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Forum Discussion
Computer backup "can't backup without permissions" error for Documents folder. How can I fix this?
I'm trying to have DB back up my documents folder, but it keeps saying "cant backup without permission". Ive already set it to read and write for all users. How do I fix this?
I have the same problem. I've run the commands in Terminal shown in the linked page (linked from the Dropbox app when you get the error), I've allowed Full Disk Permissions for Dropbox and run Disk First Aid. I've rebooted repeatedly. No change. The error persists.
MacBook Pro 2015, 15", MacOS 10.15.7
Daphne
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorThanks for joining us here dominicperry!
Since you've checked most of the relevant steps there, I've reached out to the email linked with your profile here so that we can look into this alongside some device specific info.
When you have the time, please check your inbox for my message and get back to me there - cheers!
I had this problem and went through the troubleshoot without success.
I went to the folders in question (documents and music in my case) and there I could see a alias folder created by Dropbox and then I could see the files and/or folders that could not be synced. I manually dragged the to the dropbox alias and input my Admin password when prompted.
I was then able to go back to the Dropbox app and select the folders again and press save and everything went OK after that.
Hope this helps someone out there.
I too am having this issue with permissions and have tried the Help article's command lines in terminal. In my instance, the Dropbox folder is not located in the standard /Dropbox location, so I replaced ~/Dropbox with my my file location. This led to the following set of command lines:
sudo chflags -R nouchg "/Users/myname/Dropbox (CATCH Global)" ~/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-master
sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"
sudo chown -R "$USER" "/Users/myname/Dropbox (CATCH Global)" ~/.dropbox
sudo chmod -RN ~/.dropbox "/Users/myname/Dropbox (CATCH Global)"
chmod -R u+rw "/Users/myname/Dropbox (CATCH Global)" ~/.dropbox
After running the first command line, I get the following error:
chflags: /Users/myname/.dropbox ~/.dropbox-master: No such file or directory
Am I entering this incorrectly? I have tried all other steps also listed in this help article, to no avail.
- JayHi BrooksB, if you're getting that error, then it means those two folders don't exist in that location. Are you certain you've entered the 'nyname' portion correctly, exactly as it appears in the hard drive location?
What happens if you continue with the rest of the steps?
