Dropbox failing to start, will not uninstall or reinstall on Windows 10

Question

Hi,

In the last 24 hours, I noticed dropbox failing to sync - on investigation, the dropbox client fails to start with event log error:

Fault bucket 1554725576513291112, type 4

Event Name: APPCRASH

Response: Not available

Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:

P1: Dropbox.exe

P2: 254.4.2518.0

P3: 6a02bd27

P4: ntdll.dll

P5: 10.0.19041.6456

P6: 7ec9c15d

P7: c0000005

P8: 00000000000a2887

I tried to reinstall, but the uninstall fails - even when ran as admin or via safe mode.

Tried removing the client folder, but it tells me its in use - renamed and tried to reinstall - same issue, installer tells me that it's failed to uninstall and doesn't give any further useful information.

I can't reinstall as it won't uninstall to start.   Any suggestions?

Walter · Answer

The next step would be a clean, advanced reinstall at this point @linedash.

Let me know how it goes!

linedash · Answer

Hi Walter,

No dropbox processes, and I've also checked process explorer and tried in safe mode.  Am an IT admin by trade, so fire away on anything I can check.

Walter · Answer

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

Would you mind opening the "Task Manager" by right-clicking the taskbar and clicking "Start Task Manager"? Then please click on the "Processes" tab to see if there are any other processes associated with Dropbox that may be preventing Dropbox from being removed from your device.

Note that you may need to click "Show processes from all users" to check all processes.

Once you are viewing these processes, if you see any items that refer to Dropbox, or recognize any programs that you may have linked to Dropbox, please perform the following steps for each applicable process:

* Click on the line that references the process to select it.
*  Click on "End Process"

After you've done so, please try to follow the normal uninstall instructions.

Let me know if this helps!