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Linux - Unable to change Dropbox directory
I'm using Fedora Workstation 25 with GNOME.
Trying to change the Dropbox directory results in the utterly useless message "Unexpected errors occurred. Your Dropbox is ok!".
Steps to recreate problem:
- Dropbox directory is currently ~/Dropbox
- Start Dropbox application by running ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
- Right click sys tray icon and select Preferences.
- Click "Move…" button under Account > Location
- Select directory /local on which my user has write permissions.
- The message "Unexpected errors occurred. Your Dropbox is ok!" appears.
Observations:
- The directory /local/Dropbox is sucesfully created.
- One of the directories in ~/Dropbox is created in /local/Dropbox/ It's empty. Deleting that directory from ~/Dropbox before attempting the move doesn't help.
- Selecting other directories on which my user has write permissions results in the same behaviour.
- Permissions and ownership of my Dropbox directory and user's home directory are OK. (Troubleshooting advice for Linux at https://help.dropbox.com/desktop-web/move-dropbox-folder is pooly written. sudo is not needed on all those commands. "Internet menu" is not a thing in all (any?) desktop environments.)
- There's a log file in ~/.dropbox/logs/1 but it's a binary blob so useless without something to make it human readable and I can't locate such a thing.
- Deleting all my files from ~/Dropbox/ waiting for sync to complete and then attempting the move doesn't help.
- When attemping the move after deleting all my files from ~/Dropbox/ /local/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache/ is succesfully created. It's empty.
- Pausing syncing before attempting the move doesn't help.
- There don't seem to be any options that can be passed to ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd to get more info. (Adding --help prevents it running!)
I was having this same issue. I found a fix in creating a Dropbox folder in my home directory prior to connecting my account. This caused the installer to throw an error about a Dropbox folder already existing that prompted me to either delete the Dropbox folder or select a different location. Eureka! (for me at least...)
Guys solved, and the solution was the easiest and logic.
I expose my situation:
sda1 300GB --> /
sda5 8TB --> /home
As I explained, I wanted to install Dropbox below /home directory, but playing as "root" user, by default, it forced the installation on /root
So I just installed the daemon using the user who owns the home directory I want and it works properly, just remember to add the "user" to the root group.
If you need more details, don't hesitate to ask.
wrote:I was having this same issue. I found a fix in creating a Dropbox folder in my home directory prior to connecting my account. This caused the installer to throw an error about a Dropbox folder already existing that prompted me to either delete the Dropbox folder or select a different location. Eureka! (for me at least...)
This didn't work for me, but I did find a similar solution! I created a "work" dropbox account and set up a fresh installation of dropbox with that account, which places the "work" Dropbox folder in the defaut ~/Dropbox. I then deleted everything in ~/.dropbox* (with rm -rf ~/.dropbox* ), reinstalled dropbox and set it up using my personal account. Now since the folder in ~/Dropbox already contains the dropbox for the work account, I got the prompt that allowed me to either delete the Dropbox folder or select a different location for my personal account. Somehow this worked when simply moving the folder within dropbox wouldn't... I hope this helps somebody! (using Fedora 27 btw)
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tharris104 wrote:
I really doubt this issue is beyond Dropbox.
I doubt it's beyond Dropbox, but all the evidence suggests it is very much beyond the support staff who post here, hence my comment about "please help". Seriously, the first reply I got in this thread wasn't even for the right operating system. And look at the "sudo chmod" advice - does that seem like it's written by someone who's used Linux for longer than it took to write that bit of the FAQ? I'm sure the support staff who post here help lots of people, but based on this thread so far it really doesn't seem like they're equiped to provide a solution for a generic error message appearing when a specific operation is attempted with the Linux client on some distros.
Even after raising a support ticket I was given the "sudo chmod" advice again. And then after providing details of a load of tests I'd done on different versions of Fedora, with and without LVM and LUKS, and providing strace output, I was told "sudo chmod" etc. Only after I expressed disatisfaction with that, again, was I told the ticket has been referred to engineering.
If you raise your own support ticket at https://www.dropbox.com/support then, maybe after you've explained to them N times that "sudo chmod" doesn't help, that might get referred to engineering. Maybe more support tickets will mean engineering give greater priority to finding a solution.
tuannv0708 wrote:
Could you show me the log file location of dropbox, so I can trace the problem.
I think Dropbox team try to protect the log file, so user can't access that.
As I've stated elsewhere in this thread the log is at ~/.dropbox/logs/ and Dropbox support have told me "you won't be able to open them, I'm afraid they are encrypted and can only be decrypted here."
