Child Item

The Dropbox folder icon appears as a blank page on my newly-installed Windows 11.

Application Affected

Dropbox (Microsoft Store version)
Device

Windows 11 Custom Build PC
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)

Windows 11 Pro 24H2 and now 25H2
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)

234.4.5591

Question or Issue

On my new PC I have installed Dropbox via the Microsoft Store. It is all working, except the Dropbox icon itself is wrong in Explorer for my Dropbox folder. It is just showing a plain white piece of paper.

Again this is a brand new system with a brand new install of Windows 11 Pro that I did myself - nothing weird, I didn't use any of the means to "debloat" - it is just a default Microsoft Windows 11 24H2 install. I had the problems on 24H2 and it upgraded to 25H2 the other day and that has not changed the issue.

It is more of an annoyance than anything because my eyes are used to looking for the dropbox icon appearance to find it and the plain white paper doesn't stand out so much.

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Accepted answers

mducharme

Rich my replies have disappeared twice now. I've replied to myself and this is the second time it has vanished so you've not not seen what I said.

This is now the third time I've typed this up and I hope it sticks.

It was NOT the icon cache, it was a registry edit that fixed it.

That registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{915856B3-76E9-47CC-B16D-2C7B120DAF27}\DefaultIcon had a wrong path to Dropbox.exe

I fixed it (the version number should have been 234.4.5591.0)

Then restarting explorer fixed it.

One of my replies completely VANISHED after that leaving behind the "that fixed it - the question is, how did that end up getting wrong in the first place" that made it look like clearing the icon cache fixed it. Why is this forum deleting replies to myself after I post them and make sure they show up.

All comments

Rich

mducharme wrote:
... the Dropbox icon itself is wrong in Explorer for my Dropbox folder. It is just showing a plain white piece of paper.

This is usually a result of a bad icon cache in Windows. I'd try to clear the icon cache and then restart the computer.

mducharme

Hi,

I have cleared the icon cache and restarted. It has changed, but now it is a plain folder icon instead of a white default file icon.

This still isn't correct - I'm used to seeing the Dropbox logo there.

mducharme

I found something interesting digging through the registry. I assume this icon gets mapped somewhere in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and I found this:

Specifically under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{915856B3-76E9-47CC-B16D-2C7B120DAF27}\DefaultIcon

That folder referenced does not exist. The dropbox folder is C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\DropboxInc.Dropbox_234.4.5591.0_x64__xbfy0k16fey96

i.e. the version number is wrong in the folder name in the registry key

I'm going to try changing it and see what that does. It can't hurt anything, since there is no such folder as what it is referencing. I checked WindowsApps contents from a command prompt run as administrator to verify.

mducharme

I fixed it. I had typed this up before but one of my replies has disappeared so I'm typing it again.

I found the issue in the registry. The key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{915856B3-76E9-47CC-B16D-2C7B120DAF27}\DefaultIcon

That Dropbox folder name is wrong there - 231.4.5770.0 was not correct, it should be 234.4.5591.0. I made sure of this by running a command prompt as administrator and checked the contents of WindowsApps and verified that no such folder existed. I changed that and restarted explorer and dropbox now shows the correct icon.

But why was that wrong? @Rich do you have any idea?

Rich

mducharme wrote:
The question is, how did that end up getting wrong in the first place?

This isn't a Dropbox issue. It's just something that happens with the Windows icon cache. I see it often on the systems I support across multiple companies.

mducharme

Rich my replies have disappeared twice now. I've replied to myself and this is the second time it has vanished so you've not not seen what I said.

This is now the third time I've typed this up and I hope it sticks.

It was NOT the icon cache, it was a registry edit that fixed it.

That registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{915856B3-76E9-47CC-B16D-2C7B120DAF27}\DefaultIcon had a wrong path to Dropbox.exe

I fixed it (the version number should have been 234.4.5591.0)

Then restarting explorer fixed it.

mducharme

Rich my replies keep disappearing. Your reply was in reply to a reply of mine without context since the previous reply disappeared and so you misunderstood thinking the icon cache fixed it. I keep trying to say it was NOT the icon cache and explain how I fixed it but my replies are not showing up. It was a problem in the registry in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, a wrong path to Dropbox.exe for a DefaultIcon (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{915856B3-76E9-47CC-B16D-2C7B120DAF27}\DefaultIcon)

I would give more details, but please help me, how can I explain this when my replies keep vanishing! I've typed it up 3 times now!! I'm sorry, I'm getting very angry at this forum for deleting my posts, and you replied to one of my orphaned posts that was left behind without context (the post before it that explained the registry key had vanished!!)

Rich

mducharme wrote:
Rich my replies keep disappearing.

Your posts were being caught by the forum's automatic spam system. I've released the them.

electron_greg

EXACTLY the same situation with me after a brand new CLEAN install of Shmindows 11. Amended Dropbox version number in regedit and it has been restored to the correct icon!!

Thank you++++

mducharme

Yes, this leads me to believe it was not just an issue on my system, but a bug with the installer, possibly limited to the Windows Store version.

mducharme

I use the Windows Store version of Dropbox. This is now the third or fourth time I've had the issue I described in this thread:

The Dropbox folder icon appears as a blank page on my newly-installed Windows 11. | The Dropbox Community

In there I found that the registry key for Dropbox was referencing the wrong version number in the path so it wasn't showing the icon in explorer. I manually updated it and it was fine.

But then Dropbox updated itself again and the version number in the folder changed again, so again the icon was broken. I had to go fix it again the same way as before.

It happened again twice, last time a few days ago. I'm getting tired of having to manually fix this registry key each time it updates.

Any ideas for a permanent fix so I don't have to keep doing this? I believe it is a bug in the Windows Store version, I just don't know how to report it to the developers.

Walter

Hi there @mducharme - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please clarify the version of the Dropbox desktop app you're running at the moment?

Also, do you happen to be running any 3rd party apps that might be interfering somehow?

Any additional information or even screenshots are more than welcome!

Megan

Hi there, @mducharme!

Quick check-in to see if you caught our last reply. Do you need more help?
If yes, then I'm happy to assist. If everything is sorted, we'd love to hear what fixed it.