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Drobox installation without admin rights slows down Windows Explorer massively

I rely on the offline installation file to install Dropbox without admin rights, as the admin no longer permits the full installation of Dropbox on my work computer.

With this installation, Dropbox is slowing down Windows Explorer massively. When browsing through the file list using the cursor, jumping from one file to the next will take 1-2 seconds, while Explorer shows a spinning blue circle. Same happens when double clicking folders to open them, which makes using Explorer a nightmare, especially when browsing large folders.

When renaming a file, Explorer would disrupt the process after a few seconds and only saves the few letters written during that short time.

Both problems not only exist in Dropbox-synced folders but across the whole system, including files on servers and cloud drives. Interestingly, this is not the case when browsing/renaming in the file tree on the left side of Windows Explorer.

Ending Dropbox and killing all its processes did not help, neither did re-installing Windows and Dropbox. Only when I uninstalled Dropbox completely, the problem was gone and Explorer returned to work normally.

I would like to continue using Dropbox, but obviously without these Explorer troubles. Are there any suggestions how to make it work for this setup without Admin-rights? I have Windows 10 Version 22H2.

Spinning circle.jpg

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Comments

Walter

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

As you know, admin privileges are needed for the desktop app to work properly with full functionality on your computer.

That said, can you please clarify the version of the Dropbox desktop app you're using at the moment and if you happen to be running any 3rd party apps that might be causing issues, like antivirus, firewalls, VPN/proxy settings or even 3rd party apps that monitor, back-up or sync your files?

Have you tried installing the desktop app on a new OS profile by the way or reaching out to your company's IT department?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

maxgerard

Dear Walter, I am using Dropbox 206.3.6386 Offline Installer.x64.

As far as I can figure out, there are security programs running like antivirus, Crowdstrike and a firewall. There is also One Drive active. Having said this, the problems in Explorer only started with the (uncomplete?) installation of Dropbox.

In order to solve the troubles, our IT department first deleted my Windows profile and re-installed it, to no avail. I insisted in deleting and re-installing Windows entirely, to no avail. In both cases, after installing Dropbox with the aforementioned offline-installer, Explorer became slow again.

Megan

Hey @maxgerard, let me jump in here too!

It sounds like you're using a Beta version of our app, which might be the culprit there.

Feel free to go into your account settings on the Dropbox website and turn Early releases off. After that, install one of the stable builds of the Dropbox application, and let me know if the behavior remains the same.

maxgerard

Dear Megan, I had used version 190.4.6383 of the installer before the system reset. I am not sure if it was a beta, but it showed the same problems.

In the meantime I could persuade one of the administrators to install the full version of Dropbox using the 206.3.6386 installer. At the beginning it looked fine, but now it is worse than ever 😞

Megan

Hey @maxgerard, keep in mind that 206.4.6506 is the version of our latest app. You can find it here. Can you give it a go?

If you notice the same behavior then, we'll definitely keep a closer look into this.

maxgerard

Dear Megan, the behaviour didn't change unfortunately, and it did not with any of the updates I have tried in the last months.

Megan

Hey @maxgerard, I'd like for us to check one more thing!

Would you mind locating your Dropbox folder locally, right clicking on it and checking how many files exist within the folder's properties?

If you have a screenshot, it's more than welcome!

maxgerard

Dear Meghan, it has 2.600 files and 1,8 GB (screenshot attached)

In the meantime I don't let Windows start Dropbox anymore at startup and have logged out from the app, but no improvement.

Dropbox folder.jpg

Nancy

Hope it’s OK to jump in, @maxgerard. Did you end up asking your administrators to allow the installation of the Dropbox app with full admin rights?

maxgerard

Yes Nancy, I am using the full version now. Please see above.

Megan

Hey @maxgerard, one last thing: does the issue persist if you try to boot to safe mode?

Hold the Shift key while clicking Restart from Shut down or sign out menu. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings >Restart. After the PC restarts, a list of options will be shown. Select 4 or F4 or Fn+F4 (following the on-screen instructions) to start the PC in Safe Mode.