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Skawt's avatar
Skawt
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Run Dropbox as Service, without being logged on

I have been scouring the internet for how to setup Dropbox to run on Windows Server 2012 R2 as a service.  I have seen tutorials for 3rd party applications that will start it on boot and allow sync, ...
desktop
sync
windows
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
7 years ago
Hi there, the Dropbox desktop application can’t be run as a service on a server, without the assistance of a third party app.
 
It does need to be run within the computer profile, which needs to be signed in consistently for the files to sync.
 
I’m sure that there are some other users on the forum that might be able to provide a solution of their own!
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    7 years ago

    Last I saw, even when installed normally (not as a service), the Dropbox app wasn't running correctly on server-based Windows operating systems. It used to work, but I believe some application dependencies changed which aren't part of the more modern server operating systems, and that broke Dropbox on those systems.

    Maybe something has changed since then, but I've been under the impression that Dropbox simply won't run on Server 2012 or newer any longer.

    • GRS-Vin's avatar
      GRS-Vin
      Explorer | Level 4
      7 years ago

      Works fine on my 2012 and 2016 servers.

      I have been using "Always-up" by coretechnologies for a number of years to run our Dropbox as a service.

  • Sam242's avatar
    Sam242
    Explorer | Level 4
    7 years ago

    Why doesn't DropBox make a version that can run as a service? I too have managed to hack it to work but why not atually make this an official feature? It would be a brilliant addition.

    • Rich's avatar
      Rich
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
      7 years ago
      Sam242 wrote:

      Why doesn't DropBox make a version that can run as a service?

      Because Dropbox has never intended for it to be used in that manner. It has always been meant as an application for one individual; not run as a service or be installed on server-based operating systems. Can it be done? Sure, but it's not on Dropbox to provide a built-in option when it's not meant to be run in that manner.

      • GRS-Vin's avatar
        GRS-Vin
        Explorer | Level 4
        7 years ago

        I have been using Always-Up on Server 2008 - 2016 for years without issue. There was a time when DB went from installing in the user profile to installing it in Program Files for all user access and the software did not work as a service but the Always Up team addressed that in hours.

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