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I can't disable the backup of my Mac
Hello community,
Please I need urgent help on this, I have mistakably done a backup of my Mac for Dropbox and I can't access my Desktop on my Mac anymore after doing this it says, "Desktop can't be opened because the original item can't be found" I tried to disable backup from the Adjust settings but I get an error saying "Coulnd't stop backup because My mac was renamed, deleted or moved" besides, I checked the available documents of my desktop in the online backup available in the dropbox website and many is missing!! basically because my storage is full, now how can restore my whole desktop without any missing files??
Hi there, israa_abuelezz, let's try something. Can you follow these steps?
Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray.
Click your profile picture or initials.
Click on Preferences.
Click the Accounts tab.
Press the "alt+H" keys and at the same time, click the "Reset OS folder locations" button.
Click Continue to proceed.
Keep me posted.
22 Replies
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- Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi israa_abuelezz, thanks for messaging the Community.
Could you clarify exactly how this happened? Did you enable the computer backup and allow it to complete, or were there any other actions taken in the Dropbox desktop application or on the machine before it was finished?
Is the backup visible on the site on this page?
Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!
Every Mac-beginner is strongly advised to make backups, preferably with Time Machine. So if you have a backup on your Time Machine, you can restore your Mac with it. This at least will bring back your desktop. Whether or not it will bring back all your desktop files depends on how recently this backup was made.
Hello Jay ,
Thanks for your reply. Fortunately, i restarted my Mac and i was able to see my Desktop files, now i want to stop backing up my folders to dropbox and remove the desktop application. I have signed out to stop syncing my files, but I think my Mac folders (Desktop, Downloads, and Documents) are still linked to the dropbox folder as the path for the Desktop, for example, is still under my dropbox folder (CDS dropbox) ( as shown in the "Desktop" info attached). And i believe it is still linked to dropbox as the original icon for desktop (e.g., the Desktop icon for a Mac laptop) is not restored, I still have the Desktop, Documents, and Downloads as folders (not as default Mac folder icons). How can i restore my Mac environment as it was before i set up the backup to dropbox? am I missing any additional step?
Thanks,
- Jay
Since the Dropbox folder has a specific name, most likely you're part of a Dropbox Business team as well.
You'd need to disable the computer backup feature if it is still enabled by following these steps.
Hello Jay
Thanks for your reply. I am unable to disable backup as i get prompt that the folders are not in default location as soon as i click on Manage backups. Please see the screenshot below.
Hello Jay
I pressed on cmd+shift+H to see the elements under my root username and this is what i got when i clicked on get info for the desktop, "Original" location should be in my dropbox folder not under my the root user, is this what is causing the probem? if so, how can i move them back to the original location?
- Megan
Hi there, israa_abuelezz, let's try something. Can you follow these steps?
Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray.
Click your profile picture or initials.
Click on Preferences.
Click the Accounts tab.
Press the "alt+H" keys and at the same time, click the "Reset OS folder locations" button.
Click Continue to proceed.
Keep me posted. - Megan
Hello there, I've followed this step by step guide as I was having the same issues. I've now followed the reseting of my desktop, download, and document folders back to my finder tab, but from there I've lost all folders and contents that were on my desktop, and have been left with a folder in each called 'My files in Dropbox' but nothing in any of the folders that are back in my finder tab.
Any information would be hugely helpful!
