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Jerald E.'s avatar
Jerald E.
New member | Level 2
10 years ago
Solved

Dropbox has two entries in my PC Startup - Why?

Some of my computers have two startup entries for dropbox.  If you open Task Manager - Startup, there are two things using PC resources at startup.  The first one appears as "Dropbox (3)."  That is the one I am used to seeing, which should run at Startup.  But the other is "Dropbox Update (4)." Why is this second thing in my PC startup?  I have the same Dropbox installed on several computers.  None of the desktop computers have this "Dropbox Update" running in the computer startup processes.  But all three of my laptop computers have both Dropbox entries running at startup.  Why?  I would like to eliminate unnecessary startup processes to help computer performance.  Why would laptops have this extra startup for Dropbox Update?

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  • gaspeer's avatar
    gaspeer
    9 years ago

    I received this support response to my support ticket last month. I didn't think to post it here, although I think I alerted the support person who sent me this answer of this forum discussion and thought he might share this information. Short answer to these questions regarding multiple Dropbox instances -- it's normal. Longer answer, I will cut and paste this information from Dropbox support:

     

    Frank, Aug 8, 6:54 AM PDT:

    Hi Garold,

    Thank you for contacting Dropbox!

    I can confirm that it is expected to see multiple Dropbox processes in task manager when Dropbox is running. The Dropbox application needs these additional components to monitor that everything is running correctly and that the desktop application is always healthy and up to date. The additional processes should consume a negligible amount of CPU and memory resources. If they are causing any performance issues on your computer please let me know.

    Thank you for reaching out with this query, I hope this helps.

    Regards,
    Frank

     

    Hope that support info will be helpful to others finding this discussion!

    Gary

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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago
    Hey @kdb & all, 
     
    I'm just updating this thread with the possible cause, as well as the resolution that was suggested. 
     
    It's possible that an invalid registry key was causing more than one processes to load during startup. To resolve that, I’d suggest a full re-installation of the software. Please follow the steps below: 
     
    #1. Quit Dropbox by clicking on the Dropbox icon on your system tray, then click on the gear icon and select "Quit Dropbox".
     
    #2. Uninstall Dropbox:
     
    #3. When the uninstall finishes, please restart your computer to ensure that the uninstall is complete.
     
    #4. After this, please proceed to delete remaining registry entries:
     
    a) Click the Start button. Type REGEDIT in the search box and press Enter.
     
    b) In the Registry Editor, navigate into the following locations until you find the keys for "Dropbox" and "DropboxUpdate", they will be in either or both of the following two locations:
     
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
     
    c) In both or either of these folders, please delete only the "Dropbox" and "DropboxUpdate" folders by right-clicking on the individual folders and selecting "Delete".
     
    #5. Then, please delete the Dropbox remaining folders:
     
    a) Open a Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer). 
     
    b) Type %LOCALAPPDATA% into the address bar (include the % percent signs) and press enter. 
     
    c) Delete the folder "Dropbox" from the resulting window. 
     
    d) Please repeat these steps with the following folders as well (it's OK if you don't find a Dropbox folder in any of those locations): 
     
    %APPDATA% 
    %PROGRAMFILES% 
    %PROGRAMFILES(x86)% 
    e) Then restart your system.
     
    Please note that deleting any of these folders will not delete the files in your Dropbox folder.
     
    #6. Download the newest version of Dropbox and double click on the downloaded file 
     
    #7. During the initial setup and sign in process apply any Selective Sync settings you may have had prior to the reinstall and select the Dropbox folder location (if not in the default location).
     
    IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this process removes the previous settings and configuration, if you wish to avoid re-downloading your Dropbox content you will need to manually choose the location for Dropbox to sync to, otherwise you will create a new Dropbox folder and start to download your content again.
     
    At the end of this process, after clicking "Open my Dropbox folder", it might take some time to re-index the files and sync any pending changes. Please note that any changes made to the files in the Dropbox folder, the web interface or other linked devices while the folder was "off-line" may generate conflicted copies.
     
    Hope this is helpful to you, please let me know the results here! 
     
    Warm regards, 
    JaneA
  • troyerj's avatar
    troyerj
    Explorer | Level 4
    9 years ago

    I will actually be doing this tomorrow or over the weekend so I'll post the results then

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago

    Hey troyerj, 

     

    Please keep me updated on how this works for you! 

