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sneumann's avatar
sneumann
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago
Solved

Ubuntu stuck in "Starting ..." and no Dropbox folder location is shown

Hi, my symptoms are very similar to what other posts have reported, after connecting a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 installation dropbox is stuck in status "starting ....". I raised the `fs.inotify.max_use...
desktop
Install
Linux
  • sneumann's avatar
    sneumann
    2 years ago

    Hi,

    re-installing simply won't help. I now have a solution I can describe to help others with the same issue:

    0) since $HOME is on XFS file system, I need a separate ext4 partition to host the Dropbox folder. What worked in the past was to mount an ext4 partition directly on ~/Dropbox.

    This does NOT WORK ANYMORE, since dropbox tries to rename that upon start/installation.

    1) I had to have a temporary $HOME on ext4, which then happily created ~/Dropbox and do the syncing.

    2) Then I can use dropbox preferences/sync to move ~/Dropbox to a subfolder e..g  ~/ext4/Dropbox

    3) Then I can mount my normal $HOME on XFS, and mount the separate ext4 under ~/ext4/ with the ~/ext4/Dropbox folder. 

    So for your engineering team, please test ~/Dropbox being a mountpoint of an ext4 partition, and/or lift the requirement/restriction to a specific filesystem for ~/Dropbox.

    Yours,

    Steffen

Razz42's avatar
Razz42
New member | Level 1
11 months ago

Thank you Steffen
I have a shared partition for my /home as ntfs, so that windows also can access it for the rare times I need to use it.
I think this is my solution and I will try it, even though I have to google-fu all the commands for your steps, since I'm a  terminal amateur.
I report how it goes in case other people with my problem find this.

All the best
Rasmus 

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