I just got a new MacBook Air M1 running BigSur. Dropbox does show up in the Finder sidebar and it appears the Dropbox files and folders on my Mac have synced with Dropbox.com. However the dropbox icon does not show up in the tool bar at the top of the screen. Plus, I downloaded the Dropbox app but it won't start. error message is shown below. I am not on a network share. Don't know what is the deal with permissions. Suggestions?

Thanks for providing the full error-log MikeLV. Could you please try an advanced reinstall with admin privileges and let me know how it goes? While at it, please make sure that there's no antivirus or firewall that might be causing issues. Keel me posted with your progress!

Dropbox app won't start on M1 Mac running Big Sur

25 Replies

victoriabaum
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago
I have same problem and have 2T Pro, 3 allowed. Works on iPhone and old MacBook Air 😞
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Hey there MikeLV & victoriabaum, thanks for posting on our Community and sorry to hear about this.

Could both of you please click on the hypertext from your error message and send us the full error log?

This will help us assist further!
MikeLV
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago
Thank you for getting back to me. The error message I receive is at the top of this stream. FYI I have deleted and re-downloaded the installer numerous times and always get the same result. Also shut down and restarted the computer after deleting the installed app and the installer. None of that worked. I am running Mac OS BigSur version 11.4.

You asked for the full error log. It is very long. Here it is:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 125.4.3474
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 48
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 3c855c8f-1be4-5167-9ada-50e978519c94
pid: 12896
ppid: 1
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Mike', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michael Vaughn', pw_dir='/Users/Mike_1', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='Mike', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michael Vaughn', pw_dir='/Users/Mike_1', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mike', 'Patty', 'Mike', '_nsurlstoraged', '_serialnumberd'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mike', 'Patty', 'Mike', '_nsurlstoraged', '_serialnumberd'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/Mike_1'
appdata: '/Users/Mike_1/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/Mike_1/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/Mike_1/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/Mike_1/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/dp/6dr17q2s32s1p26mmx5tt44m0000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/dp/6dr17q2s32s1p26mmx5tt44m0000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 819, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6472, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 307, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6005, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5932, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 225, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 275, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 219, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 149, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 223, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 597, in _init_new_engine_locked
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 182, in __init__
File "extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> Opening dst |>> open syscall |>> Permission denied"
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Thanks for providing the full error-log MikeLV.

Could you please try an advanced reinstall with admin privileges and let me know how it goes?

While at it, please make sure that there's no antivirus or firewall that might be causing issues.

Keel me posted with your progress!
MikeLV
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago
It worked! I must tell you, the Terminal thing is not easy to figure out but after a couple tries, I got it.
Tim T.
Explorer | Level 3
4 years ago
The advanced reinstall works (as does re-initializing the drive, reinstalling the macOS, and then restoring files/applications/etc from a Time Machine backup previous to the appearance of the problem). However, the Cannot Start Dropbox error keeps coming back—in some cases after any restart, or after sleep (note: my SSD is set to never sleep), or—as in this last reinstall of Dropbox—upon the first attempt to start Dropbox at the end of the install process. I have made sure the Dropbox app is allowed incoming traffic through the firewall, I have excluded the Dropbox app from being scanned by Bitdefender anti-virus.

Dropbox has become unusable. This is a REAL problem, as I use it to coordinate with colleagues (other consultants) for work. If Dropbox doesn't fix this new (only began in the last two weeks - no changes in my software/OS during that time) problem soon, I will have to abandon it for some other cloud service. I like Dropbox and have never had problems like this before.
MikeB2
Explorer | Level 3
4 years ago
My M1 Mac started showing this "Couldn't start Dropbox" error this morning. I've uninstalled, reinstalled (126.4.4618), and performed the advanced reinstall, always with the same error on startup. I finally renamed the DropBox folder then reinstalled. It recognized it as a "new" install, but still ended up with the same error message.

Error file contains:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 126.4.4618
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 48
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 81473c3e-02f8-54bb-bc0e-2632fb565d70
pid: 10648
ppid: 1
uid: 502
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='User', pw_dir='/Users/user', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='user', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='User', pw_dir='/Users/user', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
euid: 502
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mjbunnell', 'user', 'mike', 'boinc_master', 'boinc_project'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'mjbunnell', 'user', 'mike', 'boinc_master', 'boinc_project'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/user'
appdata: '/Users/user/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/user/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
dropbox_path: None
not found
parent not found
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/vw/hs31tvjn26d1mypmb2zsztn80000gp/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/vw/hs31tvjn26d1mypmb2zsztn80000gp/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 834, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6622, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 5689, in _create_root_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6818, in create_dropbox_folder
File "dropbox/fsutil.pyc", line 655, in safe_makedirs
File "os.pyc", line 223, in makedirs
PermissionError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Users/user/Dropbox'
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago
Hey MikeB2, thanks for posting your error log here!

Does the error remain after an Advanced re-install, and rebooting your device?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there.
MikeB2
Explorer | Level 3
4 years ago
Lori,

Yes, the error persists after regular & advanced re-install, and reboots...
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago
Hi MikeB2, thanks for the info!

Would it be okay for me to reach out to you via email, so we can have a closer look into this together?