Dropbox Won't Open, Sync, Uninstall or Reinstall on Windows 10

[Dolphining]

Been running dropbox on my computer without a problem for over a year. Just realized today that it hasn't synced for about the past week. Running on Windows 10. Also running Symantic Enpoint Protection Small Business Edition.

Problem details:

• Do not see the tray icon 
• Dropbox will not open when I try to run the program
• Dropbox Update is running in the background
• Attempted to Reinstall and got "error 2"
• Attempted to Uninstall and "uninstall failed"
• Disabled Enpoint Protection and tried again to reinstall and uninstall; no luck
• Restarted the computer and, again, no luck

I've seen other community messages about error 2 and problems uninstalling, but there are few answers and none of those tips have solved my problem.

Anyone have a similar issue or can help?

Thanks!

[Sanchez · Accepted solution]

Hey @Dolphining, welcome to our forum! 

This would be my course of action, if I have understood your situation correctly: 

• uninstall Dropbox
• open your task manager (right-click on task bar, choose task manager)
• click on Processes (show processes from all users if necessary)
• find any Dropbox related processes and end them (End Process)
  
  
• now try installing our desktop app from scratch
• I would download the offline installer and install it
• I would also disable the Symantec program, and any other security/firewall/etc. app
  
  
• If the above doesn’t do the trick, I would then try JaneA’s solution for the Error 2 scenario

Check this out, and let me know when you get a chance
 

Thanks! 

[Dolphining]

I was finally able to uninstall by deleting everything in my temp and local files and ending processes in Task Manager, but after restarting there is still a Dropbox process running. There is no recognizable program, or anything in Program Files or Program Files (x86), but it's running nonetheless. 

After ending that process again and editing my environment Path (Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment) to %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%, I tried installing via the offline installer, but got the error 2 again.

Note, I went back and sucessfully installed an earlier version of Dropbox, but I was unable to log in via the desktop app because it said I needed to use a more recent version. So, I can get some version to install and open, but, obviously, that's not a solution.

Other thoughts? 

[Dolphining]

I went ahead and deleted all of the dropbox files and dropbox folder as well. Then cleaned up local files and everything else on C: that said dropbox. I wasn't able to find DbxSvc, which still ran on startup, but after stopping it an making sure absolutely everything else was deleted I was able to get the offline downloaded dropbox installer to work. It's now syncing again.

Note, this was done while the firewall and Symantic Enpoint was running, so that wasn't the issue.

I still don't know what caused the problem. A little affraid that it's going to happen again when there is some kind of Windows update. Any idea what caused it?

Thanks! 

[Sanchez]

Hey @Dolphining, 

Thanks for getting back to me with the update. I’m glad to hear that you’ve worked this out! 

To be honest, I don’t have any idea what caused this. I have seen it before, and the procedure for dealing with this Error 2 usually works just fine. I’ve not yet had a repeat customer with the same issue, so I believe you’re in pretty good shape. 

Cheers

[Jane]

Hey @Dolphining, 

I appreciate your prompt follow-up here, so glad to hear this was sorted!   

If it's not too much trouble for you, would you mind taking a minute of your time to fill out a survey sharing your experience using the Dropbox Community? You can access it here: http://bit.ly/2lNKIxT .

[ Please feel free to get back in touch here at any time if you have any other Dropbox questions or experience any issues in the future. ]

Happy Dropboxing, wishing you a great rest of the day, 

JaneA

[KeithMould]

Hi

I am having a similar problem. Dropbox stopped syncing and now I can't get it to run, even running as Adminstrator.

Uninstalling fails. I have followed your solve above, but it requires uninstalling which fails!

Using the offlineinstaller I got it to reinstall but it won't start still. Now it says  dropbox/client/dropbox.exe can't be found even when I am running dropbox/client/dropbox.exe directly from the dropbox folde! Same when running as administrator.

Please help. I am running Win 10

Keith

[Jane]

Hey @KeithMould, thanks for pinging me here with this in-depth description; let’s take it from where you’ve left off on your end! 

If it’s not too much trouble for you, would you mind checking back whether an advanced reinstall helps you get this sorted on your end? Would you mind giving it a go whenever you have a little spare time & let me know of the outcome here? Thanks in advance & I’ll be awaiting your next message! 

[KeithMould]

Hi Jane. The advanced reinstall requires you to first uninstall, but it is the uninstall that is failing. I have even tried a power uninstaller but the same error occurs.

Keith

[Jane]

Thanks for looping back to me on our discussion here & please accept my apologies for my misunderstanding @KeithMould. Following from your description that:

---

The advanced reinstall requires you to first uninstall, but it is the uninstall that is failing.

I was under the impression that you managed to install the desktop application, however it looks like you’re still hitting the same error you described us initially & you can’t bypass it at the moment. Since you can’t get going with the recommended steps Keith, I’ve now sent you a brief message on the email address connected to your Community profile. 

Whenever you have some spare time, please have a look at your inbox for my message & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you asap. Thanks again & I’m looking forward to hearing back from you!