Dropbox stuck at "Starting"

Update: a complete uninstall, and reinstall using the latest offline installer (version 52.4.60) seemed to fix the problem.

All comments

Hey @samurai023 - I am sorry to hear about this. Let's see what could be causing this now.

First off, bear in mind that often, the antivirus or security software on your computer blocks Dropbox from completing the startup process. To see if this is the issue, follow these steps:

A. Temporarily disable any antivirus or security programs on your computer.

B. Reinstall the Dropbox application using our offline installer.

I hope this helps and please keep me posted. Thank you.

@Walter

Thank you very much for prompt reply.

Actually I am not sure I have anti-virus software or not. I googled on how to check this on mac, but found nothing useful. But even if I do have anti-virus software, it causes no such problem in the past three years.

I have been using offline installer.

Do you have any other clue? Would this be a compatability issue with macOS Sierra?

Thanks for the swift response @samurai023 - I appreciate it.

In regards to the security settings that might be causing this, take a look here. Another thing I would check now is the number of the files inside your Dropbox folder as the performance of the Dropbox application starts to decline after reaching about 300,000 files.

If that's not the case, let me know and we'll take it from there. Thanks!

@Walter

Thanks a lot for further instrcutions.

I turned off anti-virus software. But it is still not working. There are 14,000 files in my Dropbox folder, much less than 300,000. So this is not the cause of my problem.

I also tried to re-isntall macOS, which does not work either.

Hey there @samurai023 - sorry to hear this persists.

I have reached out to you via email to see into this issue together. Check your inbox at your earliest convenience and reply to my email to get started!

Thanks in advance for your response and cooperation so far. Have a great day ahead and talk to you via email!

Helle, I'm having the exact same problem as samurai023. I've tried to uninstall/reinstall Dropbox, change security settings, but nothing worked.

OS: macOS Sierra Version 10.12.5

Dropbox version: v52.4.58

Dropbox account: both Personal and Business.

Sorry to hear that you have the same problem. Did you update your macOS recently?

I haven't updated my system for a while. I'm still on Sierra version 10.12.5.

I see. Then probably this problem is not due to new macOS. Hope we can find a solution soon.

Update: a complete uninstall, and reinstall using the latest offline installer (version 52.4.60) seemed to fix the problem.

@cccome

Hey @cccome - thanks for posting what worked for you - glad to hear you got this sorted out in the end.

@samurai023: I have just provided you with an update via email - let me know when you get the chance to see it.

Cheers!

[EDIT: Quick note on this: Our latest stable version of the desktop app seems to have resolved this issue.]

Mongrot

Wait, what? Dropbox can't handle more than 300,000 files? Why on earth do you offer a 2TB solution if you can't handle a lot of files? I've been waiting for over 30 minutes for Dropbox to leave "Starting..." and actually start syncing something. I've tried updating and all of the other suggestions, but the app is still sucking pond water.

Sorry to hear that @Mongrot - are you still having this issue?

If so, for how long has it been stuck at "Starting" on your device(s)? Would you mind sharing a screenshot of the message on the desktop app to have a visual too? Also, are you using Windows or Macs?

Let me know and we'll take it from there.

Cyril_linux

Hi Walter,
I am running dropbox on Linux, and the status is suck on : starting... I have heard that dropbox stopped syncing with some Linux service.
How could I fix this situation ?

Hey there @Cyril_linux - apologies for the delayed response.

If you're sure you're running our desktop app on a supported configuration meeting our minimum requirements, the next thing to check here is security programs such as antivirus and firewalls, while this could also be related to your proxy (or even VPN if you use one) settings.

I hope this information helps to some extent and please keep me posted on your findings Cyril.

romarmcintyre

I am stuck in this problem now. I am not using Mac OS. I use Windows 10 and it's the first time I have been experiencing this problem in my 3 machines this year since I used Dropbox from 2009. I think there's something wrong with Dropbox.

Erik N.2

I have the same problem.

"complete uninstall" - do you mean I have to remove also the Dropbox folder with all data from the computer to make this work?

Erik N

MaryGrummer

Same problem. Updated to Mojave 10.14.2 Running Dropbox v63.4.107 on a late 2015 iMac. I uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox (which takes several days as my system has a million total files, which I selective synch to my computer). It worked for a couple of days then it stalled again at Starting.

I have restarted Dropbox and restarted the computer. I have a laptop which I did not upgrade to Mojave and Dropbox works fine on this. My entire team relies on Dropbox.

Do you happen to have any symlinks on the affected machine @MaryGrummer? If so, could you try removing them?

As you know, the performance of the Dropbox desktop app can decline if you have more than 300,000 files synced to your computer. This is a soft limit and depends highly on the hardware specifications of the computer running the app. Some customers can sync more files without issue.

Moreover, as you also know, the best way to improve this is to use Selective Sync to reduce the file count of your Dropbox Folder - assuming that this issue is not caused by an antivirus, firewall or VPN/proxy setting to begin with.

Keep me posted on your progress Mary! Oh, and happy new Year!

MontanaBob

@MaryGrummer - I have the same issue. Have you found any relief?

thx

Bob

Erik N.2

My problems with lengthy, almost-never-ending, syncing appear to have been overcome after I have radically selected what to sync to my computers and what not.

Mongrot

I downgraded back to Pro (from Professional) and turned off the Smart Sync. No more issues.

tinybop

I have the same issue after upgrading to Mojave 10.14.4 / Dropbox 69.4.102.

Endless "starting" state.

No firewall.

Neither by Business nor my Personal account is syncing.

tinybop

p.s. My Dropbox log is complaining about a caches:

[0318/115651.043593:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(154)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0318/134447.858161:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(154)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0319/170242.641449:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(154)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0319/174251.291730:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(154)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0319/183029.766904:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0319/183034.116619:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0319/183034.116711:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0319/183034.116774:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0320/083650.941137:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0320/083704.823474:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0320/083706.021465:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0320/083706.021621:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0320/150726.718039:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(351)] Failed to read DnsConfig.
[0320/150739.016801:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(351)] Failed to read DnsConfig.
[0320/150741.105279:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0320/150745.872825:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0320/150748.580332:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0320/150748.580562:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0320/161953.350471:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(351)] Failed to read DnsConfig.
[0320/162037.609980:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(351)] Failed to read DnsConfig.
[0320/162037.661896:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0320/162123.128419:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0320/170329.061667:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0326/093121.835006:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0326/093202.155877:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0326/093202.615137:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0326/093202.615310:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/084205.668478:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/084253.196979:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/084254.303496:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/084254.971789:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/140000.067681:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/140030.456424:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/140030.456520:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/140030.456581:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/143702.157926:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/143734.063118:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/143735.212992:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/143735.343128:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/150323.360530:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/150326.333855:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/150326.333926:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/150326.333964:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/151746.733723:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/151752.603684:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/151752.603767:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/151752.603850:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/160414.705680:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/160439.208413:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/160441.154703:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/160441.155989:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2
[0327/164528.481359:WARNING:dns_config_service_posix.cc(174)] dns_config has unhandled options!
[0327/164531.522171:ERROR:cache_util.cc(134)] Unable to move cache folder GPUCache to old_GPUCache_000
[0327/164531.522245:ERROR:disk_cache.cc(169)] Unable to create cache
[0327/164531.522282:ERROR:shader_disk_cache.cc(600)] Shader Cache Creation failed: -2

Did you check the other factors as well @tinybop?

Vladan76

I have the same problem. Dropbox keeps starting forever.

My sync folder is on E/Dropbox and program is stuck in "starting" for about 4 days.

Windows 10/64bit