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Dropbox stuck on "Starting..." on Windows Server 2016

We have a Dropbox installed on a Windows Server 2016. In every accounts, when starting it, a popup displays "Your computer is currently offline. Please check your network settings". When putting the mouse cursor over the icon in the icon area, it displays "Connecting...". And when clicking on it, it's displayed "Starting...". Even after hours, Dropbox never completes its startup.

Dropbox was uninstalled/reinstalled, I manually cleaned it following another help page. I installed full stable versions from ~v150 to the beta v200, same error. The network works fine, I can open dropbox.com in the browser and log in. I tried to install Dropbox on another VM with Windows 7 running on the same WMware host, it worked immediately. I really tried everything following the many pages on the subject that I found, but nothing worked.

We have another Windows Server 2016 with multiple users with Drobox installed and didn't have those issues on it. I'd like to know if there is a way to trace what Dropbox sees (does it see the network at all?) or the path that it tries to follows, where it's blocked. I tested and dropbox.com ports and 443 connects normally by making a test with telnet from the host.

The present version installed is now the stable version Dropbox 198.4.7615 Offline Installer.x64.exe.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Hannah

Thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community, @AZI_doum.

To be honest, Windows Server operating systems are not a supported environment for the Dropbox application.

However, let's see if there's something we can find.

Was the Dropbox application working as expected before or is this the first time you're trying to use Dropbox on that computer?

And do you have any security software that could be interfering?

Let us know.

AZI_doum

Hi, thanks for your reply. I know it's not supported on Windows Server, but up to last year, it was working fine on this one. It also still works very well on a freshly installed version of 2016 on another server. As a fact, it's only drawback is the space used on a server when all users have their own instance running. We have to keep the files online. Other then that, Dropbox runs A-1 for everybody on the server, with rare issues usually relatively easy to fix.

Yes, I tested with the security solution disabled and the issue occurred anyway. I then restarted it and added Dropbox.exe and DropboxUpdate.exe in it's exceptions.

I checked in the event viewer and saw nothing special that seemed related to Dropbox. I tried also to disable syncs because the app eventually offered to do it, but there is no connexion made yet anyway, and it didn't work either.

Is there any way to trace what it tries to reach, like we can do for Outlook for example?

Hannah

There are a couple of reasons why this might be happening, but we can't be 100% sure, since it's a server.

Could it be that there are more than 300K files in the Dropbox folder?

AZI_doum

Hi, thanks for your reply. No Dropbox is not connected from the start.

Walter

Hey @AZI_doum - sorry to jump in here, but can you confirm that only one user account accesses the given Dropbox folder and that this folder is located on the main drive of your computer or on a drive that's physically connected to the computer?

Are you running Dropbox as a regular app or a service by the way?

Also note that your setup is not currently supported as Hannah mentioned so we might not be able to assist further.

In any case, do keep us posted!

AZI_doum

> can you confirm that only one user account accesses the given Dropbox folder and that this folder is located on the main drive of your computer or on a drive that's physically connected to the computer

Yes to all of your questions. Dropbox runs autonomously as the user with its own Dropbox folder. It's also presently alone on the server for that user. The Dropbox folder still doesn't exist as Dropbox never got there. So, in a way, it's presently setup like for a regular Windows.

Does the Dropbox app leave some logs somewhere to tell where it's stuck? My guess is that it doesn't see the network at all, even though it's up. But we're getting no logs whatsoever.

Walter

Thanks for the additional information @AZI_doum - much appreciated.

Would it be OK if we sent you an email to have a further look internally at this point?

AZI_doum

Sure, any period on the beginning of next week would be ok for me, at your convenience.

Walter

Sure thing @AZI_doum - you've got :envelope:

Whenever you get the chance, please have a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

AZI_doum

Hi, I can't access that ticket to view the reply:

Ticket #23763378: Dropbox Community Support - Follow Up
Hi,

This is an automated response to your Dropbox support request.

There’s an update on your support ticket from Shane, the agent working with you on your support request.

You can view it by logging in to your customer portal at https://dropbox.com/support.
Please be sure to log-in with your Dropbox credentials associated with the email address on this ticket.
If we don’t hear from you in the next few days, your support request will be closed. You can reopen it at any time.

Thanks,
Dropbox Support

Megan

Hey @AZI_doum, have you tried checking your email address, in order to view the email chain directly through there?

AZI_doum

Thanks for your reply. The reply was there indeed, I just found it. Sorry for the inconvenient.