I'm running Dropbox on Fedora 42 (Linux). Each time I do a software update for the computer, this warning shows when I log in:
Do I really have to reinstall Dropbox each time? This is confusing.
Dropbox is running fine now. I think the answer (or workable workaround) is to click OK on the prompt that comes up (see image at top of thread) or run 'dropbox start -i'.
(I got an email notification that AugustusHarbor posted a useful comment two days ago, but for some reason it's not showing here in the thread....)
Hey there @Beatboxer, welcome to the community!
We have a Linux commands article in the help center that I believe has a command for auto-installation of the Dropbox daemon.
Can you let us know if this helps?
That doesn't seem to answer my question about the strange message. Dropbox was working for me. I did a software update using the Fedora software app. When I logged in, the mysterious message appeared, seeming to imply that somehow, in my software update, the Dropbox proprietary daemon was removed. So my question is, is that the case? Do I really have to reinstall the daemon each time?
I can see why that might be the case, but it does seem unusual that updating other programs would affect the Dropbox daemon.
Hi @Beatboxer, thanks for messaging the Community.
Could you clarify what you mean by software update?
Are you updating the OS itself, or the Dropbox desktop application, or another application on your machine?
This will help me to assist further!
There were about eight updates in the Fedora (Gnome?) software management app. I don't have any record now of what they were (maybe buried in some log somewhere). One included some Fedora system stuff, I think. None involved Dropbox. After Fedora did the downloads and updates and rebooted, I logged in and got the popup message about installing the Dropbox daemon.
I clicked 'OK' in the popup message and Dropbox is now working. But it seems strange--that's what I'm asking about in this thread--that I would have to keep reinstalling Dropbox.
Hi @Beatboxer,
I just wanted to check in and ask if you see this error on a restart (without performing any updates)?
It's strange. It doesn't seem to happen on a plain reboot. The other day, after several apps and the system were updated, it wanted me to reinstall the "proprietary daemon." But then this morning there were a few more updates, and Dropbox continued fine after I rebooted.
It seems that certain kinds of updates must overwrite the daemon file while others do not.
This morning it was "System Updates," "Firefox," and "XPS 9315 System Update." Somewere I've got the list I jotted down of the last batch of updates. I can find that if it would help.
Thanks.Fedora 42 on Dell XPS 9315
Thanks for letting me know! Would it be possible if we could get the contents of ~/.dropbox-dist down to two directory levels? Particularly before and after running dropbox -i and accepting the prompt.
If you have Tree installed you can run:
tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist
(I was wrong about not needing to re-install after today's update. The little dots showed up in the screen header but I realized they were not responsive. As you'll see below, "dropbox start" returned "The Dropbox daemon is not installed.")
=======
eric@fedora:~$ dropbox startStarting Dropbox...The Dropbox daemon is not installed!Run "dropbox start -i" to install the daemoneric@fedora:~$ tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist/home/eric/.dropbox-dist [error opening dir]
0 directories, 1 fileeric@fedora:~$ sudo tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist[sudo] password for eric: /home/eric/.dropbox-dist
0 directories, 0 files
====eric@fedora:~$ sudo tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist.backup/home/eric/.dropbox-dist.backup├── dropboxd├── dropbox-lnx.x86_64-229.4.5197│ ├── ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS│ ├── allocator_metrics.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── apex._apex.abi3.so│ ├── _cffi_backend.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── cpuid_native.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.abi3.so│ ├── dropbox│ ├── dropboxd│ ├── fastpath.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── fs_api_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── google._upb._message.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── helpers│ ├── images│ ├── libatomic.so.1│ ├── libdropbox_core.so│ ├── libdropbox_sqlite_ext.so│ ├── libdropbox_tprt.so│ ├── libffi.so.7 -> libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libicudata.so.42│ ├── libicui18n.so.42│ ├── libicuuc.so.42│ ├── libpython3.8.so.1.0│ ├── libQt5Core.so.5│ ├── libQt5DBus.so.5│ ├── libQt5Gui.so.5│ ├── libQt5Network.so.5│ ├── libQt5OpenGL.so.5│ ├── libQt5PrintSupport.so.5│ ├── libQt5Qml.so.5│ ├── libQt5Quick.so.5│ ├── libQt5Sql.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKit.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKitWidgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5Widgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5XcbQpa.so.5│ ├── linuxffi_gnu_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_pthread_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_sys_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxinfinite_native.abi3.so│ ├── nucleus_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── plugins│ ├── posixffi_libc_native.abi3.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtCore.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtDBus.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtGui.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtNetwork.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtPrintSupport.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtQml.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtWidgets.so│ ├── PyQt5.sip.so│ ├── python-packages.zip│ ├── qt.conf│ ├── README│ ├── resources│ ├── tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── tprt.