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I've been having issues with Dropbox for months. Getting stuck indexing anywhere from 1-80 files

Hi everyone,

I'm a Win10 user running Dropbox v159.4.5870 on a business account with about 10 other users, all of which do not share the issues I have. I also share a Dropbox account with one person and they don't have any of the issues listed below:

I've been having issues with Dropbox for months causing it to get stuck indexing anywhere from 1-80 files. Other times it gets stuck uploading a handful of files while downloading 1-80 files. One other issue that might be related is I have about 376 files under "Sync Issues". About 30% are "Couldn't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename, e.g. emojis, / \ . " < > : | ? * ", the other 70% are "Couldn't upload. Give Dropbox permission to access this file.".

Non of these issues impact work until Dropbox starts to struggle with the uploading files issue. When this starts happening I uninstall Dropbox and reinstall and those files start syncing properly. I usually have to do this once a week or two.

I've recently upgraded my boot drive and used a drive clone software (Macrium Reflect) to clone my old drive onto the new one. Dropbox seemed to run smoothly for about a few weeks after that.

One of the closest posts I could find to my problem suggested unlinking all devices associated to this account. I did that a noticed there might have been a duplicate of my desktop, and for now most issues seem to resolved for now except all sync issues still exist and one file is continuously indexing. I've tried looking for this file name but no results come back from a search on Dropbox or Windows File Explorer.

My hunch is that I might have an issue with how my drive/partition is formatted. I've set up Dropbox at my home desktop and have had no issues while working from home. I'm curious if I uninstall Dropbox, delete the Dropbox folder, and then reinstall Dropbox if that will clear up any issues there.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

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JTizzle

Finally got all the issues resolved!

The issue was being caused by a previous user profile that used this machine before me. I verified all the files having issues were from projects the previous user had worked on. Something with how the local permissions were set up or how Dropbox handles syncing files at the same destination on a different user profile.

All I had to do was uninstall Dropbox, delete my Dropbox folder completely, and reinstall. It did take a while to do but now Dropbox no longer has any sync issues nor does it get stuck uploading and downloading.

Thanks for your replies and trying to help make sense of this @Megan & @Walter!

All comments

Megan

Hey @JTizzle, let's jump right into this!

When you upgraded your boot drive, and used a clone software, did you face the same exact issues as before? How long has this behavior been going on?

Can you let me know the app's syncing status at the moment? Feel free to send me a screenshot of it too, if you wish. Also, how exactly is your partition formatted?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

JTizzle

@Megan, thanks for the reply.

This behavior has been going on since I started using this computer a little over a year ago. It's a Dell XPS 8930 desktop. I upgraded the boot drive about 5 months ago. Please see attached images.

Screenshot 2022-11-01 074635.jpg

If I pause the sync and resume it it'll start indexing a handful of files, then return to "Syncing..."

Screenshot 2022-11-01 075158.jpg Screenshot 2022-11-01 075310.jpg

If I look at my folder structure in Dropbox there's one folder with the blue syncing icon. If I follow the blue icon it leads me to one 140 KB Excel file.

My dektop's fans will ramp up intermittently and also pretty extremely. I was able to catch it when replying and grabbed a screenshot from Task Manager. Occasionally I'll see "Microsoft Windows Search Filter Host" and "Microsoft Windows Search Protocol Host" on the top of CPU usage as well.

Screenshot 2022-11-01 074806.jpg

Lastly, here's a screenshot from Computer Management of how my boot drive is generally formatted.

Happy to give any more information!

Megan

Great job with the details, and screenshots @JTizzle!

Is it possible that you're syncing locally more than 300K files, which is the soft limit of the desktop app? Do you use selective sync for any of your folders?

Also, have you excluded the possibility of your ISP, antivirus or firewall being the culprit of this?

JTizzle

Looks like my old reply got deleted? Weird... Anyways the tl;dr of my deleted reply was I don't think any of those things might be an issue. I do suspect my hardware might be the issue since it is the most outdated of our office's machines.

Anyways, it looks like I found a semi workaround solution. The 140 KB Excel file caused a lot of issues when I tried opening it out of curiosity. Windows gave me a few access denied sort-of errors and I noticed about an hour later that Dropbox was no longer syncing because it was trying to download that file. I had to quit and restart and but I still had about 40 files that Dropbox couldn't download or upload. To see if this Excel file was the issue I downloaded it from Dropbox.com and it opened just fine. I then tried to delete the file out of Windows file explorer but Dropbox.com didn't update or recognize my computer deleted the file, so I deleted it out of Dropbox.com as well. I moved the downloaded Excel file over into the same folder in Windows file explorer and it instantly synced and popped up in Dropbox.com... Now my Dropbox app is working "normally" for now.

Screenshot 2022-11-02 091949.jpg

Not sure why this file was having problems but I'm still curious to dig deeper why my Dropbox was having this issue in the first place as I'm sure this will happen again. There is still the issue of all my sync issues that non of my co-workers have.

Megan

Hey @JTizzle!

I am glad that your workaround did the trick, and your app is now up to date, and working as it should.

