Disable automatic updates

[Mike G.]

How can I prevent dropbox from automatically updating itself? The new dropbox 3 has a very anti-windows-7 UI that I don't like, so I reinstalled 2.10. How do I stop dropbox from continually installing v3?

[Warren G.1]

The only way I could get the updates to stop was uninstalling the program. Which was a shame, since I've always really liked Dropbox. But I won't tolerate any software which won't let me opt out of automatic updates!

[Stefan F.2]

[Had to delete and post once again to correct a character eaten by the publishing system, couldn't find a way to just edit my post]

A way to block updates is called "Software Restriction Policies" : see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457006.aspx#EJAA for Windows XP/2003 or https://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/hh994597.aspx#BKMK_Path_Rules for later versions. It may not work with basic versions of Windows ("Home", "Starter"...) .

What I did on XP Professional (tried to guess the English because I'm on a French version) :
- Start > Run : secpol.msc
- Software Restrictions Policies > Additional Rules
- Right click > New Path Rule
- Path : {YourPathToDropBox}\ .dropbox.cache\dropbox-upgrade-*.exe
- Security : Disallowed

Then when the rule is matched, an event ID 866 with the source "Software Restriction Policies" is written in Windows event log "Application".

[Richard D.48]

Stephan F.'s solution works brilliantly for me in both a Win 7 Pro and an XP Pro environment. The key is certainly the secpol.msc security policy preventing the automatic upgrade from executing.

My problem was that 3.6.7 stopped reliably syncing on the XP based VM, and the newer beta releases similarly failed. You already know the drill when I uninstalled Dropbox and re-installed earlier versions -- 30 minutes later I'm dragged back kicking and screaming to 3.6.7, but now with hundreds of "conflicted" files to deal with. I finally saw Stephan's answer and decided to try it by dropping all the way back to 2.10.52.

When installing 2.10.52 I disabled the two upgrade services that it registers, and deleted the upgrade "helper" exe and added the security policy per Stephan's instructions. The security policy totally prevents 2.10.52 from executing the downloaded upgrades (even though its is apparently regularly trying hard to do so). Note that even though the "hover over" system tray/notification area pop-up status balloon may say that Dropbox is upgrading, it is in fact not doing so. And the 2.10.52 syncing is continuing despite the upgrading message (which eventually clears).

All is well. Nice work Stephan!

[Tom B.29]

Merci, Stefan! I don't think the * blocked it, so I made it an explicit file name (...3.6.7), which worked and showed up in the log as you said. Here's fingers crossed that the * version I left works in the future.

[sciensys ..]

1. remove from startup in regedit check Dropbox Update location in msconfig startup tab

if x64 - HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\currentVersion\Run
if x32 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\currentVersion\Run

1. remove 2 updates services if present check service name in services.msc

sc delete <service name>

1. remove 2 scheduled update tasks

SchTasks /Delete /TN DropboxUpdateTaskMachineUA
SchTasks /Delete /TN DropboxUpdateTaskMachineCore

[Stefan F.2]

Tom B., did you remove the space between "{YourPathToDropBox}\" and ".dropbox.cache\dropbox-upgrade-*.exe" ? I put this space to avoid loosing some characters when publishing in the forum. Then, which Windows version are you using ?

You could also try with just "upgrade-*.exe" without path, but this will even block manual updates launched from anywhere.

[Tom B.29]

Stefan, thanks for the idea, but I copied and pasted the path from my file explorer, and the path proved correct when preventing 3.6.7 from running. This is an XP box I"m running only as a printer due to lack of Win 7 drivers for a workhorse printer. I use selective sync to deliver the files I need to print. Sadly, selective sync reliably crashes the machine with any of the version 3's I tried, even early ones. I'll tinker with that security policy some more, though, thanks for an inventive way to deal with it!

[Tom B.29]

Sciensys, I haven't tried yours...I'll investigate that as I play with Stefan's way some more. Thnx for the alternative.

[Richard D.48]

And Stefan F's brilliant solution will even work on Windows versions where Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, have omitted secpol.msc. I have a Windows 7 Home Premium that lacks secpol.msc. Luckily I also have Windows 7 Professional machines where I have added Stefan's policies. I simply exported the registry entries created by Stefan's hack and imported them to the Windows 7 Home Premium machine's registry. The registry entries are located in HKCU and HKLM in:

Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects{ ... UUID ... }Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Paths\

You will see the ".dropbox.cache\dropbox-upgrade-*.exe" path included as part of the entry. Once imported my Windows 7 Home Premium laptop is also cured.

Thanks again, Stefan!

[Len K.]

Seems to work on XP Ver 3.

They say they are working on fix in New Program who cares it works great in old version. Thanks again