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Dropbox app not starting on new install Windows 11

Hi all, hoping for some help. I have a new PC running Windows 11 (all updates installed) and am trying to run the Dropbox app.

Once downloaded, it appears to install normally and asks for my login details and which folders to sync. Then it closes and I can no longer access the desktop app interface. Clicking on the app icon opens only the File Explorer window whereas I was expecting a separate app interface. There are no error messages.

I've tried:

- rebooting

- checking the firewall allows Dropbox (it does)

- standard uninstall and reinstall

- advanced reinstall as here: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/advanced-reinstall

- from both admin and user accounts.

I am new to the Windows ecosystem so am not sure how to diagnose the problem. Any help would be very welcome!

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Accepted answers

Jay

That's correct, that is the Dropbox desktop application, and you can change preferences and so on from within the app.

All comments

Jay

Hi @Hilary_E, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Just for clarification are you clicking once on the Dropbox icon in the system tray which is near the clock?

You can find the icon here.

This will help me to assist further!

Hilary_E

Hi Jay, thanks for this. Yes am clicking on that icon - and the good news is that since I put this post up I tried one last reinstall, and now it seems to work! At least, clicking on the icon opens a window with sync history / activity tabs and the option to change preferences etc via my circle on the top right. I guess this is the desktop app?

Please let me know if I should expect to be able to open anything else but for now I think I'm seeing the functions I was missing before. Thanks for your time!

Jay

That's correct, that is the Dropbox desktop application, and you can change preferences and so on from within the app.

Hilary_E

Perfect. Sorry for taking up your time. I have no idea why the second reinstall worked when the first one didn't, I must have done something differently! Glad to have it working anyhow. Thanks again.

Akshat_

Hi , i have this issue in my windows 11 , where i downloaded the app and after it get installed , it further ask me to sign in on browser and after the sign in , blank screen appears on search browser and cannot get access to the app , it still says sign in process need ti be done , please guide me

Hannah

Hey @Akshat_, sorry to see you're having trouble with this.

Do you have a small Dropbox icon in your system tray?

If you do, please hover over it and let me know what you see.

Estelle Cantillon

Hi, I have the same issue (Dropbox not starting) (I'm on Windows 11) - I've done all the checks described here including uninstalling and reinstalling Dropbox 4 times. In my case, after installing dropbox, I never even get to the point that it asks me to sign in. It just blanks on me and does not appear either in the tray (in the task manager, dropbox does appear on the list but when I right click on the icon to see the properties it says DropboxCrashHandler).

Any tips ?

Thanks !

Walter

Hey there @Estelle Cantillon - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Do you happen to be running any 3rd party apps or antivirus, firewalls or VPN/proxy settings by any chance?

If so, you can try temporarily disabling them and try re-installing the app using the offline installer from this page directly.

Let us know of any updates!