Now, as to why this behavior happened, a lot of different reasons could be the culprit, and it'd definitely be easier to tackle it down as it happens. I am always here in case this happens again, in order for us to look closely into this, and identify the cause.

You also mentioned about an issue that none of your co-workers have, however after a second look at your initial message, it seems this was a syncing issue with the app's syncing status being stuck, right? Looking at your screenshot now, this seems to have gone away. If you're referring to something different, let me know more.

Thanks a bunch!

JTizzle

The issue I mentioned are the "Sync issues" than no one else is having. I might try to reinstall, delete folder, reinstall at a later date.

Screenshot 2022-11-03 080159.jpg

I'm not seeing any logical explanation why these are happening from what I can find. Sometimes one of our folders might have a comma but it doesn't impact all the files inside. And again, no one else on our Dropbox has this issue. Might just have to live with it till we retire this machine and start with a fresh drive and install. Unless there's something I'm not understanding with these issues that would resolve it.

Thanks

JTizzle

Here's a little more info about the sync issues.

I'll click "Go to file" for one of the "incompatible characters" issues.

Screenshot 2022-11-03 082651.jpg

Screenshot 2022-11-03 082701.jpg

The file path is as follows: C:\CARBO Dropbox\Project Files\Residential\D\Davis\Graphics\Other_logos, sketchup etc\1_Davis Residence_SD Plan\Lumion\Exports\ALLEE 3.jpg

134 characters total (not including the file extension). I don't see any incompatible characters in the file name nor any spaces at the beginning or end of file names. (I realize I said comma in the previous post but I'm now realizing it's just a comma after emojis and not an included character) So I'm puzzled why Dropbox is spitting out the "Remove incompatible characters from file name" issue.

When I try opening the file on Windows, I get this error:

Screenshot 2022-11-03 082708.jpg

However, if I view the file on Dropbox.com I can open the file just fine.

It almost seems like it's having the same issue as the Excel file mentioned previously. So I download a backup and delete the file from both Dropbox.com and in Windows file explorer. (There's some communication or permission error between Dropbox and these files in Windows: if I delete the file in one first, the other doesn't update. But any other "normal" file deleted in Dropbox.com or Windows will immediate update in the other.) After I delete the file in both I then move the backup file into Dropbox.com or Windows file explorer (it's worked both ways for me) and the file immediately updates and either shows the green check or gray cloud next to it, depending if I dropped the backup it into Dropbox.com or Windows file explorer

Screenshot 2022-11-03 085017.jpg

One final detail that I think is important (that also happened with the excel file causing sync issues, but I didn't catch it) is I had to provide administrative permission to delete any of these files in Windows. No idea why these files have this issue.

So between Dropbox telling me I have incompatible characters in the file name then to find that my previous workaround resolves the issue then this issue of Windows asking for administrator permission to delete a file Dropbox file has got me very confused to say the least. Not to mention the other sync issues Dropbox is spitting out with a "Give Dropbox permission to access this file" error are having the exact same issue.

Sorry this is a lot. Just trying to share as many important breadcrumbs as possible.

Thanks

Megan

Hey @JTizzle, have you tried locating these specific files on the web, and then rename them? If so, does that remove them from the list?

In general, the Dropbox desktop application does require admin privileges to be installed on a machine, in order for the app to function properly. Is that how you're using it?

On Windows, this means not choosing the option to 'run as an administrator' since this is a different function.

JTizzle

@Megan, when I rename a conflicted file on the web it does update in file explorer. However, it appears as a new file and the conflicted version remains in file explorer. The Dropbox.com only shows the file with the new name.

I run the Dropbox installer normally every time I need to reinstall. I have never used "Run as administrator". The user profile I use on this desktop is set up as an administrator.

Megan

Thanks for trying this out, @JTizzle!

What happens to the app's error page, when you rename the file on the web? Do you see it getting removed from there?

JTizzle

@Megan, yes, as long as I delete the duplicate conflicted copy after renaming or re-uploading, the error is removed from the Dropbox app's Sync Issues.

Walter

Hey @JTizzle, sorry to jump in here, but may I ask if you've updates your Computer's OS recently?

Also, have you tried fixing your hardlinks and permissions as outlined here?

JTizzle

Not a problem @Walter. I do keep my OS up to date and have kept it up to date the whole time I've used this machine.

I followed those tips and ran Fix Hardlinks then Fix Permissions. I restarted and let Dropbox index for a few minutes. Still had all the same sync issues as before.

I started to do some digging myself and think I might have found the solution. if I go to view properties on one of these files the security tab requires Read permissions, as compared to what a normal file will show:

Screenshot 2022-11-10 125723.jpg

If I click advanced, a new window opens asking for administrative permissions to view properties & change the owner. When I continue I get this window:

Screenshot 2022-11-10 130019.jpg

From what I can tell, this window tells me there is a conflict of owners from a previous user profile on my machine. That long number starting with S-1-5-21 is a Windows SID that links to an older user profile. I've started a post in the Windows forums because this seems like more of a Windows issue. But if you have any ideas please let me know!

JTizzle

Finally got all the issues resolved!

Thanks for your replies and trying to help make sense of this @Megan & @Walter!