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Lost access to Desktop folder on Mac when I downloaded Dropbox, and now can't access.
I've lost access to the Desktop, Documents and Downloads file on my mac - help??
I just set up a new Dropbox account with a different email. When it asked whether I wanted to sync/back-up Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, I said no, because when I did this with a previous account, this caused problems. I thought that this would mean that my Desktop files etc would just remain on my hard drive, and I would have a Dropbox folder with things I wanted to back up to the cloud.
I just set up a new Dropbox account with a different email. When it asked whether I wanted to sync/back-up Desktop, Documents and Downloads folders, I said no, because when I did this with a previous account, this caused problems. I thought that this would mean that my Desktop files etc would just remain on my hard drive, and I would have a Dropbox folder with things I wanted to back up to the cloud.
But this has caused all the icons to disappear from my Desktop!
Luckily the files are still there when I search for them. When I got to Desktop folder in Finder and click on it, a message says 'The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “Desktop” can’t be found.'
Logging out of Dropbox didn't help.
Help???
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- I did. I eventually got a talk to your dropbox engineer to help work this out with me. There were a lot of terminal commands in about two weeks of work.
Omg I'm just figuring this out too. Did you ever resolve? I'm at a loss of how dropbox has taken over my desktop, downloads and documents. Everything is set to not back up and its still taking over the pathway of my desktop. My actual "desktop" folder in my Mac has different files..this is infuriating
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey ak_alpenglow, sorry to hear about this.
Can you please let us know some additional information about the issue you're having so that we can assist further?
WAIT... It was YOU?!?! DROPBOX?! You locked me out of my own computer?? I've been pulling my hair out over this, and it was Dropbox that locked me out of my own computer?! Why? For what possible purpose would you design your solution to do this??
Well, this has been quite a journey! Apparently, Dropbox took over everything on my Desktop and I did not know it. So, I eventually disconnected my Laptop from Dropbox, saved all my files from Dropbox onto an external storage stick, and then had to create an entirely new User on my MacBook and move those files into that new Desktop individually.
When I tried to move those same files to the old User Desktop, everything still pointed to a Dropbox Folder and my Desktop folder was just an Alias...So, I've now got all my files residing on my Laptop HD and they are backed up to iCloud Drive -- but the files reside on my Laptop.
I will be discontinuing Dropbox as soon as I can figure out how to get one other Application to stop backing up there.I don't see any backups on Dropbox and those files remain unchecked.
I copied all the files from Dropbox on to an external drive and I plan to simply disconnect this Mac from my dropbox account. I still have zero icons on my Desktop and looking in Finder, all the Desktop files are dropbox icons.
When I click on "Manage Backups" on the Dropbox desktop app, this is what it shows. I have unchecked these boxes and saved them multiple times and it keeps coming up with the boxes checked the next time I go to it.
- Megan
Hm, interesting TexAK!
Do you think you can attach a couple of screenshots of what you see when you access your Backup preferences on your device, and some of what you see when you visit your Backup page online?
Provided that Backup has been disabled, you should be able to move your Desktop content back to their original place. All you'd have to do would be to drag and drop them there.
