Cannot run Dropbox after connecting to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

[Ed O.1]

I have been running Windows 7 with Dropbox without any issues.

After connecting the Windows 7 PC to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essential I started having problems with Dropbox.
Connecting to the server essentials removes the PC from a Homegroup and creates a new user account which is a member of a Domain.
Installing the connector software copies the old Homegroup user files to a new Domain user.

After logging in to the domain account the Dropbox desktop application would not place an icon into the system tray although task manager showed a dropbox.exe.

Followed the directions from the help center for desktop application not starting I unlinked the computer from Dropbox.

Since the desktop application would not run I could not relink as described in the help article.

Attempted to uninstall the dropbox application but the uninstaller would just hang.

Attempted to reinstall the dropbox application but had the same issue, application would not open.

If I log out of the domain account and log into the machine as a "local" (non - domain) user, I am able to install the Dropbox application and it successfully synchs.

All indications are that the "new" Domain user account which was created by connecting to the Server 2012 has some sort of user permission issue.
Perhaps the Dropbox application needs to "Run as Administrator"?

I have not tried the "For our advanced users" instructions for removing the settings vial the icacls command yet as this seems somewhat drastic and I did not completely understand how to modify the commands to work with the location of my Dropbox folder.

[Ed O.1]

Is there any chance that someone can help me with this issue?

[Trevor M.7]

Hi. I am having exactly the same problems. Dropbox works as a local user, but I normally want to run as the domain user.
When logged into the domain I can see Dropbox.exe*32 as a process in task manager, but not in the system tray or on the desktop and it is not syncing the dropbox folder. Running Dropbox again from the start menu just adds another copy of Dropbox.exe*32 as a process but cannot access it.

[Ed O.1]

Hi Trevor M., sorry that you are seeing the same problem

I my scenario Dropbox was working fine until I connected to Server 2012 Essentials.
I have used Dropbox on domain machines without any problems in the past.
On those machines, Dropbox was installed after the domain user was created not before.

I logged a trouble ticket but did not get a good answer. I will post here with new info when available.

Perhaps you might try logging a trouble ticket also

[Ed O.1]

Just to keep this post current, I have tried the "iacls" commands as described in the help sections with the same results.

dropbox.exe is running as shown by the task manager buy no system try icon

[Bryan S.1]

I'm having the same issue, I see dropbox.exe running idle using ~30MB in the task manager but it won't load. I've been able to reproduce this issue on all computers either Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows Server 2012 where the user is joined to a domain and dropbox was previously installed in another profile. Roaming profiles are not enabled and I have tried everything I can find here in the forums.

A fresh install of 8.1 pro joined directly to the domain did work, but none of the other computers. I tried the latest unstable release as of 5/17/2015, and all users have full admin rights but no luck.

[Ed O.1 · Accepted solution]

I finally got this figured out.
The solution requires editing the Dropbox registry keys.
The keys had the old local users permission and not the domain users permission.

The clue to the solution was found here https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/communities/public/questions/201382199-Dropbox-app-does-not-load-pro...
In my case I modified permissions on these keys.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Dropbox
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Dropbox\ks
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Dropbox\ks1
First change ownership to the domain name on each key.
Then change permision for the domain user to full access for each key.
Then reboot to allow the registry changes to take effect.
After the reboot I was able to uninstall Dropbox and then re-install.

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Ask a Question section here.]