macOS Monterey 12 - Couldnt Start Dropbox

Thank you Jay,

actually I clicked the wrong solution -

it wasn't the one in preferences which made it work,

but this one with the Terminal commands actually fixed the probem !

Thanks so much x I wouldn't have dared to use the Terminal.

But it's amazing how this inner programming world of a computer miraculously solves problems...

Thanks ... after having wasted half a day looking for a solution how to install dropbox desktop under monterey, I stumbled upon your tips. worked "out of the box" ...

Worked for me. I think allowing dropbox full disk access was my main problem. But I followed all these steps by Andrea and it worked. 

Finally, Andrea's solution worked! I've searched everywhere and nothing did the job... But killing DB in the activity monitor and restarting the finder was the solution. Thank you Andrea!!!!

Hi All,

Hoping someone could assist here.

Just got a new Mac Book and did the integration.

From memory Dropbox worked for the first few days and now I am getting this issue.

Does anyone know how to resolve?

Thanks!

I installed the dropbpx on the new mac M1 but the dropbox icon appears and dispappears on the menubar (flickering). It seems if the dropbox tries to start but get a hangover everytime. I can't uninstall it because it's still running. I can't sign out as well because I can't get in the setting menu. What can I do now? Is there any other possibility to uninstall?

Thanks for help.

All of a sudden I cannot access my DropBox account on my computer.  I can long on via a web browser, but not through a program on my computer.  I am getting this message:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 135.4.4221
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 51
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: afabe4b2-8138-57c8-9162-7a16dfdfc23c
pid: 2663
ppid: 1
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='tracyking', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='TRACY KING', pw_dir='/Users/tracyking', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='tracyking', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='TRACY KING', pw_dir='/Users/tracyking', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/tracyking'
appdata: '/Users/tracyking/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/tracyking/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/tracyking/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/tracyking/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 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/z5/gbqqv1xj4lnb7qcb_95w8kk00000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/z5/gbqqv1xj4lnb7qcb_95w8kk00000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 822, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6574, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 313, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6112, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6036, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 226, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 280, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 248, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 170, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 213, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 517, in _init_new_engine_locked
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 133, in __init__
File "desktop/extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> fchflags syscall: _set_hidden |>> Permission denied"

Hi, Support --

I installed MacOS Monterey. Dropbox worked for a while, but now it won't start.

I saw an older, unresolved thread on a similar topic. Based on suggestions there, I quit DB, removed the app, followed the Advanced Installation instructions, e.g., to remove ~/.dropbox, then downloaded and reinstalled DB; no change. I'll paste the full info from the "Couldn't start Dropbox" popup below, but the important part seems to be at the tail of the log:

nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> fchflags syscall: _set_hidden |>> Permission denied"

I see that DB re-created ~/.dropbox, so it's not having any obvious permissions problem there. I can't tell what it's trying to do where to register icons, so I can't check permissions for the error it reports.

One more thing: I also run Google Drive app. However, DB and GD are syncing separate, non-overlapping directories: DB syncs ~/Dropbox; GD syncs ~/Pictures and ~/Google Drive

iMac, Monterey 12.0.1

freshly downloaded and advanced-installed dropbox.app

my background: Linux application software, Linux commands, familiar with shells and Linux command-line I/F in MacOS (Terminal)

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 135.4.4221
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 51
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: a006ca99-0f98-5726-9038-3f97a8f5be7e
pid: 4029
ppid: 1
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='rob', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Rob', pw_dir='/Users/rob', pw_shell='/bin/tcsh')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='rob', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Rob', pw_dir='/Users/rob', pw_shell='/bin/tcsh')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_serialnumberd', '_BGMXPCHelper'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_serialnumberd', '_BGMXPCHelper'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/rob'
appdata: '/Users/rob/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/rob/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/rob/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/rob/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 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/st/cnnvt94r8xj6qf001s6s66280000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/st/cnnvt94r8xj6qf001s6s66280000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 822, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6574, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 313, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6112, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6036, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 226, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 280, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 248, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 170, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 213, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 517, in _init_new_engine_locked
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 133, in __init__
File "desktop/extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> fchflags syscall: _set_hidden |>> Permission denied"

I am having the same problem starting Dropbox with Monterey. I tried to follow your suggestions but can't find "Utility" in the Launchpad. I was able to add Dropbox to Accessibility and Full Disk Access. Thanks in advance for any help.