Dropbox app on Windows 11 intermittently hangs.

Had another hang overnight and none of the photos I took this morning uploaded until after I killed and restarted Dropbox.  My computer was very busy overnight with a new local backup (transferred 12GB in files over USB v3.2).  Before I killed the process tree, I took a screen shot in the task manager and found that the process was suspended (see image). I could not get the processes to resume by clicking on the stop icon, nor by right-clicking on the individual processes.

I think that might be an interesting data point. I can't imagine that Dropbox would have been doing anything overnight in the background.  The only other processes that were suspended in a similar way was the "Windows Shell Experience Host" and "Windows Default Lock Screen".   

I don't remember seeing this the other times that I had to kill and restart Dropbox, but maybe this is something added with Windows 11 24H2, which I recently installed.

Before I killed the processes, I opened the Dropbox folder. All folders were fine and speedy except the "Camera Uploads" folder, which refused to open in Windows Explorer. It was empty and Windows spun trying to display it.  Restarting Dropbox fixed it.

I doubt any of this is enough to find a solution, so I'll keep monitoring. However, it may be related to my computer getting really busy overnight, running backups.

Thanks for letting us know about this and please keep us in the loop if anything changes in the future InvaderZim 

Here's an update: it was hung again this morning. I rebooted and when Dropbox was starting, it displayed the message in the photo: "To sync this file, give DropBox permission to access it". 

My wife took a photo this morning with the DropBox app on her iPhone, which was logged into our shared Dropbox account. The photo was automatically downloaded by Dropbox into the DropBox folder on my computer, and then apparently, Dropbox couldn't access the photo it downloaded, either before or after I rebooted the machine.  The dialog box appeared after the reboot when the frozen Dropbox app restarted.

After clicking on the "issue', I told it to "fix the problem" using the button and it worked for 2-3 minutes before finally declaring victory.  

I don't understand how Dropbox could download a file and then not be able to access the file. I do use Windows Defender and I suppose it could have locked and scanned the photo after it appeared, making Dropbox time out. That doesn't explain why Dropbox spent so long "fixing" the entire Dropbox folder, though. I have not messed with permissions on my computer.

The dropbox folder is in my home directory and is not itself inside any other folder that's backed up to the cloud. The Dropbox folder is, however, backed up by Crashplan, a true cloud backup service that backs up my entire computer. But so is OneDrive, iCloud photos, etc. It is also locally backed up by Macrium Reflect to an external DAS drive. None of these should be problems, nor do they change file/folder permissions.

I'll keep watching the DropBox app -- maybe this will finally fix the problem with the Dropbox app intermittently hanging.

Hi Megan:

My file explorer is not slow when opening files in the Dropbox folder. The problem is that I cannot even quit Dropbox because the tray icon does not respond to clicks when Dropbox hangs. I have to kill all Dropbox processes with Process Explorer, then restart the Dropbox app with the Start menu.

I have other apps syncing to my computer. I suspect everyone does. Since Dropbox only hangs intermittently, stopping other synchronization processes won't really prove anything as Dropbox might have worked even if running properly. None of the other synchronization processes hang on me -- only Dropbox.  And it's only every day or two.  It's been up for 36 hours and hasn't hung as of right now.

I do have a local admin, but again, running Dropbox there is not helpful as the problem is very intermittent. I brought it up here hoping that others might have also experienced this Dropbox hang, and to bring it to your attention. 

I'll update this thread if I figure anything out. I do think the hangs might be related to using the Dropbox mobile app on my iPhone and I haven't done that today. If I take some photos with it tomorrow and find it hung, that might be a clue.

Hey InvaderZim​, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If you quit the Dropbox desktop application entirely, is your File Explorer still slow when opening folders within the Dropbox folder itself?

You also mentioned that you happen to use a few 3rd party apps that might be monitoring, backing up or syncing your files running on your computer. Can you try to disable them one by one -and especially iCloud- and notice the behavior of Dropbox once you do? Does it improve at all?

Open iCloud Settings (search “iCloud” in the Start menu)
Open iCloud Photos settings.
Toggle Upload and Store… to Off, then select Done.
Select Delete from PC (you’ll re-enable Photos later).
Wait until iCloud shows iCloud Photos is Off.
Check if Dropbox folders now load normally.

If you don't mind, you could also try creating a new OS profile on your computer and trying to install and run the Dropbox desktop app there. 

Keep us posted!