     

    Thanks, 

    JaneA

  • gaspeer's avatar
    gaspeer
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    Hi JaneA,

    I'm a longtime Dropbox user, and bought the "Pro" subscription a few months ago. I have about 120-140 gigs of data in my Dropbox.

    I was first aware of this "Dropbox-three-times-in-my-Startup" issue just a couple of months ago. Only the first of the three instances is a bona fide startup, with a button to "Enable/Disable." The other two instances are just there.

    I went carefully through your instructions above and after restarting my computer (an HP laptop -- a pretty low-end, bargain priced puter, but a new one nevertheless) it showed only the one instance in Startup.

    So -- it seems to have worked.

    BUT, alas, later this evening when I did a restart for some other software -- the three instances of Dropbox were right back!

    Gary
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago
    Hey @gaspeer, 
     
    Welcome to the Dropbox Community! 
     
    As per your description below: 
     
    after restarting my computer it showed only the one instance in Startup.
     
    So -- it seems to have worked.
     
    BUT, alas, later this evening when I did a restart for some other software -- the three instances of Dropbox were right back!
     
    Seems there was an update after rebooting, hence a new invalid registry key. :thinking:
     
    Could you please let me know what you can see once you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon on your system tray? If you’re seeing that you’re running the latest stable desktop version “30.4.22”, please let me know in your reply. 
     
    Thanks in advance, 
    JaneA
  • gaspeer's avatar
    gaspeer
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    @JaneA wrote:
    Hey @gaspeer, 
     
    Welcome to the Dropbox Community! 
     
    As per your description below: 
     
    after restarting my computer it showed only the one instance in Startup.
     
    So -- it seems to have worked.
     
    BUT, alas, later this evening when I did a restart for some other software -- the three instances of Dropbox were right back!
     
    Seems there was an update after rebooting, hence a new invalid registry key. :thinking:
     
    Could you please let me know what you can see once you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon on your system tray? If you’re seeing that you’re running the latest stable desktop version “30.4.22”, please let me know in your reply. 
     
    Thanks in advance, 
    JaneA

    Hey JaneA,

     

    I did the "icon hover" as per your instructions and it showed "31.3.23" as the version I'm running. I never sought out any version, simply downloaded the install file and installed Dropbox.

     

    1. Is there a way to get a particular version?

    2. Do I need to download and reinstall Dropbox using a particular version?

     

    Thanks. ("icon hover" sounds almost like some sort of new dance craze??)

     

    Gary

  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 years ago
    Hey Gary (gaspeer), 

    It appears that you’re running a beta build (xx.3.xx instead of xx.4.xx). So, this is what I suggest you do: 

     

     

     

      • if this is checked, then you automatically get the betas as they are released
    • now, go to this page to get our current stable build 30.4.22
      • here, I suggest downloading the offline installer to your computer, and then installing it
    • you don’t need to uninstall the beta first 
    Your desktop app will still automatically update, but only to stable releases! 

    Let me know how this goes.
    Thanks
     
    “Icon hover”? I like it! Around here, we like to do “the sync” :wink:
     
  • gaspeer's avatar
    gaspeer
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    Hey, Sanchez, thanks for your help!

    Yes, that "Include me on early releases" box was checked. I unchecked it.

    I just downloaded the offline installer for 30.4.22. I'll have time later this morning to make the change to that version and let you know how it goes.

    Indeed, "doin' the sync" is another all-time favorite. Where would we be without it!

    Gary
  • gaspeer's avatar
    gaspeer
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    Me again! OK, I installed 30.4.22, using the offline installer -- and I still have 4 instances of Dropbox when I look at the startup panel in Task Manager. The first is "Dropbox(3)" as it is listed and it's the only one of the four that has an "Enable/Disable" switch. The other three simply list "Dropbox" with no "Enable/Disable" switch.

    Other suggestions, anyone? I know so very little about the whole "wonderful" Windows nuts-and-bolts workings that I don't really know what to try next.

    Heck, for all I know those three "phantom" Dropbox listings may mean nothing or do nothing to drain resources or have any effect on how my little laptop performs??

    Gary
  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 years ago
    Hey gaspeer, thanks for the update. 

    If you’d like, write in to our support team here, and one of our agents can get this to the right specialist for some answers on these entries! 

    Cheers 

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