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Couldn't Start Dropbox - macOS Monterey
After installing the new macOS Monterey I am getting the below error
Couldn't start Dropbox
This is usually because of a permissions error. Storing your home folder on a network share can also cause an error. For more information, click the help button below.
I tried to remove dropbox using instructions on the website and re-install using advance install and still see the error.
bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 133.4.4089
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 51
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 523bf589-eb29-56d6-9beb-1631aa56ce2b
pid: 1077
ppid: 1
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='amirnathoo', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Amirali Nathoo', pw_dir='/Users/amirnathoo', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='amirnathoo', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Amirali Nathoo', pw_dir='/Users/amirnathoo', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/amirnathoo'
appdata: '/Users/amirnathoo/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/amirnathoo/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/amirnathoo/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/amirnathoo/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/xq/rpxg71x17dj4ylbw_svqhdjc0000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/xq/rpxg71x17dj4ylbw_svqhdjc0000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 808, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6497, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 307, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6030, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5954, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 226, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 280, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 222, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 152, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 217, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 587, in _init_new_engine_locked
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 185, in __init__
File "desktop/extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> fchflags syscall: _set_hidden |>> Permission denied"
please assist
Hi everyone, with the macOS Monterey update (macOS 12.0 and above), some stricter permissions have been enforced by Apple which have probably led to the issue you are experiencing.
The following steps should help to resolve this behavior:
- Click on the Apple icon in the top left hand corner of your screen
- Select "System Preferences..."
- Then "Security & Privacy"
- Select the Privacy tab
- Select "Full Disk Access"
- Under Dropbox, ensure that all the folders are checked. (To make changes, you will need to click on the lock icon, and enter your macOS password)
- Repeat these steps under 'Files and Folders' and 'Accessibility'
- Once you've completed this, please attempt to restart the Dropbox desktop app
If need be, a reboot of the Mac itself would also help.
91 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi Sandbox Studio, let's see what we can find on this!
Can you please run the following command through your Mac's terminal app?
sudo mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old
Please note that once the prompt displays, the instruction completes the requested task. If the command returns an error, or does not respond after an hour, you may want to try restarting your computer and trying this step again.
From there, restart Dropbox from the Application folder and then sign in and apply any Selective Sync settings you may have had prior to this reset during the sign in process. Your account will take a few moments to reindex the files and sync any pending changes.
Keep me posted. thanks for your reply, I tried this but unable to run on our default mac user account as this is set as a guest user, I then logged in with admin and get the following message:
Last login: Sat Mar 19 14:33:16 on console
Sandbox-MacPro-Studio:~ admin$ sudo mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old
Password:
mv: rename /Users/admin/.dropbox to /Users/admin/.Trash/dropbox.old: No such file or directory
Sandbox-MacPro-Studio:~ admin$
- JayHi Sandbox Studio, the command was meant to be used assuming you were able to login to that Mac account.
The error message is correct, since you don't have a Dropbox folder on the admin account. Try using the following command:
sudo mv "/Users/benni/.dropbox" ~/.Trash/dropbox.old Thanks very much, we resolved this by making the guest user an admin, we were then able to run the command and install the new dropbox. All is working fine now 🙂
Thanks for providding the commands and instructions!
Kind regards, Benni
- JayGlad to hear it's working now. Enjoy your week!
Wow… That was great. I've been waiting since first installing Monterey for that to work, and finally.
I think you are missing the point, we can't INSTALL dropbox, so can't add it to the full disk access thing....? wth? dropbox is ALL I needed to upgrade for and now you have eaten all my poems. hmmmmmph.
Got the same error message following a restart (Dropbox beta having worked satisfactorily up to that point). Followed instructions for allowing Full Disk Access, which seemed to fix the issue. Begs the question as to what was happening to disk access before the restart.
Hello Group,
I am trying to install Dropbox for the first time on an M2 2022 Macbook Pro 13 inch and cannot even open the disk image (*.dmg file)
Any help would be appreciated!- Nancy
Thanks for posting on the forum, sophiahirakis!
Do you receive any errors when trying to open the .dmg file? Any screenshots you can provide are greatly appreciated.
