My AppData folder is more than 24 GB. What gives?

[patrick minas]

Hi,

I have up to 24GB in Users/UserName/AppData/Local/Dropbox/Update/Install. 

It contains hundreds of subfolders all with some version of Dropbox clients.

See attached.

I cannot delete them and I want to know how to avoid having them again.

[Walter]

Hi @patrick minas; welcome to our Community!

Your computer seems to be storing the executable files for our desktop app's installer and updater service since some of those come from previous builds (as shown within your screenshot). 

Can you let me know if you've installed multiple instances of our desktop app on this machine? Do you happen to be dual booting perhaps or using roaming profiles on your computer? 

In any case, I'd suggest a clean, advanced re-install to clear all previous traces of our desktop app and make sure to do it with admin privileges. 

Let me know how you get on, Patrick.

[patrick minas]

The system is running Windows Server and I have few other users also using it remotely but none with admin priviledge or even signed in with a dropbox account. Only admin is.

[Jay]

Hi @patrick minas, generally, whenever the Dropbox desktop application needs to update, the installation files are stored in that directory temporarily, and are then deleted from there once done.

If there is an issue with the installation, or the app doesn't have permission to delete, then the files remain there, as you can see.

You'll need to manually delete the files using admin privileges, or by accessing the machine directly.

[patrick minas]

I've uninstalled Dropbox and I am trying to delete these files while logged in as Administrator but still cant. Can't even change the persimssions or the owner of these files. See attached.

[Jay]

Thanks for the images. Could you clarify if you're signed in under a normal user profile, or the Administrator profile, when making the deletions?

Generally, that profile is hidden by default, and it isn't possible to elevate normal users to that level.

Deletion wouldn't be possible if you're on a normal user profile, since the app was installed in the Administrator account according to the filepath you have there.