Dropbox stuck on "Starting..." on Windows Server 2016

Thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community, AZI_doum.

To be honest, Windows Server operating systems are not a supported environment for the Dropbox application.

However, let's see if there's something we can find.

Was the Dropbox application working as expected before or is this the first time you're trying to use Dropbox on that computer?

And do you have any security software that could be interfering?

Let us know.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I know it's not supported on Windows Server, but up to last year, it was working fine on this one. It also still works very well on a freshly installed version of 2016 on another server. As a fact, it's only drawback is the space used on a server when all users have their own instance running. We have to keep the files online. Other then that, Dropbox runs A-1 for everybody on the server, with rare issues usually relatively easy to fix.

Yes, I tested with the security solution disabled and the issue occurred anyway. I then restarted it and added Dropbox.exe and DropboxUpdate.exe in it's exceptions.

I checked in the event viewer and saw nothing special that seemed related to Dropbox. I tried also to disable syncs because the app eventually offered to do it, but there is no connexion made yet anyway, and it didn't work either.

Is there any way to trace what it tries to reach, like we can do for Outlook for example?

There are a couple of reasons why this might be happening, but we can't be 100% sure, since it's a server.

Could it be that there are more than 300K files in the Dropbox folder?

Hi, thanks for your reply. No Dropbox is not connected from the start.

Hey AZI_doum - sorry to jump in here, but can you confirm that only one user account accesses the given Dropbox folder and that this folder is located on the main drive of your computer or on a drive that's physically connected to the computer?

Are you running Dropbox as a regular app or a service by the way?

Also note that your setup is not currently supported as Hannah mentioned so we might not be able to assist further. 

In any case, do keep us posted! 

> can you confirm that only one user account accesses the given Dropbox folder and that this folder is located on the main drive of your computer or on a drive that's physically connected to the computer

Yes to all of your questions. Dropbox runs autonomously as the user with its own Dropbox folder. It's also presently alone on the server for that user. The Dropbox folder still doesn't exist as Dropbox never got there. So, in a way, it's presently setup like for a regular Windows.

Does the Dropbox app leave some logs somewhere to tell where it's stuck? My guess is that it doesn't see the network at all, even though it's up. But we're getting no logs whatsoever.

Thanks for the additional information AZI_doum - much appreciated.

Would it be OK if we sent you an email to have a further look internally at this point? 

Sure, any period on the beginning of next week would be ok for me, at your convenience.

Sure thing AZI_doum - you've got

Whenever you get the chance, please have a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

Hi, I can't access that ticket to view the reply: 

Ticket #23763378: Dropbox Community Support - Follow Up
Hi,

This is an automated response to your Dropbox support request.

There’s an update on your support ticket from Shane, the agent working with you on your support request.

You can view it by logging in to your customer portal at https://dropbox.com/support.
Please be sure to log-in with your Dropbox credentials associated with the email address on this ticket.
If we don’t hear from you in the next few days, your support request will be closed. You can reopen it at any time.

Thanks,
Dropbox Support