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File Explorer automatically opens when app launches at startup on Windows

As the title says my dropbox folder in file explorer for some reason has started to automatically open every time I start my laptop / the dropbox app launches. I have not changed any settings (to the best of my knowledge) but for the life of me can't figure out how to prevent this from happening.

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Jay

Hi @InsomniaStudios, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could you try reinstalling the Dropbox desktop application without uninstalling it first by clicking this link?

Keep me updated with any progress!

Nuber Lone

I have the same problem; I already tried reinstalling, but it doesn't fix it. The file explorer keeps opening automatically

Jay

Hi @Nuber Lone, could you follow these steps to disable the automatic startup, and then try rebooting your machine to see if the issue is repeated?

Nuber Lone

I have a scheduled task that opens Dropbox every hour to ensure that the files are syncing. It's annoying when the folder containing Dropbox opens; I don't know if I'm explaining myself well. That didn't happen a week ago—this behavior was added with the latest update

Walter

Thanks for the additional information @Nuber Lone - much appreciated.

Could you also let us know your computer's exact OS version and the status and version of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your system tray?

Nuber Lone

I have tried it on 2 computers, with Windows 10 and Windows 11. Version v213.4.45979

Nancy

Hi from me too, @Nuber Lone! Since a new Dropbox app version has been released in the meantime, can you update your app from this link and tell me if the same thing is still happening after that?

Nuber Lone

Still have the same problem

Nancy

Thanks for giving that a go, @Nuber Lone! One more thing I want to ask you, to have a clearer image of the issue, is whether you click on anything that’s Dropbox-related when launching your computer (like the Dropbox icon in your system tray, for example), right before the Dropbox folder opens in your File Explorer.

InsomniaStudios

Sorry for the delay in responding, but no this did not work for me, the behavior is still happening.

Nuber Lone

I'm opening the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe, and normally the program would just run, but now the entire Dropbox folder opens every time I do it.

tzvi melamed

Hi, It happens to me also, in the last few days. It's very annoying.

please resolve the problem asap.

thanks, Tzvi

Nuber Lone

Up until now, they haven't fixed that issue.

Nuber Lone

Up until now, they haven't fixed that issue.

Nancy

Thanks for your patience on this, @Nuber Lone.

According to the release notes provided in v214.4.5217 here, if you try to open the Dropbox app while it's already launched, the File Explorer will open up.

With that in mind, if this isn't the case for you (meaning if the Dropbox app hasn't launched when you run the installer), please let us know what you see in the Task Manager right before you start running the desktop app.

Nuber Lone

That's exactly what we don't want to happen. When we open the Dropbox app, if it's already launched, we don't want the file explorer to open.
Why did they add that behavior? It's completely unnecessary

SteveOnorato

I do the same scheduled task thing here (except I only launch once per day). Had this running nicely for years, but this undesired behavior started recently. If this really needs to be the new behavior could engineering offer an optional command line flag to suppress this behavior?

JazzRay

HI this didnt work for me.

Walter

Sorry to hear that @JazzRay

If a simple reinstall didn't help with this, you can try an advanced reinstall as well.

Let us know of any updates!

JazzRay

I have managed to reinstall it after a clean uninstall. It is just indexing, and the Dropbox badge is also showing. Thanks.

JUVE-Quan

Yeah, been running into this issues for months.

Walter

Did you contact our support team to look further into this with account and device specific information since you first noticed this @JUVE-Quan?

JUVE-Quan

No because I usually have to find solutions myself. I don't wanna bother the staff.

Hannah

I would definitely suggest reaching out to our support team, since this is an ongoing issue for you, @JUVE-Quan.

If you do reach out to them, make sure to also send us your ticket number!