changed home folder name, now db will not start

[Ian R.2]

On my Mac I changed my home folder/user name folder. Now, when dp starts, it attempts to change permissions on the original home folder, which no longer exists, and then exits. Is there a way to tell dp that this folder no longer exists, and to move to the new.
Thanks for any assist.

[Stefanie · Accepted solution]

Hi Ian,

You'd need to do a complete reinstall in order to fix this. First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder.

1. Download the newest version:

www.dropbox.com/install

1. Stop Dropbox (If needed):

- Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen
- Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select 'Quit Dropbox'

1. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:

- To delete this folder open a Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal for Mac OS)
- Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal and press RETURN:

mv ~/.dropbox ~/.Trash/dropbox.old
mv ~/.dropbox-master ~/.Trash/dropbox-master.old

- This will move the folder to the Trash and make it visible. Please note that you could see an error message regarding the existence of the folder ".dropbox-master" when you run the last of the lines above. This is completely normal and you can go on with the next step.

1. Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin

- Open the Finder and select Go to folder... from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G)
- A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key:

     /Library/

- Finally drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action.

1. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application

- Open the Dropbox .dmg file and double click the Dropbox icon.
- Dropbox should appear in your menu bar.
- Relink your account.

I hope this helps!

[Tamsin S.]

Thanks. Worked a treat.

[Ron K.6]

For those that helped It is all well and is working perfectly as it should THANKS

[Judy B.6]

I'm trying to follow the procedure recommended. After you start by downloading the newest version, it doesn't say to double click the .dmg. Without that , the dropbox icon in the menu bar shows the top level of my dropbox, without my signing in, and I don't see a Notifications panel . (on iMac, 2013 model, running Yosemite, if that means anything). I clicked the DMG and it says to double click the pkg to install . Is that what I do? that sort-of makes sense.
thanks for clarification.

[Alice J.]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I just upgraded from 10.8 to 10.10 - I am a network user (local account authenticates with AD). My old User account name wasn't recognized when I upgraded, so I had to migrate my old user account to my new user network name (basically, it just changed the name). This is why Dropbox got broken - it couldn't find the path to the old name, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

I was trying everything from removing my client folder and trying to deleting the plist, but nothing was working. Could not figure out how to change the name of the renamed user account. I finally did more intense searching and found this link. 

Notes: I never did have to stop Dropbox, since it wouldn't even launch! So no problem there. Also, I did not find the file in my user Library, DropboxHelperTools, but no problem either. It all is working again regardless.

THANK YOU!!

[Stefanie]

Hi Alice,

I'm super glad to hear everything is working again! 🙂

[Scott V.4]

I'm now on my 4th month with a Mac and am still learning my way around. Thank you so much for the help. This worked like a charm!

[Sue M.26]

Thanks, Terminal couldn't find the files in step 1 but deleting the Dropbox HelperTools folder did it for me!

[Stefanie]

Hi all,

If you cannot find the folder under Dropbox HelperTools that's ok, you can still continue with the rest of the instructions.

I'm glad this is working for you all!