File Explorer not syncing, cannot uninstall/reinstall

[Pixelestial]

Hello,

I've just changed computers, and now my Dropbox files fail to sync to the File Explorer folder.

Here is what I have tried so far:
-I have made sure there is plenty of space in my Dropbox.
-I have made sure the new PC is linked to my Dropbox account. (But it says that the most recent activity was "about a week ago".)
-I made exceptions for Dropbox in my antivirus, but it didn't help.
-I tried to uninstall the Dropbox desktop app, but I get a "Dropbox failed to uninstall" message during uninstallation.
-I tried to run DropboxInstaller.exe to reinstall the Dropbox desktop app (without uninstalling), but after it hangs for a bit on "Installing Dropbox..." nothing happens. It never prompts me to sync files, it never appears in the system tray.

Since I can't complete the usual recommended fix of "uninstall Dropbox", I was wondering if you guys had any other ideas.

Thanks for your assistance!

[Hannah]

Hey @Pixelestial, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Just to confirm, you're having this issue on the new computer, right?

After installing the Dropbox app, were you able to sign in to it as normal?

What do you see when you over over the Dropbox icon in the system tray?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

[Pixelestial]

Hi, 

Thanks for the quick response!

Yes, the issue is on my new computer.

Dropbox does not show up in the system tray, and I was never prompted to sign in. 

And if I try to run Dropbox.exe directly from the install folder, nothing happens.

I'm not sure the install ever even completed correctly: it stalls a bit on "Installing Dropbox...", but after a while, the dialogue box goes away, and then nothing happens after that. 

There are a pile of Dropbox background processes running in Task Manager, though, so presumably the install was partially successful? But not successful enough for the uninstallation process to work properly.

[Jay]

Hi @Pixelestial, could you try the steps in the advanced reinstallation process to see if they help with removing the app and reinstalling it after?

[Pixelestial · Accepted solution]

Hello, 

That wouldn't work, because one of the first steps of the advanced reinstallation process is to "uninstall the Dropbox desktop app". And one of the issues I'm having is that, when I try to uninstall, it says "Dropbox failed to uninstall."

However, I finally found a way to get rid of that "failed to uninstall" error. This is what I had to do, for anyone else who encounters it. I deleted the following folders (making backups first just in case): 

Users\[username]\Appdata\Local\Dropbox

Users\[username]\Appdata\Local\DropboxUpdate

Users\[username]\Appdata\Roaming\Dropbox

Users\[username]\Appdata\Roaming\DropboxElectron

After I got rid of those folders, the uninstallation was able to work properly. 

I was then able to install Dropbox again, and everything seems to be working now.