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── VERSION│ ├── wmctrl│ ├── wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ └── _yappi.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so└── VERSION=====================================eric@fedora:~$ dropbox start -iStarting Dropbox.../usr/bin/dropbox:243: DeprecationWarning: Python 3.14 will, by default, filter extracted tar archives and reject files or modify their metadata. Use the filter argument to control this behavior. archive.extract(member, PARENT_DIR)dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/apex._apex.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/google._upb._message.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'<frozen zipimport>:259: UserWarning: google.protobuf.service module is deprecated. RPC implementations should provide code generator plugins which generate code specific to the RPC implementation. service.py will be removed in Jan 2025dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'success!dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/apex._apex.abi3.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/google._upb._message.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'<frozen zipimport>:259: UserWarning: google.protobuf.service module is deprecated. RPC implementations should provide code generator plugins which generate code specific to the RPC implementation. service.py will be removed in Jan 2025dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'dropbox: load fq extension '/home/eric/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797/wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
(dropbox:31362): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: 18:27:31.774: About to Show called on an item wihtout submenus. We're ignoring it.Done!=============eric@fedora:~$ sudo tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist/home/eric/.dropbox-dist├── dropboxd├── dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797│ ├── ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS│ ├── allocator_metrics.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── apex._apex.abi3.so│ ├── _cffi_backend.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── cpuid_native.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.abi3.so│ ├── dropbox│ ├── dropboxd│ ├── fastpath.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── fs_api_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── google._upb._message.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── helpers│ ├── images│ ├── libatomic.so.1│ ├── libdropbox_core.so│ ├── libdropbox_sqlite_ext.so│ ├── libdropbox_tprt.so│ ├── libffi.so.7 -> libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libicudata.so.42│ ├── libicui18n.so.42│ ├── libicuuc.so.42│ ├── libpython3.8.so.1.0│ ├── libQt5Core.so.5│ ├── libQt5DBus.so.5│ ├── libQt5Gui.so.5│ ├── libQt5Network.so.5│ ├── libQt5OpenGL.so.5│ ├── libQt5PrintSupport.so.5│ ├── libQt5Qml.so.5│ ├── libQt5Quick.so.5│ ├── libQt5Sql.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKit.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKitWidgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5Widgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5XcbQpa.so.5│ ├── linuxffi_gnu_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_pthread_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_sys_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxinfinite_native.abi3.so│ ├── nucleus_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── plugins│ ├── posixffi_libc_native.abi3.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtCore.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtDBus.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtGui.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtNetwork.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtPrintSupport.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtQml.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtWidgets.so│ ├── PyQt5.sip.so│ ├── python-packages.zip│ ├── qt.conf│ ├── README│ ├── resources│ ├── tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── tprt.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── VERSION│ ├── wmctrl│ ├── wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ └── _yappi.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so└── VERSION
6 directories, 62 files
About a half hour ago I replied with a whole bunch of the printouts you requested, but now that reply is not showing here...?
In the meantime I rebooted, so the results are no longer visible in my terminal.
?? Now my terminal printouts have reappeared...?
Anyway, I hope it helps the Dropbox Linux team see what might be happening here. Thanks for the support.
Thanks for sharing all of that with us!
Are you running tree with sudo for a reason? If that's necessary, it's possible that your permissions could be messed up there. Could you run:
ls -l ~/.dropbox-dist/*
...and send us the output?
Tree ran without sudo, just now. I think I used sudo because I had the ff result early on, with the "[error opening dir]". Since using sudo gave the second result without the error, I just continued doing it.
The ls command gave me seven-five-five [for some reason the "community" does not allow me to use the numerals] all the way down. I can send that result if you need it.
====eric@fedora:~$ dropbox startStarting Dropbox...The Dropbox daemon is not installed!Run "dropbox start -i" to install the daemoneric@fedora:~$ tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist/home/eric/.dropbox-dist [error opening dir]
0 directories, 0 files===
If your permissions are 755 the whole way down, could you verify that your account and group are both listed as the owner, as well as the owner of the ~/.dropbox-dist directory itself?
