Dropbox keeps wanting to connect my computer (it already is)

[Peter G]

Every time I start my system (Fedora 37) - Dropbox opens my browser and asks if I want to connect my computer to my Dropbox account. It already is and if I select yes it does nothing and selecting cancel un-syncs my computer with Dropbox. I can't get rid of this prompt and I'm not sure where it's originating from otherwise I'd go in and get rid of it. If there's no easy fix, I'll just uninstall Dropbox and reinstall it, but I'm leery of getting this issue again.

[Здравко]

Hi @Peter G,

You didn't mention what version of Dropbox application is in use. Did you try to clean up your application daemon to see if that can solve something? Execute following command in your terminal (in the same order) to make sure everything is up:

dropbox stop
rm -rf ~/.dropbox*
dropbox start -i

With the last command you will be invited to link (sign in) again (let's hope will be the last).

There are some known issues too with the mechanism ensuring singleton run of Dropbox application (some race conditions appear sometimes). Dropbox development doesn't do anything about and if that's your issue, you may try to avoid it (make such effects less likely). There are different ways, but most simple one is to turn off "Start Dropbox on system startup" checkbox in your application preferences. So, from that on you'll have to be checking and if Dropbox doesn't run, be turning it on by hand. If the last solves your issue, you may think to introduce running delay as a workaround during auto-start.

Good luck!

[Peter G]

It's still doing it. Every time I restart or logoff, it asks to connect. I've done as you suggested - I've uninstalled and reinstalled the daemon, both as a normal install and as a flatpak and it still does it. I notice that the .dropbox-dist folder in ~/ is set with no read permissions at all even though it lists me as the owner. Is that what's going on here? It keeps wanting to reconnect because it can't write to this folder?

This is Fedora 37.

[Здравко · Accepted solution]

Hi again @Peter G,

It's still not clear what version of Dropbox application/daemon is in use. To see it, you can type following command in a terminal:

dropbox version

You'll get back the application's control script and daemon version.

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@Peter G wrote:

... I've done as you suggested - I've uninstalled and reinstalled the daemon, both as a normal install and as a flatpak and it still does it. ...

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I have never suggested to uninstall/install something! Till now I supposed you have installed the official application' package only. Don't mix different install, since it can be a reason (multiple application instances can try access the same resources simultaneously)!

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@Peter G wrote:

... I notice that the .dropbox-dist folder in ~/ is set with no read permissions at all even though it lists me as the owner. Is that what's going on here? It keeps wanting to reconnect because it can't write to this folder?

...

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No, it cannot be a reason. Most probably you intentionally blocked Dropbox application auto-update and have forgotten what's done. Now you can unblock it (if desirable). If you can't do it in other way, following updated command list may help:

dropbox stop
chmod -R a+rw ~/.dropbox*
rm -rf ~/.dropbox*
dropbox start -i

To works the above, it's needed you have installed Dropbox official distribution only. Uninstall anything else you may have installed in advance.

[Peter G]

Sorry for the necro, but it still does it. Kubuntu 23.10 - it wants to re-link my account every time I log in. I've applied your fixes and it's still the same story. This is the Dropbox official app, not the one downloaded via my distro's store or repository. Dropbox is set to autostart via KDE's start and shutdown dialogue.

Edit: It seems to be a KDE thing. I log in with i3 and dropbox starts normally, without prompting me to connect my account. Will take it up with the KDE folks.

[Здравко]

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@Peter G wrote:

... Dropbox is set to autostart via KDE's start and shutdown dialogue.

...

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@Peter G, Dropbox setups itself for autostart. You don't need to do it in any other way. Even more - it's known bug that Dropbox may get confused if you try it, so you must not do it!

Unfortunately, Dropbox support for Linux is far from the best and such bugs left without attention from development department. 🤷

In general all Dropbox applications should be singleton applications - i.e. at every particular moment must not run more than one application. The applications themself have to ensure it. Dropbox application for Linux doesn't do it properly and there are situations where more than one application may start. That's where different 'symptoms' (like your) can bring up. Take with care when handling Dropbox application - it's buggy. The application can get confused even when desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, or any other) tries restore previous session and autorun start Dropbox at the same time (2 applications or more start simultaneously). Workaround may be delay in running - something that lets application detect that another one is running already (the bug workaround).