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The Dropbox desktop app on MacOS-High Sierra stuck on 'Starting'

kasperw

For the last few weeks dropbox doesn't start anymore on my old macbook running High Sierra. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling multiple times. I tried advanced reinstall with the terminal commands, but that didn't seem to remove all dropbox cache/pref files.

I manually removed everything from the Library folder making sure there wasn't a trace of any cache or preference file relating to dropbox. Then I restarted and reinstalled but still no dice… I tried turning off the mac firewall, Dropbox is allowed connection in the firewall options.

A month ago I bought a new macbook M5 and installed dropbox. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with my login problems on my old macbook? This problem started a few weeks after using my new macbook. Could there be anything interfering? I still use both and need my files synced on both computers.

I saw a mention of too many files in dropbox causing the problem but I can't get an estimate everywhere how much total there is in my dropbox account. I know it's a lot. But since it won't connect at all it's no use. I checked activity monitor to see Dropbox's process, after a few minutes it cpu use just drops to 0,1%.

I checked permissions on both my computer and my dropbox account. Aside from installing I also unlinked my old computer a couple of times.

This problem is very fustrating, never had any issues like this before…

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Megan

Hi there, @kasperw, let's look into this together!

Let's jump right into this. To help me troubleshoot, could you please share the exact Dropbox desktop app version you're using, and its current syncing status? You can find this information by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar, next to your Wi-Fi icon.

Out of curiosity, are you able to connect to a different network or Wi-Fi to test if the app works then? Additionally, are you running any third-party software that might be monitoring, syncing, or backing up your files?

Regarding how many files you have stored locally, please control-click on your Dropbox folder, select 'Get Info,' and send me a screenshot of the details.

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

kasperw

I'm using the simplified dropbox version 270.4.3246 . Syncing status I can't see, I know it hasn't synced in weeks now. I do know that some of the heavier files are online only.

Unfortunately I'm not able to test a different network. This is on wifi and I tried plugging in the ethernet cable and turning wifi off, this also does not work. I'm running the Lulu app which monitors and blocks/allows outgoing connections, dropbox is greenlisted there. I also tried turning this one off, but it didn't work either. The only backups I run is Timemachine and Carbon Copy Cloner, but I do this manually and it's never been an issue. They're not running automatically. Also the free version of Malwarebytes.

Here's a screenshot of my dropbox folder info. 829 GB of my dropbox files is stored on my computer and I have about 400 GB of disk space free.

I'm trying to figure out if I installed any other apps or plugins the last month or so but nothing comes to mind really. Also not sure about any other network settings that I changed.

My sister's computer, which is basically the same model en system version, can connect to her dropbox.

Mark

Also the free version of Malwarebytes.

Have you tried this completely disabled? Malwarebytes is renowned for blocking Dropbox completely - even when told not to.

kasperw

I tried disabling Malwarebytes completely but Dropbox is still stuck on starting. I will try to boot the computer in safemode and see if dropbox does anything when I start it up.

Megan

Hey there, @kasperw!

Did you have any updates on this? If not, can you make sure that the Dropbox desktop app is installed on your device with full disk access and admin rights? You can read more about this here. While you're at it, please have a look at this part of the article too.

Additionally, have you tried creating a new OS profile, and installing the Dropbox desktop app there? This would act as a test to see if there's a misconfiguration or third-party application interfering with your original OS profile.

kasperw

I found the problem, it's really silly.. The culprit was the Passkey option.. A few weeks ago somehow I enabled using the fingerprint scanner on my new macbook to set the passkey.

My old macbook doesn't have a scanner so I had trouble logging in when I wanted to sign out and in again, I couldn't use the authentication key generator because it brought me back to the login screen stuck in a loop and I had to wait for the sign in request to appear on my new computer to allow my old computer to login to dropbox….. I had the same problem when I wanted to test the app on a new OS profile, I could login but still stuck on starting.

Before I thought it would be silly that an option like Passkey would prevent starting the app while already logged in, and I had trouble finding it in the dropbox web account options. I didn't know if it was a dropbox option or a mac os option.

So I just looked it up and tried to remove it as a hail mary and it worked!

So please note dropbox team, if someone enables Passkey with a fingerprint scanner on their new laptop, older laptops without a scanner are locked out even though you allow the sign in from your new laptop. It seems like it's still missing a step in security or authentication making the old laptop stuck at starting…

Anyway, thank you for your help, and please let makes this visible for other people with the same problem.

kasperw

I cheered too soon guys, the problem is still there.

When dropbox connected again I was using a new dropbox ****** account on a new user proficle on my old macbook. When I removed the Passkey from my account it made dropbox connect almost instantly there. I logged back to my main user profile with my main dropbox account and it made still made no connection… The fans of my computer are blowing hard so its doing something.

I went back to my other user profile to test and it wouldn't make connection to my ****** account… then it connected and after making a new folder to test it quit the app, restarted and didn't make any connection at all again. After a computer restart and waiting for like 6 minutes (for an empty dropbox) it reconnected again. Trying to login to my main dropbox on my new mac os user account gets me stuck in a login loop again.

I have no idea what is happening right now, it seemed like I solved the problem but no dice.

I feel like I am close to the solution but I can't get there, it's so frustrating!

Megan

Hey @kasperw, thanks for the updates!

Just to make sure we're on the same page: when you created a new Dropbox account and connected it to a new user profile, did the app connect without any issues?

You mentioned trying an advanced reinstall, but could you give it another try? When reinstalling the app please try using our offline installer. If that doesn't help let me know, and I'll send you an email in order for us to investigate further.

Thanks!