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PtboPete1's avatar
PtboPete1
New member | Level 2
7 months ago
Solved

How can I move my Dropbox folder to an external drive on Win 11?

The current location is at C:/Users/... I'm trying to move it to my D drive. I run through the preferences/sync move and it seems to work BUT when checking it still says C:/Users/...

I do have the folder on D drive and I have even gone into regedit changing the C:/users/... to D:/Dropbox. I believe there were 5 entries, reboot, run Dropbox and guess what... C:/Users/...

Why won't it change locations. I am not running selective sync or backups. I have also removed DB and reinstalled to no avail. Win 11 Pro is UTD. Please help

  • Hey boys and girls, I figured it out. You can't move Dropbox to an existing folder. I deleted the Dropbox folder on D drive then tried the move and voila. We are back in business.😃

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  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    7 months ago
    PtboPete1 wrote:

    I have even gone into regedit changing the C:/users/... to D:/Dropbox. I believe there were 5 entries, reboot, run Dropbox and guess what... C:/Users/...

    Don't do this. Dropbox stores move of its configuration in an encrypted database that you can't access. Changing the location in the registry likely isn't enough. Only use the official method of moving the folder or you're going to cause issues.

    PtboPete1 wrote:

    I run through the preferences/sync move and it seems to work ...

    No messages at the end of the process? You gave it enough time to do the move? It's not instant.

  • PtboPete1's avatar
    PtboPete1
    New member | Level 2
    7 months ago

    Hey boys and girls, I figured it out. You can't move Dropbox to an existing folder. I deleted the Dropbox folder on D drive then tried the move and voila. We are back in business.😃

  • Theresa's avatar
    Theresa
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    6 months ago

    Hi PtboPete1​ and welcome to the Dropbox Community. 

    I’m Theresa 👩‍💻, one of the Community Managers here. You’ll often spot me jumping into conversations or kicking off new threads across a variety of topics.

    It’s great to hear you found the trick with moving Dropbox to an external drive on Windows 11 - deleting the existing folder before moving definitely helps avoid conflicts. Thanks for sharing that tip; I’m sure it’ll save others some headaches.

    I’d love to hear more about how you use Dropbox. If you’re up for it, just give me a shout here and we can chat about all things Dropbox 🤗. Who knows, maybe I can share some productivity tips or pass along your feedback to our internal team.

    Looking forward to hearing from you,

    T😸 (Dropbox Community Manager)

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