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Permissions Error upon Upgrade to Mac Monterey

I just updated to Mac OS Monterey on my MacBook Pro (Mid 2015) and now Dropbox doesn't work anymore. Specifically, I get an error message saying that Dropbox can't start because, "This is usually because of a permissions error." I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, I tried the advanced uninstall, I tried fixing permissions in the Dropbox app, and I tried ensuring that my user has the proper "read/write" access and nothing has worked. I would be super grateful to anyone who can help.

Best,
Joseph Federico

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Accepted answers

Nancy

Thanks for sending over the requested screenshot, Michelle!

Have you tried to perform an
advanced reinstall, by any chance?

If not, please give that a go and let me know how it goes.

Cheers.

All comments

Jay

Hi @jvfederico, thanks for posting today!

Do you get an error log with the message about the permissions error, in a blue link?

Have you changed the name of your home folder?

This will help me to assist further!

jvfederico

Hello Jay,

Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. It seems I am not the only one to have this issue regarding upgrading to Monterey. I was able to dig through the Dropbox community better via a google search and found someone else who was able to solve this issue by going to Security & Privacy and giving Dropbox permissions in both Accessibility and Full Disk Access. This fixed it for me.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Couldn-t-Start-Dropbox-macOS-Monterey/td-p/552876

The above link will bring you to the thread where I found my solution. I hope it helps other people if they have the same problem.

Best,
Joey

shinbeth

Access is already given. This is not the root of the issue. Still not working for many of us.

Joan P.6

Thanks. I had to go back into Preferences > Security & Privacy> unlock to be able to make changes >Accessibility and then separately to >Full Disk Access. It's working now.

Erik Toussaint

Hei Joan,

I'm afraid 'accesibility' is in may places on my iMac. I think I managed to unlock (clicked on the lock), but can't find the 'accesibility' option where I can indicate 'Full disk Access'. Where did you find it?

Cheers, Erik

Erik Toussaint

Hi Jay, this is the log file I got:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 138.4.2392
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 51
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: b6907f58-b55d-5c5a-b6f7-8898ce675d91
pid: 1185
ppid: 1
uid: 501
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='toussaint', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Toussaint', pw_dir='/Users/toussaint', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='toussaint', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=501, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Toussaint', pw_dir='/Users/toussaint', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
euid: 501
gid: 20
egid: 20
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_nsurlstoraged'])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', '_nsurlstoraged'])
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/'
real_path='/'
mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/Users/toussaint'
appdata: '/Users/toussaint/.dropbox/instance1'
real_path='/Users/toussaint/.dropbox/instance1'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
dropbox_path: '/Users/toussaint/Dropbox'
real_path='/Users/toussaint/Dropbox'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/var/folders/wp/yks3vym50xvdpqvhkbpfgds80000gn/T'
real_path='/private/var/folders/wp/yks3vym50xvdpqvhkbpfgds80000gn/T'
mode=0o40700 uid=501 gid=20
parent mode=0o40755 uid=501 gid=20
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 832, in wrapper
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6623, in finish_dropbox_boot
File "dropbox/client/message_queue.pyc", line 313, in _wrapped
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6170, in _init_components_for_account
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6094, in create_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine_boundary/factory.pyc", line 218, in make_sync_engine
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/sync_engine.pyc", line 277, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/modern_client.pyc", line 247, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/modern_client/base.pyc", line 177, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 217, in __init__
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/classic_client/thin_adapter/in_proc.pyc", line 529, in _init_new_engine_locked
File "dropbox/sync_engine/nucleus/thin_client/client.pyc", line 133, in __init__
File "desktop/extensions/nucleus/nucleus_python.pyx", line 76, in nucleus_python.NucleusSyncEngine.__cinit__
nucleus_python.SyncEngineError: "Initializing engine |>> Initializing filesystem |>> Attempting to register icons |>> Reading existing xattr |>> fgetxattr syscall: determined size |>> Permission denied"

Jay

Hi @Erik Toussaint, you can find these settings by following these steps.

Erik Toussaint

don't get it Jay. I do not understand why things suddenly do not work after updating my computer. I think it is too easy to blame apple.

mikafox

I'm having the same problem. I tried to fix it by turning on Accessibility for Dropbox, but I can't even get Dropbox to show up in my Accessibility panel. Here is the error information:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox

bn.VERSION: 142.4.4197

bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 52

bn.is_frozen: True

machine_id: f87dfb45-4512-54cc-9459-4a0b58cdc90a

pid: 997

ppid: 1

uid: 502

user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='michelle', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michelle Pesce', pw_dir='/Users/michelle', pw_shell='/bin/bash')

effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='michelle', pw_passwd='********', pw_uid=502, pw_gid=20, pw_gecos='Michelle Pesce', pw_dir='/Users/michelle', pw_shell='/bin/bash')

euid: 502

gid: 20

egid: 20

group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'Chiara', '_nsurlstoraged'])

effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='staff', gr_passwd='*', gr_gid=20, gr_mem=['root', 'Chiara', '_nsurlstoraged'])

DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: None

cwd: '/'

real_path='/'

mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0

parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0

HOME: '/Users/michelle'

appdata: '/Users/michelle/.dropbox/instance1'

real_path='/Users/michelle/.dropbox/instance1'

mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20

parent mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20

dropbox_path: None

not found

parent not found

sys_executable: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'

real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox'

mode=0o100755 uid=502 gid=20

parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20

trace.__file__: '/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'

real_path='/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/Resources/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'

not found

parent not found

tempdir: '/var/folders/h3/_mwq2h550v3gy34pw4c2_w2m0000gp/T'

real_path='/private/var/folders/h3/_mwq2h550v3gy34pw4c2_w2m0000gp/T'

mode=0o40700 uid=502 gid=20

parent mode=0o40755 uid=502 gid=20

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "dropbox/client/authentication/register_host_helper.pyc", line 483, in _try_register_host

File "dropbox/client/authentication/register_host_helper.pyc", line 949, in handle_changed_host_secret

File "dropbox/sync_root/helpers.pyc", line 367, in destroy_root_from_config

AssertionError

Aaaaannnndddd.... it says there is "invalid HTML" in this post so it evidently removed part of the error message before I can even post it. Hopefully there's enough there to help solve the problem. I'm so frustrated - please help!

Nancy

Welcome aboard our Community, @mikafox!

Since I understand that there’s a part of your error message that may be missing, can you send me a screenshot of the full error log perhaps, so that I can take a look?

Besides that, I'd like you to clarify what's your device's exact OS.

Give me a shout, when you’ve got more info.

mikafox

Thank you for reaching out! Attached is the full error message code.

I'm running macOS Monterey v12.3.
I have reinstalled dropbox and can see that it is enabled in both the Accessibility and Full Disk Access panels now, but I still get the error message that it cannot start and a link to this error message.

Thank you for your continued help!

- Michelle

Screen Shot 2022-03-21 at 10.03.26 AM.png

Nancy

Thanks for sending over the requested screenshot, Michelle!

Have you tried to perform an
advanced reinstall, by any chance?

If not, please give that a go and let me know how it goes.

Cheers.

mikafox

The advanced reinstall worked - I'm back up and running.

Thank you SO much, Nancy! Your advice was so greatly appreciated!

Nancy

I’m really happy to hear this, Michelle!

I’ll be around the Community, if you need something else.

mikafox

Thank you! ❤️

dany1980

Thenks for the provided solution.

Worked for me