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There's a .canary file causing syncing issues on my Dropbox app.
Hey all! My local backup software failed out yesterday - it reported that there was a file in use in Dropbox. I poked around and found that ".canary" in my Dropbox cache was marked with the syncing icon (round blue arrows). There was also a file "canary.enabled", but that one seemed to be static.
When I delete the ".canary" file, it simply reappears. This file doesn't show up on my online account (natch).
I can see it on my two linked computers, my desktop (Win 11) and laptop (Win 10). Both are running app version 214.3.5104. I have a basic (free) account.
Anyone know what's going on with this canary file? Why can't I delete it? Where did it come from? I'd like to clear it so my local backup will run, but I'm also concerned that this might indicate a security issue, as I have no idea where this file came from.
Thanks for anything you can offer!
This problem, the canary file and folder can't be backed up because they're not accessible ... Has anyone come up with a simple effective solution to this problem.
You should be excluding the .dropbox.cache folder from your backups. There's no reason to back up this folder. It's a cache folder and contains no data that would be useful in the event of a restore.
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I hope this thread is still active... I'm experiencing the same problem as the original poster. The one-byte .canary file is causing a warning when I do a backup, presumably because it can't be copied. When I try to copy it to my desktop I get error 0x80070185 "the cloud operation was unsuccessful".
I'd respectfully argue with the contention that Dropbox didn't put the .canary file in .dropbox.cache. My observations:
- I deleted the .dropbox.cache folder and then manually disabled the Dropbox services. The folder stayed deleted for several days, and I received no warnings when doing a backup. The next time I restarted the computer, which turned the services back on, the folder, including .canary, came back immediately.
- I then deleted the folder again, and went through the "advanced reinstallation" procedure described above. The folder came back immediately. All the files in the folder have the exact same "date modified".
- In both cases, the .canary file shows the same "sync pending" status it had before. It shows Windows file attributes ALOPUM; I'm not sure what some of these mean.
If that file is coming from somewhere other than Dropbox, then it is pretty certain that Dropbox is copying it to this location. What would cause that?
Thanks for the help.
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
We can't really know what program this could be coming from, or if it's coming from your computer's OS directly, but you can try quitting or disabling any 3rd party apps that are running on your computer to see if they're somehow causing this file to show up.
You can start with security or backup/syncing apps and take it from there WokeDucks
Keep us posted!
Hi Jay,
Thanks for your reply.
Is my guess correct that these canary-files don't harm the functionability of dropbox?
I cannot trace the origin of the program that creates the canary-files by the way.
Do you have an idea what program does this, or could it be related to Win10?- Jay
You can re-enable the updates in the services panel. If this doesn't work, you can try manually reinstalling the Dropbox desktop application using this link.
Regarding the canary file, it's possible that it might appear again, as it is created by another program unrelated to Dropbox.
Hi Jay,
I will trie to re-frase my last/former reply:
The only way to avoid the 'canary-issue' was, after installing the stable version, by disabling the update-feature
Thanks for reminding me the negative consequences of this would be unknown, and entirely at my own risk...
This however does not solve the current problem.
What should I do to reinstate the update-feature?
What happens with the stable version after an update?
Will the 'canary-problem' reappear by leaving that stable version?
Hope you can give me some advise what to do best...When I install dropbox with the update-feature failures (what this is all about) are included since the last "update"...
How do I know when a newer version doesn't have this issues?
But what is better: Do you have a method/solution for me how these failure can be avoided now?- Jay
If there are any security updates to the Dropbox desktop application, or new versions with new features, your app might no longer function correctly as it would be running an older version when compared to the live version.
The negative consequences of this would be unknown, and entirely at your own risk.
Hi Jay,
What about the fact that I disabled "updates".
What (negative) consequences are there and how should I handle that?Hi Nancy,
Ït took me several hours to complete (exactly in conformity of the instructions) the advanced re-install...
Rather disappointing to see the 'pending' .canary-file came back...
I repeated the complete procedure, but when entering my account I cancelled the option for updates...
And now it is OK; No canary_enabled-file and no 'pending' .canary-file.I guess that canceling updates is not recommended.
What should I do:
Leave it like it is now?
Or should I change something in "Services"?
What is left in Services:
