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Forum Discussion
New Windows User and one Dropbox account - Can't access files that are online-only.
Whenever my awesome IT folks can't fix something, they just create a new windows user account for me. Besides losing all my preferences and needing to reinstall programs and other headaches, I believe this is causing me to lose access to dropbox files which are stored under the previous users 'documents' folder. The last time this happened, I created a dropbox top level folder that was in a location common to all users in the root of a drive partition. Two days ago they got me again with a new user profile. I can't access any 'online only' files in the dropbox folder that I created with the previous user. See the image below for the message I get. I can still access these files from the previous windows user account.
How is the windows user linked to the dropbox account? I only have one dropbox account but want to access it from multiple windows accounts (Which are all still my accounts with different user names thanks to IT).
5 Replies
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi Keith Given, let's jump right into this!
It's important to note, that for the app to work properly, you'd need to install the app on each individual user profile on the device.
You also mentioned that you created a Dropbox top level folder in the location common to all users in the root of a drive partition. Could you walk me through the steps you followed, in order to do that?
As for the error you get, does this happen with all of your online-only files, or some of them?
Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!
Hi Megan,
1) I did install Dropbox for the newly created user
2) Sorry I don't remember the exact steps I took to create the top level folder. It happened last June when I got a new computer. When IT had issues getting my old profile working on the new computer, they just created a new profile. I think I may have just moved the 'dropbox' folder that was created under the new profile to an empty drive partition on the new PC. The path is 'D:\Dropbox'
3) It is not practical to check 'all' online-only files but it seems to be all the online only files in the d:\dropbox folder
4) I just realized that there is a new dropbox folder in 'C:\users\(MyNewUsername)\Dropbox'. Online only files work here. I guess that was created when I installed dropbox for my new user account. So, I guess to recreate what I did last time, I could delete the 'D:\Dropbox folder' and move the 'C:\users\(MyNewUsername)\Dropbox' to the 'D:\' But is there a way to point to the D:\dropbox as the current dropbox top-level folder for the new user rather than the delete / move method?
- Jay
Hi Keith Given, it isn't recommended to have your Dropbox folder located on a central location for all your user accounts on your machine, since this would result in permission issues, syncing performance, and potential file deletion.
You can choose to have the folder somewhere easier (like D:\Dropbox) for the current user, however, using the same location for another computer user entirely isn't recommended.
All the users of the computer are me. My IT keeps creating a new profile for me every time they run into an issue. I was just trying to put it in a place where I could get it with the new user. Then hoping to delete the old user without losing stuff.
- Hannah
Sorry to jump in here, Keith Given.
The Dropbox folder you have in your D drive is no longer syncing, right?
If you need to use Dropbox from your D drive, we'd suggest you rename the existing Dropbox folder (the one in D) to something like "Dropbox (old)" or delete it, and then move the syncing Dropbox folder to that location, using these steps.
Before doing anything, though, just make sure that the Dropbox folder that's now in the D drive is not actually syncing, to avoid any deletions of your files.