Just a heads up, we had to spam your other thread as it's about the same issue and our Community Guidelines state that you should only have one post per issue.
If you could get back to me on my last comment, I''ll continue to assist.
Is this what you want? (Sorry I didn't get back. Been tied up.)
eric@fedora:~$ ls -l ~/.dropbox-disttotal 8-rwxr-xr-x. 1 eric eric 103 Aug 12 06:45 dropboxddrwxrwxr-x. 1 eric eric 2856 Aug 13 18:27 dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797-rw-rw-r--. 1 eric eric 10 Aug 12 06:45 VERSION
Just to review where we are: It seemed to me that after my computer was updated, Dropbox would need to be re-installed. That was often the case, anyway. Just now I wanted to reboot, and Fedora wanted to run updates. After the updates, I ran 'dropbox start,' and the terminal told me "dropbox is already running." So maybe there's a random flukiness going on, and I just fall back to running 'dropbox start -i' when necessary.
This is what was updated just now:
Thanks.
(PS: I can't remember what was in the other thread and how it could have been on the same topic. It may have been about my difficulty installing the dropbox plugin for Nemo. That seems quite a different topic.)
No worries at all and apologies if I wasn't clear (my bad!), I also need the permissions for the ~/.dropbox-dist folder itself. It looks like the permissions there might be messed up, if sudo is needed to run tree in there.
drwxrwxr-x. 1 eric eric 88 Aug 13 18:27 .dropbox-dist
Tree runs ok without sudo. I had just been using sudo a lot.
eric@fedora:~$ tree -L 2 ~/.dropbox-dist/home/eric/.dropbox-dist├── dropboxd├── dropbox-lnx.x86_64-230.4.8797│ ├── ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS│ ├── allocator_metrics.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── apex._apex.abi3.so│ ├── _cffi_backend.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── cpuid_native.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.abi3.so│ ├── cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.abi3.so│ ├── dropbox│ ├── dropboxd│ ├── fastpath.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── fs_api_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── google._upb._message.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── helpers│ ├── images│ ├── libatomic.so.1│ ├── libdropbox_core.so│ ├── libdropbox_sqlite_ext.so│ ├── libdropbox_tprt.so│ ├── libffi.so.7 -> libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libffi.so.7.1.0│ ├── libicudata.so.42│ ├── libicui18n.so.42│ ├── libicuuc.so.42│ ├── libpython3.8.so.1.0│ ├── libQt5Core.so.5│ ├── libQt5DBus.so.5│ ├── libQt5Gui.so.5│ ├── libQt5Network.so.5│ ├── libQt5OpenGL.so.5│ ├── libQt5PrintSupport.so.5│ ├── libQt5Qml.so.5│ ├── libQt5Quick.so.5│ ├── libQt5Sql.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKit.so.5│ ├── libQt5WebKitWidgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5Widgets.so.5│ ├── libQt5XcbQpa.so.5│ ├── linuxffi_gnu_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_pthread_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxffi_sys_native.abi3.so│ ├── linuxinfinite_native.abi3.so│ ├── nucleus_python.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── plugins│ ├── posixffi_libc_native.abi3.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtCore.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtDBus.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtGui.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtNetwork.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtPrintSupport.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtQml.so│ ├── PyQt5.QtWidgets.so│ ├── PyQt5.sip.so│ ├── python-packages.zip│ ├── qt.conf│ ├── README│ ├── resources│ ├── tornado.speedups.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── tprt.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ ├── VERSION│ ├── wmctrl│ ├── wrapt._wrappers.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so│ └── _yappi.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so└── VERSION
@Beatboxer unfortunately we may have come full circle, our team recommended uninstalling Dropbox, deleting ~/.dropbox-dist and ~/.dropbox, then reinstalling. Which I know which is what originally brought you here to begin with. This case is a thorny one 😬
The Fedora Software utility indicates that the Flatpak version of dropbox is installed. Is that the same as the "proprietary dropbox daemon" that the popup tells me I need to install?
When you install Dropbox from Fedora Software, what you’re actually getting is the Flatpak package. That Flatpak only provides the Dropbox desktop client (the menus and icon), but it doesn’t include the actual background service that syncs your files.
That syncing service is the proprietary Dropbox daemon, and it needs to be installed separately. Without it, you’ll see a popup saying Dropbox can’t run until the daemon is present.
