Child Item

Dropbox won't start on my Windows 10 computer

I noticed that the dropbox icon was not in my apps tray, so I tried to start it manually, clicking the icon on my desktop. Nothing happens - win 10 task manager shows that it starts, but the program disappears from the list again.

Restarting my pc doesn't do the trick, clicking on the dropbox.exe file doesn't do the trick. I checked the start up settings, nothing strange there (task manager again). I just cannot start Dropbox - it seems to be blocked or something. Dropbox updater is running though....

Is there any way I can repair this without having to go through a de- and re-install and re-sync for 2 days?

Find more posts tagged with

Setting Up the Apps

Desktop

Spam

Insightful

Accepted answers

Mark

I would do all of that yes.

Remove all references to Dropbox in the registry. Remove any .exe references etc. to Dropbox. Restart computer.

Try a reinstall from www.dropbox.com/downloading

All comments

CerebralKnievel

I'm encountering the same issue (since upgrading to Windows 10). The Dropbox icon is no longer down in the lower right corner on the System bar. And when I load it from the windows program search the icon appears briefly, just to say "Starting," then disappears. I've already done a re-install and nothing has changed.

Jane

Hey @CerebralKnievel, thank you for the detailed explanation! I believe that the installation hasn’t been carried as expected, so I’d suggest re-installing our desktop app once using our Offline installer as a quick fix & see if it does the trick for you:

Spoiler

Stop Dropbox (If needed) by clicking the Dropbox icon in the system tray at the bottom of your screen. >Click on the icon in the Notifications panel and select "Quit Dropbox".

Uninstall Dropbox: [Note: If Dropbox was installed by a Windows administrator in Program Files, you will need admin permissions to remove the application.]> Click on the Start button on the bottom left of your screen, and select "Control Panel" (Windows 7), or type Control Panel at the Start screen or start menu, and click on it (Windows 10, 8 ).> Click "Uninstall a Program". >Select Dropbox from the list of programs and click "Uninstall".

When the uninstall finishes, reboot your computer. This will make sure the uninstall is complete.

At that point, I’d suggest disabling any Security/Antivirus programs & give our offline installer a try: https://www.dropbox.com/downloading?plat=win&type=full (Windows)

Please keep me updated here on the outcome & I’ll do my best to follow-up on this discussion. Have a wonderful week ahead until we talk again!

Doughbag

This was annoying me lately, reinstalling would only fix it for a couple of days at best and then it would stop automatically syncing again.

However, here’s the solution that will work if you have this problem.

Just manually copy the Dropbox shortcut to the Windows Start Menu.

First we need the shortcut, locate the Dropbox icon on your screen. Right click it and select “copy” in the dropdown menu.

Alternatively you can create a shortcut of your Dropbox from its installation folder, typically located in the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe"

Then start the File explorer (Win+E) and go to the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

Then right click and select “Past shortcut” in the dropdown menu.

Restart your computer and you’re done

hdavidhughes

Interesting I have noticed that NVIDIA Container using Very high Power usage (when i check my task manager); my dropbox also not starting when I start up my Window 10...

Jane

Hey @hdavidhughes, please accept my apologies for getting back in touch with you in delay. Are you still having issues with that? Please let us know here if you further guidance from us in any way. Thanks!

This thread is closed due to inactivity. Please feel free to create a new topic here.