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"Dropbox needs to change permissions" message on startup
Lately, every time I start my Mac (OS 10.14.6) I get a message that reads (in full):
"Dropbox needs to change permissions for the Folder: /Users/[name]/Dropbox
Enter your password to allow this"
(I would attach a screenshot here but I can't figure out how.)
I enter the password and all is well, but it happens Every. Single. Time. I start my computer. After checking here for ideas, I checked for symlinks (there are none) and reinstalled Dropbox (so I am now running the latest version), but that has not helped at all. What now?
Hi Rachel R.2,
Can you try following commands in terminal:
sudo chflags -R noschg "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" sudo chflags -R nouchg "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" sudo chown -R "$USER" "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" chmod -R u+rw "/Users/$USER/Dropbox"
Will be asked for your password (sudo).
Hope this helps. :wink:
58 Replies
- Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Hey there Rachel R.2,
Welcome to the Dropbox Community! Let's see what we can find here.
As a first step, could you let me know if you get a hyperlink when you see the error message pop up? If you do, could you please click on it and post the log that you get?
Thanks in advance!
Hi, Lusil!
No, there is no link, just the location of my desktop Dropbox folder. If you tell me how to add a screenshot, I can do that.
- Lusil
If you can attach a screenshot in your reply, that would be very helpful! :grinning:
Thanks in advance, Rachel R.2!
- I would be happy to if you would tell me how to do that!
(If that worked, I figured it out. :) )
Hi Rachel R.2,
Can you try following commands in terminal:
sudo chflags -R noschg "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" sudo chflags -R nouchg "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" sudo chown -R "$USER" "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" chmod -R u+rw "/Users/$USER/Dropbox"
Will be asked for your password (sudo).
Hope this helps. :wink:
All at once or one at a time?
Line by line. Every line is one command.
Done--and thank you! I restarted, and it didn't ask for my password, so hopefully the problem is now solved.
I am having the same issue, but unrelated to restarts. About every week, Dropbox presents the message like in Rachel's screenshot, and starts synching 15K+ files, even though none of them changed. It takes several days and completely kills my buttery.
I have run the following command and do not have any hyperlinks:
find "/Users/mjulia/Dropbox (Personal)" -type l -exec ls -lah {} \;
I've also applied the instructions above. Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Julia
