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Dropbox sync stuck on main computer

I have my main computer running windows10 hosting a lot of files (let's call him gustavo), in the beginning it costed me 3 days to make the full index but I need al these files on this pc (615029 files)

The syncing finished after 3 days and since then everything was ok... Untill I booted some other computer containing new (and old) files that needed to be synced. After the sync gustavo seemed like to have lost its Dropbox index or wanted to refresh it fully (no reason for it, only a little files where updated trough the other computer). So it started to show the blue (need to sync) icon on all the folders. It advanced to: 487 237. There it got stuck. Now the computer is for 4 days showing the same ammount of files need to be synced... nothing is advancing. Off course I rebooted my pc, restarted the Dropbox deamon (or app) but nothing seems to help.

Two questions:

what can I do to quickly solve this problem cause no new file are syncing now and that is very irritating for my work.
how come this issue appears to happen all the time after I booted some computer containing dropbox files that need to be synced (mostly a pc that was not on for a long time).

Please help me out Drtopbox cause this is not the first time it happens. The only solution last times was to completely rebuilt my index which will take for daaays! So please can you provide a more constructive solution?

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Kleajmp F.

OK since the Dropbox staff never had any decent solutions I decided to do some research myself and fixed the problem:

backup your QLLite database where "selective sync" folders are stored:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1\config.dbx
unlink Dropbox account:
preferences > account > unlink this dropbox
relink your dropbox account and select the same folder where it used to be before
when dropbox sync is not working yet:
unistall dropbox
delete: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1\*.*
reinstall dropbox
close dropbox.exe
replace the "config.dbx" in your: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1 folder with the backuped one.
start Dropbox.exe
relink your dropbox account and select the same folder where it used to be before
victoreeeey! (all your selective sync settings are still there)

All comments

Lusil

Hi there @Kleajmp F. - Thanks for reaching out to us on the Dropbox Community!

At first, awesome work on the initial troubleshooting! Definitely gives us a better understanding of what's happening.

Could you please clarify for me if you're running the stable version of the desktop app on your computer (named gustavo) by hovering over your Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock?

Cheers!

Kleajmp F.

Win10 x64 Dropbox v90.4.307

Fiona

Hey @Kleajmp F.! Thanks for letting us know you are on our latest stable version.

Let's follow the steps below in the exact order you see below.

Make sure the Dropbox desktop application is running.
Click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then click on the gear in the Notifications panel.
Select 'Preferences'
Click on the 'Account' tab, and then click in the window under the tab (just anywhere will do)
Hold down the 'Space' key.
Click on the 'Fix Hardlinks' button.
You may be prompted for your a username and password, this is your computer login credentials, not your Dropbox account ones.
Please wait about ten minutes to see if Dropbox resumes syncing
If the above steps don’t resolve your issue, please repeat steps 1→5, but at step 6, this time click on the “Fix Permissions” button.

Note:pushpin:

Syncing will start back over after you use the “Fix Permissions” button. This is why we need to allow a few hours to pass and let me know if syncing becomes stuck again.

Get back to us for any questions or concerns.

Thank you!

Kleajmp F.

Hi,

The Fix Hardlinks sollution I had already tried but didn't work
Now I'm resetting the permissions, I noticed it started a cmd:
icacls G:\Dropbox /T /Q /C /reset

The owner of the Dropbox directory is GUSTAV/Administrators
My user is part of the Administrators group but since Windows10 even an admin user account does not automaticaly have elevated rights untill you elevate.

The Fix Permissions process is now finished, I see the files still have the same owner. Can you give me more technical info please what exactly the permissions need to be to make Dropbox sync or index correctly?

extra info about the syncing:
when I create new files inside my Dropbox folder they get syncted (I can see in the status window). But the syncing on excisting folders does not seem to advance, the blue icon keeps being there. The previous suggested fixes do not seem to help.

Any more suggestions?
The need to sync number is now on 487 240.
Yesterday it was: 487 237.

Fiona

Let's make sure that anotyher app is not keeping these files/folders busy at the time. :arrows_counterclockwise:

Please quit any other programs that might be using these files by following these steps:

On Windows:
1) Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys at the same time.
2) Select "Start Task Manager."
3) Select the "Processes" tab.
4) Select any apps running except Dropbox and press the "End Process" button.

Then quit and restart the Dropbox desktop app and see how this goes.

Thank you for your patience with this.

Kleajmp F.

Closing the other Apps does not help. Closing all processes/services I cannot do cause it makes my computer crash with a blue screen as it are essensial services to run windows. It must be something with the index. I remember I had a similar problem in the past (corrupt index) and the only working solution was to delete de sigstore.dbx

open C:\Users\rogez\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1
close dropbox.exe
delete sigstore.dbx
open dropbox.exe

the problem with this solution is that the full index needs to be rebuilt and that will take a lot of time. so any other solution?

Fiona

I aggree with you @Kleajmp F..

Let's run an advanced reinstall. This will delete any traces of the app for you to start over fresh. This should solve it.

Keep me posted!

Kleajmp F.

Yeah I know it will work again if I do a full reset. But the reason I'll started this threat is because I don't want to do a full reset. I have a lot of files to be synced and a lot of folders with subfulders unchecked in my selective sync. So it will take a lot of time. Thats why I expect a more advanced solution than just a full reset. How can I keep or set back the list of excluded folders in selective sync on Windows? I remember I did it once on Linux with a terminal command so it must be possible on Windows no?

Fiona

I am afraid if things don't work as they should, we need to troubleshoot taking this step at this point.

We don't have a command for Windows that could help with this syncing issue, unfortunately.

Let me know if you need more help with this.

Kleajmp F.

ok, I will try to ask my question more clear:

in what file or database does Dropbox store the "selective sync settings"?

maybe this is not a question on your answer list, but it would really help me if it could be answered, so maybe if you have a second line support or you could pass it to the developers? It would be very helpful as this problem occurs more than 4 times a year and it's really annoying to set back al the selective sync folders manually every time I need to do a rebuild of the corrupted index.

Kleajmp F.

OK since the Dropbox staff never had any decent solutions I decided to do some research myself and fixed the problem:

backup your QLLite database where "selective sync" folders are stored:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1\config.dbx
unlink Dropbox account:
preferences > account > unlink this dropbox
relink your dropbox account and select the same folder where it used to be before
when dropbox sync is not working yet:
unistall dropbox
delete: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1\*.*
reinstall dropbox
close dropbox.exe
replace the "config.dbx" in your: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Dropbox\instance1 folder with the backuped one.
start Dropbox.exe
relink your dropbox account and select the same folder where it used to be before
victoreeeey! (all your selective sync settings are still there)