Dropbox fails to start with Windows 10

[Callayne]

Dropbox 66.4.84 starting...
This takes about a half hour to an hour every time I turn on my HP Envy Notebook, i7laptop.  I'm running Windows 10 with 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor, 16.0 GB RAM, Intel(R) Core(TM i7-6400U CPU @ 2.50 GHz 2.59 GHz.

I've tried everything listed on here where people had the same problem, and nothing has changed.  It is definitely set to start when I turn my computer on. 

Once it finally does start, it doesn't seem to take overly long to update my files from my desktop to my laptop.

Thank you,

Cindy

[Jay]

Hi Cindy, have you updated your Windows installation to the latest version?

Could you try checking out this article to see if the steps there help narrow down the reason for the slowdown when running the app?

Thanks in advance!

[Callayne]

This is my latest update:

2019-01 Update for Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems (KB4023057) Successfully installed on 1/18/2019.

The article you sent me to seems to be applying to trouble with syncing, which isn't my problem.  My problem is in getting the app to start in a decent amount of time.  Once it starts, the syncing happens fairly quickly.  I have selectively synced only certain of my Dropbox files onto this laptop so that there wouldn't be a heavy load.

Thanks for your continued help in figuring this out!  I appreciate it!

[Jay]

The article refers to general reasons why the app would run slow, or take up CPU.

The first thing I’d recommend checking is if there are more than 300,000 files in your Dropbox folder. 

If so, then the performance of the app will decrease, which would be reflected in the time it takes to load the app upon booting.

[Callayne]

Are you meaning 300,000 files online on 300,000 files that I am syncing on my laptop?  If it's on my laptop, then nowhere near that.  I even doubt there are that many in my account online.  Also, I don't have this same problem on my desktop which has pretty much the same files syncing.

[Jay]

Both really, the 300,000 files on the site would be the ‘maximum’ number of files you have. If you use selective sync to bring your machine to under 300,000 files, then this would help speed things up.

The limit of 300,000 files is a ‘soft limit’, meaning that it varies depending on the power of your hardware. 

Generally, desktop machines are more powerful than laptops, so this would make sense that the laptop wouldn’t be able to handle that many files, while the desktop has no issue.

[Callayne]

How do I find out how many files I have?  Are you talking folders or files?
Also, my problem isn't with syncing; it's with starting the Dropbox app itself.

[Jay]

You can check the number of files in your Dropbox folder by right clicking the folder and ‘Properties’. Give it a little time for the total file count to finish.

Like I mentioned, the Dropbox desktop application is starting slowly for various reasons, one possibility being that there are too many files on your account.

[Callayne]

Done.  It says I have 238,112 files. 2, 249 folders

[Jay]

After checking the Windows version you mentioned, it is running an older version, could you try updating it to version 1809?

However, the primary reason for the delay is that the Dropbox application needs to perform a quick re-index whenever it is restarted (or paused/resumed) to check if any files changed since the client was last run. 

This process may well take longer when the process is competing with other services or applications that are also begin to run when your computer initially starts.

One way to remedy this would be to delay the startup of the Dropbox client with a 3rd party application or script. However, this isn’t something I could provide assistance on how to do.