reasons my development projects have deeply nested directories.  There are no symlinks though, I've run the suggested checks and there are no results.

Dear Trevor R.7:

Thank you for sharing your experience!

I am a Boxifier user. Are you saying that the latest version of Dropbox and Boxifier are no longer compatible?

This is strange, because I have been able to install Dropbox v 87.* release and it still is stuck on "syncing" without number for a week now on one of my two Boxifier computers.

I am just wondering where to turn: Dropbox or Boxifier

Thank you!

@Ronald H.

Boxifier works with Dropbox and is still a good solution.

Windows File History, which I was unaware of until today, is independent of Dropbox. I suspect that File History will be my primary method to automatically backup folders that are outside Dropbox.

Regarding your issue, have you checked that you don't have any symlinks that are causing your syncing to be stuck? Dropbox livechat will walk you through what to do.

Look into Syncovery as another alternative. It can also help as a stop gap to at least backup your files into Dropbox will this sync issue persists.