Dropbox needs to change permissions for the folder - but that folder doesn't exist anymore

[kenpimentel]

The problem is that I installed Dropbox on a new computer with my my account name set to kenpimentel1 (I already had a kenpimentel, so MacOS forced me to setup a new account when I migrated). 

I then went and deleted my original user account and renamed my home account folder. Now, no matter how many times I try to purge all dropbox install files and redownload dropbox, it still thinks my old folder is the one I'm trying to use. I'm stuck.

[Images Edited by moderation for security reasons] 

[Jane]

Hey Kenneth (@kenpimentel), as an initial step could you click on the blue link within the error message pop-up? This will open a file with the full text of the error. Please either copy and paste the text in your next response or save the file as a text file on your Dropbox account & paste a shared link on your next reply. 

This will be very helpful to me & thanks in advance for taking the time to send me this info!

[kenpimentel]

deleted after getting my answer

[kenpimentel]

To be clear, after I changed my account info using MacOS, these things are now incorrrect:

I deleted this info once I got my answer, it was my account info 

[Jane · Accepted solution]

I appreciate your speedy reply here Kenneth (@kenpimentel)!

It looks like you may have some files with permissions settings that block Dropbox. This often happens with users who may have migrated old data and settings from another Mac to their current computer. 

Operating system permissions prevent files from being viewed or edited by unauthorized logins. Permissions can be set any number of ways and can be restored manually through a fairly simple process. Please note that it is very important to follow these steps specifically as failure to do so may result in other issues:

To amend this, please use the following steps:

Spoiler

#1. Select your home directory (the folder named after your computer's login) and press Command-I to "Get Info"

#2. Scroll down to the "Sharing & Permissions" section at the bottom of the Get Info window

#3.  If everything is grayed out, click on the gold lock at the bottom right of the window. You'll be prompted for your login password. You'll need admin access to edit the permissions. If you are unable to unlock these privileges, talk to your system administrator to give you access to this folder.

#4. Your name should already be on the list of sharing and permissions. If you aren't listed, then add yourself by clicking the button.

#5. Once your user is added, click your name and then click the gear menu at the bottom middle of the window, and choose "Make me the owner". If this option is grayed out you can skip to step 6. 

#6. Click the gear again and choose "Apply to enclosed items". 

This will allow Dropbox access to your home folder, Dropbox folder, and any required settings.

[Note: Another possible cause of these issues would be local network sharing or folder redirection preferences setup in folders or files within your Dropbox. Similar effects can also happen when your Dropbox folder or its system files are located in a mounted network drive or a remote location (like roaming profiles) since this could cause Dropbox to not have constant access or permissions to operate in those locations. This is especially an issue if other people in the network could be accessing the same data. For these reasons, I'd suggest that you ensure that your setup does not include any of the above scenarios. You may need to reach out to IT if your computer is in a corporate environment to check any of them.]

Whenever you find some time to try my suggestions, please do let me know of the outcome here. Thanks & I’ll be awaiting your next update on this discussion! 

[kenpimentel]

Jane, you have given me the answer. 

All I needed to do was delete the "~/.dropbox" folder contents, that was the one folder I never discovered containing the preferences with my old account info. Once I did that and reinstalled Dropbox, everything worked perfectly.

Impressed by how quickly you answered my question - so a big thanks here!

[Jane]

Awesome news @kenpimentel, happy to hear that this has been sorted for you now & thanks a lot for circling back to me to let me know of the outcome. I’m always around, so feel free to ping me back again in case you have more questions in the future. Oh, & happy November! 

[RichardDesign]

Hello I purchased a new mac and had to change users. Now dropbox won't see my dropbox folder. How can I get the two seeing each other again 

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 60.4.107
bn.DROPBOXEXT_VERSION: failed
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 3b9e25f4-326b-5936-baaa-2fafcaaf78db
pid: 784
ppid: 779
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Richard', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Richard Marazzi', pw_dir='/Users/Richard', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Richard', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Richard Marazzi', pw_dir='/Users/Richard', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'Richard', '_avuxupdate', '_serialnumberd'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'Richard', '_avuxupdate', '_serialnumberd'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/Richard'
appdata: '/Users/ricky/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/ricky/.dropbox/instance1'
not found
parent not found
dropbox_path: '/Users/ricky/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/ricky/Dropbox'
not found
parent not found
sys_executable: '/Users/Richard/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/Richard/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Users/Richard/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-resources/python-packages-35.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Users/Richard/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-resources/python-packages-35.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/6h/507d9ykd7pqgw0zzxcgpdrv00000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/6h/507d9ykd7pqgw0zzxcgpdrv00000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1143, in safe_makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 231, in makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 231, in makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 241, in makedirs
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Users/ricky'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6980, in main_startup
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 2939, in run
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1583, in startup_low
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1170, in safe_makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 231, in makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 231, in makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 241, in makedirs
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/Users/ricky'

[Jane]

Hey @RichardDesign, I’ve moved your post under this discussion, as I’d like to point you to the troubleshooting steps I had included in my previous reply here, as well as Kenneth’s comments, where he mentioned that 

All I needed to do was delete the "~/.dropbox" folder contents, that was the one folder I never discovered containing the preferences with my old account info. Once I did that and reinstalled Dropbox, everything worked perfectly.

Please do let me know of how you get on with these steps on this discussion. Thanks for posting us on the Dropbox Forum on this inquiry & I’m wishing you a creative week ahead! 

[julie1013]

I realize that there is already a thread about this exact issue. I tried the solutions that people suggested ("sharing and permissions" changes) but all of these options are grayed out. Then I saw that somebody wrote: 

All I needed to do was delete the "~/.dropbox" folder contents, that was the one folder I never discovered containing the preferences with my old account info. Once I did that and reinstalled Dropbox, everything worked perfectly.

But I don't see where to do this. Where are "~/.dropbox" folder contents? Please help me! 🙂

Thanks!