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Windows 7 Event Viewer Error "Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894)"

Windows 7 Event Viewer Error "Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894)"

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
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Onthe last few startups of my Windows 7 desktop, the EventViewer has shown the following error  and subsequent information logs as the error is corrected by Windows:

 

Record Number: X 95916
Log Type: Application
Event Type: Error
Source: DbxSvc
Category: 3
Event ID: 320

Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Number: 95931
Log Type: Application
Event Type: Information
Source: ESENT
Category: 3
Event ID: 300

Windows (2500) Windows: The database engine is initiating recovery steps.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Number: 95932
Log Type: Application
Event Type: Information
Source: ESENT
Category: 3
Event ID: 301

Windows (2500) Windows: The database engine has begun replaying logfile C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS.log.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Number: 95933
Log Type: Application
Event Type: Information
Source: ESENT
Category: 3
Event ID: 302

Windows (2500) Windows: The database engine has successfully completed recovery steps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Number: i 95915
Log Type: Application
Event Type: Information
Source: DbxSvc
Category: 2
Event ID: 258

Pipe server thread started.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems as if the Dropbox service may be trying to start too soon as, after the initial error, Windows seems to be able to correct the problem and everything works correctly.  This is a very recent happening and I cannot relate the change to any system changes.  Is there anything I can do to stop the error - if I didn't regularly check the Event Viewer I would be none the wiser so perhaps I'm being too sensitive.

 

Thanks.

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

bn
Dropbox Staff
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Hi everyone!

 

Sorry for the delay here -- I usually hang out on the client builds forum and missed this.

 

This error is expected and harmless. We are optimistically checking for features currently in development and logging an error when we don't find them enabled. We shouldn't be logging it as an error, however, perhaps as an Informational-level event and I'll make sure we clean this up in a future release.

 

If you're suspicious that this has been causing instability -- this hasn't really changed since last summer so it's probably not the droids you are looking for (combined with the fact that the error is indicative of things not happening, rather than things happening that are potentially destabilizing).

 

-Ben

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Ross_S
Dropbox Staff
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Hi all,
 
First: Many apologies for the delay in jumping in here, I wanted to make sure I had a concrete update for you all.
 
So, for context: What is Dbxsvc? :
 
I've added a section to the help center article: https://help.dropbox.com/desktop-web/smart-sync (I say section, it's more of a note at the bottom under the driver FAQ).
 
The file dbxsvc.exe is a file that we use to install the Smart Sync driver. Should you not be a business user, or not have Smart Sync, then this file will never start operating. It is, however, created at install for all users so if you are not a Smart Sync this file will still appear there.
 
I see we have a number of pretty interesting, creative suggestions on how to disable, coupled with queries if it's safe to disable it. I'm of course not going to endorse a process that disables part of our software, should a feature or functionality cause user pain then we would want to know. Fixability and timeframes can vary depending on the in-depth technical nature of the problem.
Should you decide to disable it with one of the solutions here, it will prevent the smart sync feature from working in some cases. We need the service to update the driver, as well as to establish new driver<->client connections. This is the services current functionality. Additional functionality could be added over time. My main concern around anyone disabling it is that in the future you may need this process, Smart Sync won't work correctly, you can reach out to support but this custom change you've made will be hard for us to diagnose as the root cause of whatever issue you experience.
 
 
Why is it failing to connect / what's going wrong?:
 
It should be failing to connect. This is by design, the actual issue you’re facing is due to the frequency we're writing to the logs. To address any concerns around error with the application, these errors are in no way indicative of a software issue and do not point to any issues with backing up you data. Because it fails to connect, Windows treats this as a trigger to write to the log. Your data is safe, this process is just used to install a driver. As covered in the above section we expect it to do what you are seeing.
 
With that in mind, we understand that some of you do wish to see this behaviour.
 
 
Why aren't we fixing this?:
 
We are, we take our user feedback very seriously and we have spent many hours working on this. As fixes have many dependencies, and are just one components of a version release, I'm always reluctant to jump onto a thread and give a firm release date for a fix as these are regularly subject to change.
You may have noticed that we took the original connection attempt frequency down from every 1 second to every minute. This was an improvement we took onboard based on the feedback you've supplied here and also via other channels. Our new release, 31.3.15, has further improved this, the process will run 3 times daily. This should reduce the errors written to the logs and not clutter the report.
 
The new beta version is the first to include a fix:
 

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254 Replies 254

BoomerM3
New member | Level 2
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It appears that the last update was 10/28. This is about the time the errors began.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
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Thanks Boomer, so it's nothing I've done - hopefully the next update (or at least one soon) will sort the problem.  I say problem but everything is working so I can put up with the little red error symbol in the Event Viewer for a while longer.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

This is not yet resolved - I was emailed by the forum and asked if the problem has been solved.  As yet it hasn't but I am now in contact with Theo who is a member of the Dropbox support team.  I would be interested to hear if any other forum members have experienced the same problem and, ifso, if it originates from the last full week of October.  Unless the Dropbox user checks the Event Viewer, he or she will not be aware if the problem exists as Windows recovers the situation almost immediately and Dropbox behaves normally throughout the session.

Maze
Explorer | Level 3
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Hello,

 

I have the same problem and it started about the same time as you reported.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
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Thanks Maze, that's useful information I can pass on to Theo when he next emails me.  It looks more like the Dropbox update may have caused the problem.

Maze
Explorer | Level 3
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By the way, there's a little workaround that worked for me:

 

1. Disable the Autorun of Dropbox.

2. Create a new scheduled Task that runs after login. File to execute would be "dropbox.exe". No need to provide any arguments.

3. Make sure you set a delay for 15 seconds in the details of the task. Maybe more, could depend on the speed of the machine. I have an SSD installed, maybe this has to be higher for "normal" harddisks.

 

Fixed.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
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Thanks for your helpful suggestion Maze.  I need to check out exactly how to set up scheduled tasks in Windows 7 - at first glance I couldn't see how to set a delay so I'll do a bit of research.

orion44
Helpful | Level 6
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- System

- Provider

[ Name] DbxSvc

- EventID 320

[ Qualifiers] 49154

Level 2

Task 3

Keywords 0x80000000000000

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2016-11-07T16:42:58.000000000Z

EventRecordID 75095

Channel Application

Computer PC

Security

- EventData

(-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.

orion44
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

I submitted the bug report via https://www.dropbox.com/support

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