Here are the steps to get it working on Fedora:
Install dependencies (required for the daemon to run):
sudo dnf install libatomic
Download the official Dropbox daemon from Dropbox:This will place the daemon in ~/.dropbox-dist/.
cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -
Start the daemon:The first time it runs, it will ask you to link your computer with your Dropbox account (via a URL you open in your browser).
~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
Run Dropbox normally:
Hey @Beatboxer, just wanted to check in and ask if the steps that Neal shared, worked for you.
Let us know if you have a chance.
I thought the other thread was about my difficulties installing the dropbox plugin for nemo, which seems a different issue, not a second post on the issue in this thread.
Is that any chance to resurrect that thread? I had included a lot of detail about what didn't work that I can't reproduce.
Hey @Beatboxer, happy Friday!
Happy to see that your issue is now resolved! In any case, keep an eye on it, and let us know if anything changes.
In regards to the "AugustusHarbor" comment, I searched for the username but couldn't find any active users on our Community with that username.
Lastly, you mentioned a different thread. The only other thread of yours that I could find is this one, which is an older one and the issue has been resolved. Is this not the case? Is it possible that you're talking about a different one?
I'm referring to the post that Neal Mc said went into spam "as it was about the same issue."
Here's the page I see when I click the link in the "augustus" email I mentioned. The subject line of the email is different than usual: "Subscription Update on The Dropbox Community"
I don't think there any issue, but it is curious.
Thanks to the team for all their support.
I think there's a bit of confusion here (I know I got turned around a good bit trying to figure this out 😅).So that user replied on this thread but that comment was removed as it was spam. If you look at the end of their comment, they try to post a link for custom home solutions which goes against our community guidelines.
In regards to your post that was marked as a duplicate, what I can do is just paste the info you shared here on this thread:"This information is not required, but it makes it easier for our Community members and support team to help you.
Application Affected
dropbox, dropbox-nemo
Device
Dell xps 9315
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)Fedora 42 and Nemo 6.4.5
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
Dropbox daemon version: 230.4.8797Dropbox command-line interface version: 2025.05.20
Question or IssuePlease describe the problem, in detail. Include what you expected to happen vs. what is happening. Please include any relevant screenshots, error messages or ticket numbers.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to install dropbox-nemo. I find what look like downloadable RPMs online, but when I click them, nothing downloads. I've tried using the RPM Fusion repository, but that gives this result:
===
eric@fedora:~$ sudo dnf nemo-dropbox[sudo] password for eric: Unknown argument "nemo-dropbox" for command "dnf5". Add "--help" for more information about the arguments.It could be a command provided by a plugin, try: dnf5 install 'dnf5-command(nemo-dropbox)'eric@fedora:~$ sudo dnf install nemo-dropboxUpdating and loading repositories: RPM Fusion for Fedora 42 - Free - Updates 100% | 30.9 KiB/s | 49.9 KiB | 00m02s RPM Fusion for Fedora 42 - Free 100% | 108.0 KiB/s | 157.7 KiB | 00m01sRepositories loaded.Failed to resolve the transaction:No match for argument: nemo-dropboxYou can try to add to command line: --skip-unavailable to skip unavailable packageseric@fedora:~$ sudo dnf install nemo-dropbox-6.4.0-3.fc43.x86_64.rpmUpdating and loading repositories:Repositories loaded.Failed to access RPM "nemo-dropbox-6.4.0-3.fc43.x86_64.rpm": No such file or directoryeric@fedora:~$ eric@fedora:~$ eric@fedora:~$ eric@fedora:~$ https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/n/nemo-dropbox-6.4.0-3.fc43.x86_64.rpmbash: https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/n/nemo-dropbox-6.4.0-3.fc43.x86_64.rpm: No such file or directoryeric@fedora:~$ eric@fedora:~$ eric@fedora:~$ dnf --enablerepo=rpmfusion-nonfree-rawhide install nemo-dropboxNo matching repositories for rpmfusion-nonfree-rawhide. Add "--help" for more information about the arguments.
====
FOLLOWING COMMENT ON DUPLICATE POST
Aug 14, 2025 at 7:22 PM
BeatboxerRe: Trouble installing dropbox-nemoI succeeded in downloading and tried to run
sudo dnf install rpmfusion-nonfree-release-44.noarch.rpm and got this error:
Could not depsolve transaction; 1 problem detected: Problem: conflicting requests - nothing provides system-release(44) needed by rpmfusion-nonfree-release-44-0.2.noarch from @commandline
