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Ubuntu 20.04 install to alternate folder (not in home directory).

Trying to make "Dropbox" folder land in alternate folder (not in home directory). I tried several methods but was unsuccessful. I've done it on windows 10 without trouble. I got it to work on Ubuntu 18.04 a while back. But can't seem to make it happen on 20.04. I have 2 hard drives on my laptop. I don't want to use my home directory. Has anyone out there that has done this? Thanks.

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Здравко

Aha... I see. Your problem is a GUI problem actually.

Dropbox has lot of troubles related to taskbar icon. Seems like some inconsistent/bad coding practice, making code unstable. There are lot of signals related to different "symptoms" of missing or inconsistent icon/menus showing. Your description is just a possible issue from bunch of such.

You can try workaround the icon issue (to some extent, at least) by using alternative way of launching the application. First make sure your application isn't running. Check status using following command:

dropbox status

If need, shut the application down using:

dropbox stop

Check again the status, to be sure.

After that, run Dropbox application anew using following command:

dbus-launch dropbox start

Wait for a minute to see if the icon appears and access to menu and Preferences exists. 🧐 On success, will be able move your folder. 😉

You can use above command by default for Dropbox launch, if you want. Just a small change in the Dropbox' desktop file is needed. Run following command, in such a case:

sudo sed -i "s/Exec=dropbox start -i/Exec=dbus-launch dropbox start/" /usr/share/applications/dropbox.desktop

Hope this helps.

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Здравко

Hi @cepstralspike,

Is the "Move..." button missing from "Sync" tab on "Dropbox Preferences"? 🧐 What actually doesn't work? Can you post a screenshot of missing things, if any?

cepstralspike

I don't an icon to open that would let me access a "preferences" dialog. I was hoping to avoid a full sync and send my files to the correct hard drive on the first sync.

cepstralspike

That is: I don't *get* an icon.

Здравко

@cepstralspike, If I understand correctly, you haven't ran the application at all; that's why you can not reach Dropbox icon and preferences. Please confirm or decline my understanding and clarify if need.

You are trying avoid initial sync before redirect Dropbox folder to desired location. Unfortunately, Linux is NOT a first class citizen in Dropbox team priorities and selecting a new location can't be performed in the same way like done on other platforms. 🤷 The only way to select new folder place is using "Move..." button on Preferences. This is the same all the time. You said that have successfully performed it on Ubuntu 18.04. 🧐 That's very interesting! Since no any difference (it's not supported in both cases), your workaround should work on Ubuntu 20.04 too (or has a big chance, at least). 😉 Can you share your steps, so others can use the same way?

You don't have to wait for entire Dropbox folder get in sync to move it. Only workaround I can think off is you link your application to account and immediately pause syncing. Now you have access to Preferences dialog and can move your Dropbox folder. Once the folder lies on desired place, resume syncing. That's the only supported way by Dropbox on Linux (there is NOT advanced setup 😕).

Good luck!

cepstralspike

"Please confirm or decline my understanding and clarify if need." The sync begins as soon as I link my machine to my account. 'htop' shows many dropbox threads. So, I know I am running some of the dropbox components. Maybe something else in the GUI is getting crushed by another conflict. Thanks for your help. I will stop trying to do the impossible and look to see why the graphical component is missing. BTW, I am running xfs on filesystem and XFCE on the desktop. I am pretty sure both are supported. Thanks again.

Здравко

Aha... I see. Your problem is a GUI problem actually.

dropbox status

If need, shut the application down using:

dropbox stop

Check again the status, to be sure.

After that, run Dropbox application anew using following command:

dbus-launch dropbox start

Wait for a minute to see if the icon appears and access to menu and Preferences exists. 🧐 On success, will be able move your folder. 😉

You can use above command by default for Dropbox launch, if you want. Just a small change in the Dropbox' desktop file is needed. Run following command, in such a case:

sudo sed -i "s/Exec=dropbox start -i/Exec=dbus-launch dropbox start/" /usr/share/applications/dropbox.desktop

Hope this helps.

cepstralspike

Thanks for your help!

cepstralspike

I added one more step. I limited the bandwidth right away so that a minimum amount of data would land where I didn't want it. Once I set the directory properly, I removed the bandwidth throttling. Thanks again.

Regards,