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Surprising fix to linux account-linking problem: login via pure text terminal, rather than X desktop
Dear Dropbox folks, I was having difficulty getting Dropbox to work on Linux (Ubuntux 18.04), and had removed and reinstalled the dropbox client without success. Even when I reinstalled the daemon with dropbox start -i, I still never was able to get the message: Starting... To link this computer to a Dropbox account, visit the following url: https://www.dropbox.com/cli_link_nonce?nonce=[some string] I had unlinked the Linux box via the web interface, and I had expected that completely deleting my Dropbox installation, folder, .dropbox and .dropbox-dist dirs would remove any linking info locally on my computer, hence prompting dropbox newly to set up linking to this machine when I started the daemon. However, that didn't happen. That was when I was logged in via a standard graphical desktop, which was a detail that I didn't think was relevant. However, when I logged in remotely to the Linux box via a purely text-based ssh-window, and ran dropbox start from there, suddenly I did get the long sought after "To link this computer" message, along with the link, and that link worked. It seems that somehow the dropbox client is better at asking for machine-linking via a text-only client than when it is run as part of a graphical X Windows desktop? This seems weird, but it appears to be what happened. Anyway, I figured I'd post this, in case anyone else is having similar problems. Raj
Connection Issues: Computer is currently offline
After uninstalling and reinstalling the dropbox app, I could not get the desktop app to connect back to my account. It would keep getting me the message: "computer is currently offline", even though my internet was functioning correctly. After several hours I found the reason and the only solution that will work. 1. logon to your dropbox account on a web browser. 2. go to settings > security 3. scroll down to devices 4. find the device (desktop or laptop) that you are trying to connect, and delete it 5. restart your router 6. restart your computer. 7. make sure that your computer time and date are synced and accurate with the time zone that you're at now. Now try to click on your desktop app, and it should prompt you to link your dropbox account to your desktop application. Good luck!
Basic account allows to to three devices whether those devices still exist or not
Beware. We ran into this issue while trying to document a different issue. Apparently the three devices counts any device which was logged in in the past and never explicitly logged out. My wife had two devices currently in use, her laptop on which she could not sign in, and her phone on which she had closed the app. But she had a prior laptop and tablet, on both of which she had used Dropbox before. Opening the Dropbox app on her phone, she then explicitly signed out there, THEN she could sign in on her laptop. Then it gets interesting. On sign-in, she was plopped into the setup sequence, even though she had used Dropbox on that laptop just days before. There appeared to be no way to escape it, so we went through. After that the original issue was gone!
Desktop app syncing, connecting, and other problems might be a beta
Some issues with the desktop application are sometimes because of using a beta version (I’ve just learned about what beta means). This can be problems with syncing, connecting, starting up, and more. Make sure that your version has a 4 in the middle (like the current one 149.4.4568) because that means it is a stable version. If you have a 3 in the middle (like 150.3.4987) you are using a beta version. To turn this off, turn off Early Releases in your account settings online like this https://help.dropbox.com/accounts-billing/settings-sign-in/enable-early-releases. Then, install the current stable version by going here https://www.dropbox.com/downloading. You do not need to uninstall the desktop app beta. Just install the stable one over it. 😎
