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Help! "Couldn't start Dropbox" error (Mac & Big Sur)
Dropbox won't start on my MacBook Air (13" 2018), with Big Sur 11.3.1.
Have uninstalled dropbox and reinstalled. Same error
Uninstalled again, advanced re-install. Same error
AFAIK, vanilla install, with dropbox folder in default location.
Used to work, but stopped when rebooted laptop after 11.3.1 upgrade
Help!
Error messages:
"Couldn't start dropbox"
"This is usually because of a permissions error. Storing your home folder on a network share can also cause this error."
Contents of error file:
"
bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 122.4.4867
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 48
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 664c1217-e060-5667-8990-51d38e73896b
pid: 815
ppid: 1
uid: 502
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='petercrow', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Peter Crow', pw_dir='/Users/petercrow', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='petercrow', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Peter Crow', pw_dir='/Users/petercrow', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 502
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_xcsbuildagent', '_serialnumberd', '_xcscredserver'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_xcsbuildagent', '_serialnumberd', '_xcscredserver'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/petercrow'
appdata: '/Users/petercrow/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/petercrow/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/petercrow/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/petercrow/Dropbox'
not found
parent mode=0o40777 uid=502 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/y5/nky42css7sbgmkskdqtx09q80000gp/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/y5/nky42css7sbgmkskdqtx09q80000gp/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 807, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6277, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6497, in on_fresh_link
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6534, in create_dropbox_folder
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1236, in safe_makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 223, in makedirs
PermissionError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Users/petercrow/Dropbox'
"
Ran these changes, but no different.
Tried once more, after double-checking firewall off.
uninstall DB
reboot
delete DB folders from local storage, and empty bin
reboot
search and delete every 'dropbox' named file in ~/library
reboot
advanced reinstall
reboot
logoff DB on webclient
reboot
start DB
login
accept all vanilla (recommended) options
and it started and seems to be sync-ing correctly.
Not sure what changed this time around, but DB seems to be working again.
Thanks for your help.
30 Replies
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I already tried this- twice. Same problem.
Sure. Send me your email. Any help figuring this out would be appreciated.
OK
After experiencing the ācould not startā problem with Big Sur, and fixing it, the problem resurfaced when upgrading to Monterey.
The solution, for us, was to
- Decommission the BitDefender anti-ransomware (one aspect of which prevents new software from running unless approved)
- Remove dropbox completely from the computer
- Reboot
- Do the advanced dropbox install
- Reboot
- Reinstate BitDefender
- āWhitelistā dropbox within BitDefender
- Reboot
All applications, including both BitDefender and dropbox started correctly, and they seem to be operating correctly too.
Hi- Any other thoughts? Still same error on DB desktop. Can access on my Laptop running Monterey. Still not working on my iMac running the same system.
Had the same problem. This worked for me. Did not have to reboot computer or reinstall anything.
Thank you so much- this step of selecting files and folders finally fixed my issue!
