Dropbox for windows says "reconnecting to internet"

Hi @Jay I have nothing that's changed recently and I wasn't getting this problem until today. Dropbox did connect eventually but it took more than 10 minutes.

I confirm the same for myself.
if the Internet does not appear in the system immediately, then Dropbox does not connect to the account, although the Internet is available (later).
in my case, the network card is initialized with a delay.
in this situation, you will have to close Dropbox and start it again (when the Internet is available) so that Dropbox can connect.
all other programs, such as the browser, quickly respond to the advent of the Internet.

The internet is available immediately on my machine.

perhaps then the problem is not related to the Internet startup speed, but the problem is present

just conducted an experiment.
on a computer where everything is fine with Dropbox at boot.
disabled the network card by software and rebooted.
After a complete reboot, when the dropbox booted up, I turned on the network card.
A local network and the Internet appeared.
Dropbox does not connect even though there is internet.
this is all similar to my situation.

Perhaps the network card initialization delays are different.
in my case they are obvious, in others they may not be noticeable to the eye

Hey guys, thanks for the speedy responses!

First thing I'd like to ask the OS on the devices you're using, along with the Dropbox version you use there.

You can find the version by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi on your menu/task bar.

Is the issue resolved now and has the app connected to the internet successfully? What happens if you try to restart your machine now? Is the behavior the same?

Windows 10 pro 22H2 , Windows 7 pro
Dropbox version 194.4.6267
You don't have to restart your computer to find the issue.
just exit the running Dropbox (successfully connected)
then, disable the network interface (by software)
after that launch Dropbox again
and after Dropbox is fully loaded
also enable the network interface.
Dropbox will try to connect indefinitely even though there is internet.
This is an imitation of a problem that occurs when rebooting some computers that have a delay in initializing the network interface

Hi @Megan

If you read the rest of the posts carefully, especially those from @rodper321, you will realise that we have uncovered a Dropbox bug that is easy to reproduce. We are all using Windows 10 and the up-to-date version of the Dropbox Windows client. Please could you follow @rodper321's steps to reproduce and then report it as a bug to the developers?

Many thanks

Dave

Hey guys, thanks for all your patience!

We might need to escalate your case, or check some thing internally since we've exhausted all troubleshooting steps. Would you mind if I send you an email, in order for us to have a closer look into this?

Best to email @rodper321 as long as he's willing, as he came up with the steps to reproduce the problem.

Hello everyone!

Here are the steps to reproduce the issue:

Ensure that Dropbox starts and connects successfully on your computer during boot or reboot. (Dropbox is set to start automatically with Windows.)
Exit the running Dropbox application by closing the program.
Disable the network interface programmatically. Open the Command Prompt by typing "cmd" in the Windows search bar and pressing Enter. In the Command Prompt window, type "ncpa.cpl" and press Enter. This will open the "Network Connections" window. Right-click on the network interface connected to the internet and select "Disable" from the context menu. After disabling the network interface, internet connectivity will be lost.
Now, relaunch the Dropbox application. Since we disabled the internet earlier, Dropbox will attempt to connect unsuccessfully.
After Dropbox starts, the application will fail to connect due to the lack of internet access.
Reconnect the internet connection while Dropbox is still running. From the Command Prompt, type "ncpa.cpl" again and press Enter to open the "Network Connections" window. Right-click on the previously disabled network interface and select "Enable" from the context menu. After a moment, the internet connection will be restored.
Observe that even though there is internet connectivity, Dropbox still fails to connect. The connection attempt persists indefinitely.

These steps simulate a scenario where there is a delay in initializing the network interface during computer startup. When such a delay is present, Dropbox fails to connect even when the internet connection is restored while Dropbox is running.

Hi @rodper321, I sent you an email, in order for us to also have a look into this internally.

Reply back to me, and we'll have a look. Thanks!

jun33

I just recently had this issue last week. I didn't change anything. Same MacOS same dropbox...I didn't upgrade or do anything different. This seems like a Dropbox issue.

MacOS X - Monterey - 12.7.2

Dropbox Version - V194.4.6267

Every time I start my computer, I get the "Reconnecting to the Internet. This may take a moment"

Again, I didn't upgrade anything in the last few weeks or months.

Hi @jun33, welcome to our Community!

At this point, if you've made sure that there are no third-party apps, VPN, firewalls that could be causing this, I'd suggest that you reach out to our Support about this.

If you're using a Basic plan, I can reach out on my end to you, since we'd need to have a look into this internally.

Let me know more!

ikir

same experience with me, but with macbook

jun33

Hi Megan,

Thank you. I reach out to support via email. This is Personnal Essential account, which I get 3TB worth of storage I believe. So not the basic plan.

bamills46

Any solutions to this yet?

Same issue here, Windows 10, nothing changed w/ Firewall, etc, no VPN and Dropbox is stuck on "reconnectiong to the internet" every time I turn my cpu on even though I have internet.

Hannah

Hey everyone, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Have any of you tried to do a more advanced reinstall of the Dropbox app, to see if that helps?

AndyG-KS

Hannah,

Like the others on the thread I have had the same problem for quite a while. I performed the advanced reinstall using the instruction in the link and after following Rodper321's instructions for replicating the problem, unfortunately the advanced reinstall did not fix the problem. Dropbox connected to the internet and performed a sync after the app was reinstalled but after disabling/enabling the network connection and relaunching Dropbox I get the "Reconnecting to the Internet" message. Windows 10 Pro/22H2 Dropbox app version 195.4.4995

Jay

Hi @AndyG-KS, as you're still experiencing this issue, could you try contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further?

engineerhubbard01

Jay and Hannah,

I am having the same issue. Advance reinstall did not solve the problem. Has dropbox found a fix for this? Windows 10 droppbox version 195.4.4995. Thanks.

Jay

Hi @engineerhubbard01, do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?