If I were you I'd raise a support ticket at https://www.dropbox.com/support
Okay everyone, I figured out why mine wasn't working.. which is funny becuase this directory has been on my Dropbox since 2012 yet I am just now having issues moving the files..
After the error.. it was always creating the empty directories and I noticed this:
drwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Apr 6 2016 Musicdrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:48 Persondrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:44 RubymineProjectsdr-xr-xr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Jul 26 2016 SEP-MP5drwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:59 Softwaredrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:44 Workdrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:45 XonoticI went to the web interface and removed that shared drive from another Dropbox user.. went to move.. and no more error. So possibly if you have folders that are shared from other dropbox users, this may be whats causing issues with permissions so removing that at least gets data stored on bigger drive...By the way, after moving the drive, I readded that share via web interface and it seems to be syncing up but I have a while to go before I get all 500gb...Thanks Dropbox!
tharris104 wrote:
Okay everyone, I figured out why mine wasn't working.. which is funny becuase this directory has been on my Dropbox since 2012 yet I am just now having issues moving the files..
After the error.. it was always creating the empty directories and I noticed this:
drwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Apr 6 2016 Musicdrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:48 Persondrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:44 RubymineProjectsdr-xr-xr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Jul 26 2016 SEP-MP5drwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:59 Softwaredrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:44 Workdrwxrwxr-x 2 tharris tharris 4096 Aug 8 15:45 XonoticI went to the web interface and removed that shared drive from another Dropbox user.. went to move.. and no more error. So possibly if you have folders that are shared from other dropbox users, this may be whats causing issues with permissions so removing that at least gets data stored on bigger drive...Which means the problem you were encounting is completely different to the issue I'm encountering.
Just saying... you should check permissions on those empty directories.. or even on their website.. it will have a lock next to the icon.
tharris104 wrote:
Just saying... you should check permissions on those empty directories.. or even on their website.. it will have a lock next to the icon.
What empty directories?
I have no shared folders. I can reproduce the problem even after deleting everything in my Dropbox directory. I can move the Dropbox directory within ${HOME}. I think we have both encountered things that cause the Dropbox client to chuck out the same generic error message but the underlying issues are entirely different.
mike _. wrote:
What empty directories?
I have no shared folders. I can reproduce the problem even after deleting everything in my Dropbox directory. I can move the Dropbox directory within ${HOME}. I think we have both encountered things that cause the Dropbox client to chuck out the same generic error message but the underlying issues are entirely different.
You are probably right aboout that.. The directories I am talking about are created on the mount (or wherever your moving to) after trying to move the folders.. I was messing with mount points and actually ended up with my 2TB mounted inside home. But after looking at the empty folders, thats when I saw the permissions it was trying to move..
100% match to my issue, Usng Fedora 26 - Followed all the permisson changes in this thread. However I can move the "~/Dropbox" directory in to a "~/subfolder?Dropbox" sync works. Unable to move Dropbox folder to another partion on same SSD or any HDD Drive. (internal or external).. Would you recommned I open a new ticket to raise the awareness to support?
pix365 wrote:
100% match to my issue, Usng Fedora 26 - Followed all the permisson changes in this thread. However I can move the "~/Dropbox" directory in to a "~/subfolder?Dropbox" sync works. Unable to move Dropbox folder to another partion on same SSD or any HDD Drive. (internal or external).. Would you recommned I open a new ticket to raise the awareness to support?
Yep, sounds like same issue I encoutered. Dropbox support told me earlier today that engineering are "not actively working on a solution for this problem". Which is disapointingbut not particularly surprising given the obscureness of the issue and the number of people who'd be affected by it.Someone else raising a ticket may make them more inclined to look at the issue. Tell them you think you're encounting the same issue as ticket 6168712.
It'd be interesting to know if the issue occurs on any distro other than Fedora. I can't replicate it on openSUSE. I've not tried any other distros. I've not yet had time/inclination to try other distros.
Mike, I moved off Linuxmint 18.2 why? After the lastest upgrade I cannot fix low audio and distortion issues.
So in my efforts to track down the root cause over the past two weeks l've tried various flavours of Ununtu based distros, 16.04.04 & 17.04. this audio issue is common to all with kernel 4.6.xx. Back to your Dropbox question, in these distro tests (a real machine not inside a VM) the Dropbox app allowed me use any folder on my HDD (I'm adding +30GB of images per week to Dropbox, so I know for sure they worked.
As a workaround I'll try to setup LM 17.3 on a Virtualbox, I can sync up Dropbox to shared directory, thats is if i can fool the app to use it as drive and not a network share.
