Child Item

Telling a new installation where I want the Dropbox folder to be on Windows

Application Affected
Dropbox program on PC
Device
(HP laptop)
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
(Windows 10.)

Question or Issue

I have Dropbox running on an old machine. I would like to put it onto a second, new laptop, but when I install it on the new machine, I never saw any option to tell it that I have a desktop folder on the other machine, \Dropbox, under which are all the files I want to sync and back up.

The newly installed version jumped right in to copying the tree structure from my Dropbox account into a default directory \Users\barry\Dropbox. I stopped it and restored things.

So how can I do this? (Last time I synced a new machine, there was a similar problem, but the configuration options were accessible.)

Thanks very much.

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Windows

Install

Insightful

Delivered

Comments

Jay

Hi @BarryG, thanks for messaging the Community!

Just for clarification, are you looking to put the Dropbox folder in a specific location when you first install it, or are you trying to access the 'desktop folder' on the other machine, as you suggested in your message?

Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!

BarryG

Sorry if I wasn't clear. Historically, on each of several laptops, I've had all the files I want to "drop box" in C:\Dropbox, with a sub-directory for each project I want to sync and back up.

Last time I had to bring up a new machine, when I installed dropbox there and logged in, it leaped into action, syncing to a default directory (C:\Users\barry\Dropbox). I stopped it, uninstalled Dropbox, and deleted the partially created unwanted tree.

Did I miss some configuration step? I ran the same DropboxInstaller.exe as before.

Jay

Thanks for the details, now I understand your requirements.

If you're not on a Dropbox Basic plan with more than 3 devices connected, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?

Please also take note of Step 11, which is what you're looking for, in the advanced settings before completing the installation, where you can select where you want the Dropbox folder to be located.

For your workflow, you would need to choose the C:, and the desktop app would then create the Dropbox folder there (as in, C:\Dropbox) and the files from the site would sync into that folder as normal.

If you need any further assistance, please let me know!

BarryG

I am on a basic plan, with just three devices (the new one is the third; I had to delete a long dead, forgotten laptop).

Will that link work for mere mortals? If not, ...

Jay

Yes, if you remove your new device, then you should have 2 devices in total, meaning you can add a third to your account in order to do the advanced reinstallation.

BarryG

Thanks for the help. I won't get to try it until tomorrow. I'll be back (either way).

BarryG

Sorry about forgetting to get back here. I did try it and it bombed right away, but then the machine failed to boot and dropbox became moot. When it's replaced, let's hope all goes as one should expect.

Thanks very much.

Walter

Thanks for the update on this and please let us know if anything else comes up in the future, Barry.

Have a lovely week ahead!