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Re: Windows 10 Quick Access Resets to Old (Incorrect) Dropbox Path

Windows 10 Quick Access Resets to Old (Incorrect) Dropbox Path

MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
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I installed a very large SSD main drive, then moved the DropBox files to that drive from a second drive.  I then unpinned the incorrect "Dropbox" from the Quick access tree in the File Explorer on the top left. Then I repinned the new and correct Dropbox path to Quick access by dragging it into Quick access.

Unfortunately, either Windows or Dropbox keeps changing the path back to the old one that is not valid.  Generally this change seems to happen after every reboot.

Does anyone have a solution to this annoyance?  I use Quick access a lot, and count on the Dropbox paths in that list being correct.

There is one other item to add to this: I have two Dropbox accounts in Quick access.  One is business and the other is personal. The business account path always works.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
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Walter - thank you for response. I found the solution and I explain it below.

The problem is not with Dropbox. It is with Windows 10.  If we try to unpin a path that does not exist from Windows 10 Quick access, then Windows may fail with the unpin - even though it does not appear to fail.  You will know that it fails after a Windows restart. The incorrect path continues to come back.

I know that it is also possible to reset Quick access - but I didn't want to do that because it would cause my setup to lose all the other paths there.

The solution I found is this:

1) In Quick access, right click on the path that keeps reappearing incorrectly.

2) Click on properties.

3) In the General tab menu, find the Location.  This will show a path. For example, my location showed "D:\Documents" - because the old path for Dropbox (Personal) was D:\Documents\Dropbox (Personal).

4) Using the File Explorer, manually create the path that was previously deleted.

5) In Quick access, unpin the reference to the path.

6) Drag and drop the correct Dropbox (Personal) path icon into Quick access.

After restarting windows, you will find the incorrect path does not come back again.

Regards,

Michael Cone

View solution in original post

8 Replies 8

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey there @MichaelCone - sorry for the tardy response, are you still having issues with this? 

If so, could you please provide me with a  screenshot so that I can have a better understanding of what could be causing this? 


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution

Walter - thank you for response. I found the solution and I explain it below.

The problem is not with Dropbox. It is with Windows 10.  If we try to unpin a path that does not exist from Windows 10 Quick access, then Windows may fail with the unpin - even though it does not appear to fail.  You will know that it fails after a Windows restart. The incorrect path continues to come back.

I know that it is also possible to reset Quick access - but I didn't want to do that because it would cause my setup to lose all the other paths there.

The solution I found is this:

1) In Quick access, right click on the path that keeps reappearing incorrectly.

2) Click on properties.

3) In the General tab menu, find the Location.  This will show a path. For example, my location showed "D:\Documents" - because the old path for Dropbox (Personal) was D:\Documents\Dropbox (Personal).

4) Using the File Explorer, manually create the path that was previously deleted.

5) In Quick access, unpin the reference to the path.

6) Drag and drop the correct Dropbox (Personal) path icon into Quick access.

After restarting windows, you will find the incorrect path does not come back again.

Regards,

Michael Cone

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Glad to hear you discovered this by yourself and also thank you for circling back here to let us know about this Michael - I appreciate it. 

If you ever come up with a Dropbox question, do let us know.

In the meantime, have a maginificent week ahead @MichaelCone!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
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I discovered that a seventh step is also important:

7) Using the File Explorer, manually delete the path that you created in step 4. 

If you leave the manually added temporary path on your drive, then Windows will find it again and reassign the path to the old one in Quick access.

MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution

Thank you for checking in @Walter!

I added a seventh step to the list.  I have had no problems with this path reappearing since I performed the steps I listed (including the sevent step).

 

MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
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Now it is three weeks later, and I have discovered multiple times that this did not solve the problem. 

I am convinced that this has nothing to do with Dropbox. It's probably just a Windows thing.  

The problem tends to come back after a reboot.  I'll continue to search.  I will try to figure out a way to notify big ship Microsoft.

MichaelCone
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution

Now I have learned that it is possible to programatically establish a path in the Quick Access using Windows API. 

So here is a question for the Dropbox developers:  Do your startup programs automatically create a pinned Quick access item for Dropbox at Windows start?

If they do pin the path automatically, then I would appreciate your adding a preference option of disallowing the automatic pin. I can manually add the pin myself.

 

 

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Thanks for the update @MichaelCone - I've reached out via email to the address you use for your forum's profile (thus creating a support ticket for you with ID: 8693755) with some questions in order to have a better view into this matter with all of our tools available.

When you get the chance, please reply to my message and we'll take it from there.

Happy Monday!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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