Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
"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
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
I'm having this issue and have tried the offered solutions with no success.
For months, each time I launched Path Finder the first time after a reboot, I'd get the Dropbox "permissions" message once, sometimes twice (immediately after supplying my Mac password for the first message).
I'm on Catalina.
This seems to have fixed it for me.
Thank you!
- Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for keeping us in the loop, frederick L.1 - glad to hear that you were able to resolve your concern.
JosefC, could you let me know if you've checked for any computer updates that you have pending?
Could you also confirm if you're running the latest stable version of the desktop app (101.4.434)?
Keep us posted!
Hi,
Confirmed - running latest stable DB and have no updates pending.
The situation is ongoing.
I am loathe to do a full removal and re-installation, mostly because I'm uncertain about the consequences on my files/links.
Did the full pro reinstall. We'll see whether it fixed the issue...
OK, I'm officially losing my mind.
Followed all the instructions for the "advanced reinstall" to the letter.
After a few hours all seemed well, thousands of files synced (though there was actually nothing changed on the cloud or locally).
Shut down.
This morning, my team asked me to check files and I couldn't find them. No DB syncing taking place.
No icon in the top menu. No Dropbox app in the application folder.
I have now done a second "advanced reinstall." 150000+ files are now "syncing" again. And there is STILL no Dropbox APP in my Applications folder!
I'm on my 3rd reinstall now, also having followed instructions for further Terminal commands here:
I'm also experiencing the issue mentioned in that thread:
And when I go to eject the Dropbox Installer in finder before quitting dropbox from my top menu, I am unable to eject it and get The disk "Dropbox Installer" wasn't ejected because one or more programs may be using it, and then saying cancel or force eject. So I cancel, and quit Dropbox from the top menu, and I am able to properly eject the Dropbox Installer. Leaving me with no way to open that version of dropbox because it's not actually installed!
DROPBOX is still not installed as an APP in my applications folder.
yes, of course (to both)
