cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

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
Go to solution

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.

254 Replies 254

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

I still await contact from Theo at Dropbox Support but as I am a Dropbox Basic user this takes a few days.  In a way it has been reassuring that Orion44 and Maze have reported the same problem - at one time I thought I might have a problem on my Windows 7 system. As Orion44 has also submitted a bug report, I trust we will soon have some response from Dropbox.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

I'm still waiting to hear from Theo of Dropbox Support.   Today there was an update for Dropbox but the Event Viewer error is still occurring.

orion44
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution
I can confirm the error is still occurring for me after the update as well.

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

I have now heard from Theo (Dropbox Support) who is still investigating.  I have told him that the problem has been noticed by other forum members and that a bug report has been submitted by one member.

 

I wondered at one time if a Windows update may have contributed to the problem but on looking back at my update records, this seems unlikely as there were no new Windows updates on my system between 12 October and 09 November..

roberto l.1
Explorer | Level 3
Go to solution

We have the same problem here with 3 Windows 8.1 Dell laptops. All of them have a clean install of Win 8.1 after formatting the hard drive. We have tried installing Dropbox as the first piece of software after all drivers are configured and we have no success. There is exactly the same error in the event log as described: 'Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.' Here are the Event Log details:

 

 Provider
   [ Name]DbxSvc
  
-EventID320
   [ Qualifiers]49154
  
 Level2
  
 Task3
  
 Keywords0x80000000000000
  
-TimeCreated
   [ SystemTime]2016-11-10T14:30:28.000000000Z
  
 EventRecordID1303
  
 ChannelApplication
  
 Computerxxxx
  
 Security

 

When we try to launch Dropbox via C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe it appears for several seconds in Task Manager and then disappears. There is a corresponding dmp file in C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\Dropbox\logs\1-crash-reports\Dropbox-win-14.4.19 for every attempted application start.

 

How can we resolve this?!! It´s impossible for us to work without Dropbox, and it seems impossible to get Dropbox working on Win 8.1. These machines cannot run Win 10.

 

Any help appreciated!

 

 

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

Hi Roberto,

 

When reading your post I realised I had an earlier edition of Dropbox.exe so I installed the version you are using.  I do not experience the difficulties you are facing.  The initial problem 'Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.' is still there but, as before with the earlier version of Dropbox, Windows is able to recover the situation and Dropbox works normally for the rest of the session.  My operating system is Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium Edition running on a desktop computer.  With your Windows 8.1 laptops, you appear to have additional problems as Windows seems not to be recovering the situation.

 

As I find the Windows Event Viewer for Windows 7 a little muddly, I use an alternative calle 'My Event Viewer' which has a simpler user interface.  I have copied the relevant items the program lists on start-up as follows:

 

97284 Application Error 10/11/2016 17:39:04 DbxSvc 3 320 Chris-PC 0 212 Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified.

 

97300 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:51 ESENT 3 300 Chris-PC 0 140 Windows (2120) Windows: The database engine is initiating recovery steps.


97301 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:51 ESENT 3 301 Chris-PC 0 272 Windows (2120) Windows: The database engine has begun replaying logfile C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS.log.
 
97302 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:52 ESENT 3 302 Chris-PC 0 140 Windows (2120) Windows: The database engine has successfully completed recovery steps.

 

97285 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:04 DbxSvc 2 258 Chris-PC 0 96 Pipe server thread started.
 
97283 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:04 DbxSvc 1 256 Chris-PC 0 96 Service started.

97303 Application Information 10/11/2016 17:39:53 Windows Search Service 1 1003 Chris-PC 0 132 The Windows Search Service started.

 

You will see in item 97300 that the database engine is initiating recovery steps and those steps are completed in item 97302.  In item 97285 0 96 Pipe server thread is started and in 97283 the 0 96 Service (DbxSvc) is started.  These items are listed in the sequence they appear although I have left out non-related information items.  Do you get any similar items in your Event Viewer after the initial error report (item 97284 in my list)?  Has Dropbox been set to start on system startup in the 'General' tab of 'Preferences'?  Have you previously had Dropbox working on the laptops before the bug appeared towards the end of October or is this a new installation after that time?  Hopefully one of the experts who visit this forum will be able to help you get Dropbox up and running even if the bug shown by the Event Viewer persists for a while.

pbuco
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

Just an idea...

 

Same here on my machine running Win 10 Pro and SSD.

After running CCleaner the program showed this registry entry:

 

ActiveX/COM Fehler  InProcServer32\C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Update\1.3.51.1\psmachine.dll HKCR\CLSID\{A4E4530A-938F-48EA-887D-FDF5DD769CB0}

 

This path ...\1.3.51.1\... seems to be incorrect - shouldn't it be ...\1.3.57.1\...? Any ideas?

 

Greetings from Austria

 

orion44
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

I see the same thing:

 

ActiveX/COM Issue InProcServer32\C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Update\1.3.27.37\psmachine.dll HKCR\CLSID\{88C53488-F54D-4BA3-AFAC-49E28CD76A8A}
ActiveX/COM Issue InProcServer32\C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Update\1.3.51.1\psmachine.dll HKCR\CLSID\{A4E4530A-938F-48EA-887D-FDF5DD769CB0}

Kester
Collaborator | Level 8
Go to solution

Hi,

 

I've checked my Dropbox Update folder which is 1.3.57.1 so the registry reference to 1.3.51.1 certainly appears odd.

 

Theo, the Dropbox Support contact has passed my queries on to a colleague, Benjamin, who suggested that security programs may be causing the problem.  I disabled anti-virus and reinstalled Dropbox but the issue remained even before I re-enabled the anti-virus program.  I suggested Benjamin looks at this thread as I believe the experiences of other forum members posting here may give a broader insight into the nature of the problem.

vkapartzianis
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

I'm having the exact same problem on Windows 10 (anniversary update). It's definitely a bug, reproducible every single time on various systems and it started appearing out of nowhere after a specific Dropbox version update.

Need more support?
Who's talking

Top contributors to this post

  • User avatar
    katnappa Explorer | Level 3
  • User avatar
    Ross_S Dropbox Staff
  • User avatar
    Kester Collaborator | Level 8
What do Dropbox user levels mean?