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Roger B.30's avatar
Roger B.30
Collaborator | Level 9
4 years ago
Solved

Windows Dropbox installer won't start on Windows 10

I run Windows 10 on a Dell Inspiron 3505 laptop. Somehow, Dropbox was not starting at startup. The simplest answer (to me, anyway) was to uninstall Dropbox and reinstall it. I uninstalled DB and downloaded the installer (which has always worked for me before) from the website (as  I always have) .and ran it; I got a message that the installer did not start. I've tried several times but always got the error message. In the past, Microsoft Defender has given me no resistance to installing DB. What's wrong--is it me, the installer, or something else?

49 Replies

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  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    Hi Roger B.30, I hope you're doing well! 

     

    Apologies for the length of my message, but I want to make sure I've covered everything. 

     

    Can you try the following steps, in order to revert your folders to their default paths? 

     

    Open Windows Explorer, right-click the folder that you wish to check—for example, Documents (from Quick Access or My PC)—and click Properties. 

     

    Click on the Location tab, and check that the path to the folder is correct. If disabling "computer backup" had been successful, then this should be something like the following where User is your own username: C:\Users\User\Documents.

     

    If the path is something like C:\Users\User\Dropbox\My PC (<hostname>)\Documents then, the computer backup disable has not completed successfully. You can now click on Restore Default: this will reset to the default location; also, you will be prompted to move the files back to their default location (click Yes for this).

     

    As for your second question, can you check your file version history and events page, to see what they report? 

  • Roger B.30's avatar
    Roger B.30
    Collaborator | Level 9
    4 years ago

    Megan, I relocated those two files, so all seems well there.

     

    The three files I didn't recognize turned out to be photos in a sample album that I didn't know existed in my Camera Roll file, so they're fine.

     

    After a stressful week-and-a-half, I think I'm good to go here; I'll post another question if something happens.

     

    Thank you and everybody else who walked me through this.

     

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    I am happy to hear (or read in our case) about that, Roger.

     

    If you need anything else, I'll be one post away! 😎

  • dpsummers's avatar
    dpsummers
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    Drop box says it cannot reach the internet. I have been reaching the internet for 10 years.

  • dpsummers's avatar
    dpsummers
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago

    Hi Megan -

     

    Can I receive DB messaging via One Drive?

    Seem as though I got DB docx somehow in the email in the past

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    Hi dpsummers, I'm happy to help! 

     

    When you say Dropbox messaging, could you let me know more? Do you need to receive a document from someone or share it with them? 

     

    I'd also appreciate some additional info in regards to the internet issue you're experiencing. Do you get any error messages? 

     

    Let me know more!

  • jver111's avatar
    jver111
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

    hi I also have this issue,

     

    Two days ago I had the issue dropbox wasn't syncing. it appeared the app wasn't running and i couldn't start it.

    so after reading some forum I reinstalled dropbox. 

    this worked for half a day.

    now i followed some more tips from the internet but now when i reinstall the app it installs but it never opens and i can't open it i have redone this quite some time now and restarted my pc between uninstalling and reinstalling. i followed the steps from: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall

    but no luck so far. 

    I also tried the offline installer but same issue.

     

    I have an dropbox account for 13 years and had never issues now it's the 3e year i have a plus acount. my pc is a half year old and always worked fine untill now. 

     

    hopefully i get this solved soon. If i change any file now i'm afraid cleaning up the conflicts will be some work too.

     

    best regards,

     

     

  • jver111's avatar
    jver111
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

    ok maybe I was too quick after restarting my PC again now it's syncing hopefully it keeps working fingers crossed.

  • Roger B.30's avatar
    Roger B.30
    Collaborator | Level 9
    3 years ago

    Folks, I finally managed to get Dropbox reinstalled. All is well.

    Thank you for your help.

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