I need to re-link to an existing Dropbox folder when reinstalling the desktop app.

Hi Esther B.6​,

Welcome to the Dropbox Community and thanks for sharing this with us.

This is a common issue that pops up here and I'd advise reading this thread that tackles this exact issue.

This user's issue was solved so hopefully this helps.

Hi. Actually if you read through that thread the issue wasn't solved. Like me, he had already had to go through the pain of re-downloading everything. Dropbox created a new folder on C drive. Now I have to figure out how to move it to my G drive, where all the files are already downloaded.

Esther B.6 wrote:

Actually if you read through that thread the issue wasn't solved.

His issue wasn't solved because he had already gone through the process on reinstalling Dropbox and downloading everything again. However, Dropbox already has a solution for this in place. You just need to select the Advanced Options during the install and you can select the location for your Dropbox folder. If you choose a location where there's already a folder, Dropbox will use it and will only download the files that need to be downloaded (anything changed since last sync, etc.). It will, however, have to reindex all of your files which will take some time.

Esther B.6 wrote:

Now I have to figure out how to move it to my G drive, where all the files are already downloaded.

You don't. If you've already installed Dropbox and it's using the default location, you don't want to move it to the existing folder on your G drive. Your best option will be to reinstall using the advanced options, and selecting the location of your existing Dropbox folder.

Just remember, when specifying an existing Dropbox folder, you want to select the folder ABOVE Dropbox as the location. For instance, if your Dropbox is in G:\Dropbox, make sure you select the root of G: for the location. If you select G:\Dropbox, you'll end up creating a new Dropbox folder inside your existing Dropbox folder and all of your files will start to download into the new folder, doubling your usage. It's asking where you want your Dropbox folder; not the full path to the current folder.

Thanks Rich​ for sharing that explanation.

Esther B.6​ Would you mind trying out the steps Rich provided and letting me know how you get on?

When I ran the reinstall there was no dialogue box or anything that let me choose advanced install. It opened, said it was installing, then closed.

Hi Esther B.6, in order to see the option you're referring to, you would need to perform an advanced reinstallation of the Dropbox desktop application by following these steps.

During the installation process, you can choose the location of the existing Dropbox folder as mentioned in Step 11.

Hi. I went through the process and did find the advanced settings and selected my G: drive for my dropbox location. Then as soon as I clicked ok I got this error. Photo uploaded of it. This was the error that caused me to reinstall dropbox in the first place.

Esther B.6 wrote:

Then as soon as I clicked ok I got this error.

That's not the actual error. If you click the second blue link it will open a text file that contains the full log of the installation, along with the actual errors encountered. Open that file and copy/paste it into a reply here. Be sure to mask any private information, if it contains any.

Okay here's the contents of the text file.

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 231.4.5770
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 86
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 884775e7-8c95-47da-809c-d7d295c49ead
pid: 19656
cwd: 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Update\\1.3.983.1'
     real_path='C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Update\\1.3.983.1'
               mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
     parent    mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
HOME: None
appdata: 'C:\\Users\\Esther\\AppData\\Local\\Dropbox\\instance1'
         real_path='C:\\Users\\Esther\\AppData\\Local\\Dropbox\\instance1'
                   mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
         parent    mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
dropbox_path: 'G:\\Dropbox'
              real_path='G:\\Dropbox'
                        mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
              parent    mode=0o40555    uid=0    gid=0
sys_executable: 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Client\\Dropbox.exe'
                real_path='C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Client\\Dropbox.exe'
                          mode=0o100777    uid=0    gid=0
                parent    mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
trace.__file__: 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Client\\231.4.5770\\python-packages.zip\\dropbox\\client\\ui\\common\\boot_error.pyc'
                real_path='C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Client\\231.4.5770\\python-packages.zip\\dropbox\\client\\ui\\common\\boot_error.pyc'
                          not found
                parent    not found
TMP: C:\Users\Esther\AppData\Local\Temp
TEMP: C:\Users\Esther\AppData\Local\Temp
tempdir: 'C:\\Users\\Esther\\AppData\\Local\\Temp'
         real_path='C:\\Users\\Esther\\AppData\\Local\\Temp'
                   mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
         parent    mode=0o40777    uid=0    gid=0
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "desktop/dropbox/client/main.py", line 1091, in wrapper
  File "desktop/dropbox/client/main.py", line 8616, in finish_dropbox_boot
  File "desktop/dropbox/client/message_queue.py", line 337, in _wrapped
  File "desktop/dropbox/client/main.py", line 7900, in _init_components_for_account
  File "desktop/dropbox/client/main.py", line 7808, in create_sync_engine
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.py", line 237, in make_sync_engine
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.py", line 264, in __init__
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.py", line 324, in __init__
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.py", line 279, in __init__
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.py", line 242, in __init__
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.py", line 617, in _init_new_engine_locked
  File "desktop/dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.py", line 170, in __init__
  File "desktop\extensions\nucleus\nucleus_python.pyx", line 77, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to initialize dbx cache directory |>> Getting handle to root |>> NtSetBasicInformation syscall: new handle |>> ACCESS_DENIED |>> FSErrorCode::PermissionDenied"

Hey Esther B.6, can you take a look at this thread and the troubleshooting suggestions on it and let us know if they help in your case as well? It looks like a very similar issue, with the same error.