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Please stop Dropbox from automatically creating User folder in C:\Users
Hello,
I have just changed my Windows 8.1 username and User folder, but every time dropbox launches, it keeps creating a User folder with my old username in the C:\Users folder. How can I stop dropbox from making said folder, or at least rename it or merge it with my new/current username?
Note: This may be in the wrong category, but it's not very clear, to me, which category this issue falls under. If you know which, please alert me of this as well, and/or if you have the rights to move a post, please move my post to the correct category, if this isn't.
Edit: It worked to rename it, but when dropbox launched, again, it created a new folder, with my old username. This indicates to me that my old username is registered somewhere in dropbox and that it's going to keep creating this folder till I change that registry/information to my new username. If this is possible, I would appreciate being told how.
Edit 2: To specify, it is when the dropbox application, Dropbox Setup, launches it happens. I can delete this new folder with my old username just fine after I've "exited" the Dropbox application, but when this application starts, the old username C:\User folder is created. I also attempted to edit the name of said folder to "Dropbox essential files". It's there but it still repeats said behaviour of creating new folders. In short, all I want is to be able to permanently change the name of the new folder with the old username and stop dropbox from making new folders of my old username or change the information, somehow, so that if it absolutely has to maintain that specific folder, it uses my new username.
Edit 3: As it turns out, those new folders being created is apparently a new attempt to link my dropbox to a "new" device even though it is the exact same one, so on my account page for linked devices when I just looked it was full of my device, that is, several entries of my device, this one device, have been created as links to dropbox. This, naturally, creates a mess from how many links, however, because it is this/my device, I can't just unlink it so I'm stuck with several links of the same device, unless it's "safe" to unlink them, but I wouldn't be doing that till I've got confirmation that it is in fact safe to do so, so if you know if it is, please tell me as soon as you can so I can attempt to sort it out.
Thanks in advance,
Martin
- Dropbox settings are stored in an encrypted database. They cannot be changed manually.
The behavior you experienced is expected (with many applications, actually) because when installed, they all have references to the previous path for their support files in your profile. Simply renaming your account and home folder does not update those references, so many applications will continue to look in the previous locations. The solution for this is usually to do a full removal of the affected application and a fresh reinstall (a normal uninstall may leave those old references in place, so ALL files for the app should be removed manually after an uninstall).
For Dropbox, you don't need to delete your data folder, and during a reinstall you can point to it so you don't have to re-download all your files.
3 Replies
- Mark
Super User II
I think you'll need to use the Dropbox preferences to move the Dropbox folder location to the new username. Thanks for your suggestion. You might be right. I looked at Dropbox preferences, however, it has no immediately clear option, to me, to change the C:\User. What your suggestion did let me accomplish however was unlinking all the unncessary devices (of this said same device), change synced files and folders as well as stopping Dropbox from starting on system startup so that I at least have more control over when it will be repeating this behaviour, so you helped, thank you.
As a side note I've noticed that my antivirus, Avast antivirus has the same or similar behaviour, as it too insists on making new folders with the old username in C:\User. In its case it keeps making a "temp" folder indicating its only temporary. I looked and there were no files inside the folder, so that was a bit odd. In Dropbox's case it looks like its a permanent folder that's neccesary for Dropbox linking to work in the first place. As a result I have a feeling there's a setting somewhere, or a text document that has this information registered, in which case the answear to the issue would be finding out where said document would be. I did make a support ticket as well for this reason. Thanks again.
- RichDropbox settings are stored in an encrypted database. They cannot be changed manually.
The behavior you experienced is expected (with many applications, actually) because when installed, they all have references to the previous path for their support files in your profile. Simply renaming your account and home folder does not update those references, so many applications will continue to look in the previous locations. The solution for this is usually to do a full removal of the affected application and a fresh reinstall (a normal uninstall may leave those old references in place, so ALL files for the app should be removed manually after an uninstall).
For Dropbox, you don't need to delete your data folder, and during a reinstall you can point to it so you don't have to re-download all your files.
