Child Item

Can't update or install the Dropbox application on Fedora 43 Plasma

Application Affected
Dropbox
Device
custom desktop with ASUS motherboard AND Lenovo X1 Carbo Laptop
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Fedora 43 Plasma and Firefox (both systems)
Dropbox Version
Dropbox command-line interface version: 2025.05.20

I have been flawlessly running Dropbox on my Fedora desktop PC under KDE Plasma for 20 months. I installed it by downloading and running the RPM from this page: https://www.dropbox.com/install-linux

My system-wide software updates using DNF have been failing for several days with the following error:

[1/1] nautilus-dropbox-0:2025.05.20-1.fc43.x86_64 100% | 48.0 B/s | 15.0 B | 00m00s
>>> Status code: 404 for http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/43/x86_64/nautilus-dropbox-2025.05.20-1.fc43.x86
>>> No more mirrors to try - All mirrors were already tried without success
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1/1] Total 100% | 48.0 B/s | 15.0 B | 00m00s
Failed to download packages
Librepo error: Cannot download x86_64/nautilus-dropbox-2025.05.20-1.fc43.x86_64.rpm: All mirrors were tried

I made the rash decision to uninstall Dropbox on my desktop rather than run DNF with the repo disabled. I then attempted to re-install using the downloaded RPM. The RPM installs fine and when run, it prompts me to install the daemon. I get the following error:

"Trouble connecting to Dropbox servers. Maybe your internet connection is down, or you need to set your http_proxy environmental variable."
I do not have any proxy and I'm not running a VPN. I can log in to Dropbox in my default browser (Firefox) with no problems.

When I try to update via the CLI, I get the following error:

[Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/joe/.dropbox-dist/VERSION'
/usr/bin/dropbox:321: PyGTKDeprecationWarning: The keyword(s) "type, message_format" have been deprecated in favor of "message_type, text" respectively. See: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/PyGObject/InitializerDeprecations
error = Gtk.MessageDialog(parent = None,
/usr/bin/dropbox:321: PyGTKDeprecationWarning: The "flags" argument for dialog construction is deprecated. Please use initializer keywords: modal=True and/or destroy_with_parent=True. See: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/PyGObject/InitializerDeprecations
error = Gtk.MessageDialog(parent = None,

I have installed the flatpak from https://flathub.org/en/apps/com.dropbox.Client for now, but it's an old version I would rather run your official version. I did not uninstall on my laptop. On there, I am disabling the repo for DNF updates. If I do not disable it, I get the same 404 error for the repository.

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Accepted answers

Neal

Hi @jledv & @gunyk_,

Would you both mind trying again now?

We made some changes yesterday so hopefully this should be fixed.

All comments

Megan

Hey @jledv, thanks for bringing this to our attention!

Give me some time to check for additional details on this, and I'll reply as soon as I have more info.

Thanks a bunch, hang tight!

gunyk_

Any updates on this? I have the same issue.

Neal

Hi @jledv & @gunyk_,

Would you both mind trying again now?

We made some changes yesterday so hopefully this should be fixed.

gunyk_

I see the repo is updated and it's working.

Thank you!

jledv

This worked on my laptop, where I had not uninstalled and I was just disabling the repo on the fly in dnf so that updates would work.

On my desktop, I am still getting the same result. I had not deleted the Dropbox repo. I uninstalled the flatpak, then downloaded the new rpm (2026.01.15) and installed using KDE's Discover. When I launch using Discover (or the application launcher) and it prompts me to install the daemon, I get the same message:

Trouble connecting to Dropbox servers. Maybe your internet connection is down, or you need to set your http_proxy environmental variable.

I tried rebooting and that didn't help.

When I run `dropbox status -i` I get the same result that I reported above.

When I run 'dnf list --installed | grep dropbox' or `dnf info nautilus-dropbox`, the repo for nautilus-dropbox is shown as

<unknown>

I uninstalled using `sudo dnf remove nautilus-dropbox` AND removed the repo using `sudo rm /etc/yum.repos.d/dropbox.repo`, rebooted and installing the downloaded rpm using dnf. I get the same result except that the repo for nautilus-dropbox is shown as

@commandline

AND I get the following error:

>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> error: can't create transaction lock on /usr/lib/sysimage/rpm/.rpm.lock (Resource temporarily unavailable)
>>> error: -: key 1 import failed.
>>>
Warning: skipped OpenPGP checks for 1 package from repository: @commandline

Neal

Hi @jledv,

This StackOverflow post says that can happen when trying to run RPM commands while a graphical package manager (such as Discover) is running.

I'd suggest trying again!

jledv

After hours of troubleshooting, I figured it out and got your repository working and your latest version running. However, there's a new problem: the "dropbox update" command seems to install an older version of the daemon over the newer version.

This was the first line shown after running `dropbox start -i`:

Starting Dropbox...[Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/joe/.dropbox-dist/VERSION'

That directory had no read/write permissions for any users. I deleted that directory then ran `dropbox start -i` and it worked, the dropbox daemon gets installed and dropbox runs. I assume the flatpak version locked that directory down and did not remove it when uninstalled.

I have the RPMFusion non-free repository enabled (I used it to install Steam). When I ran `sudo dnf update`, it would take priority and install an older version of nautilus-dropbox. I added "priority=1" at the end of '/etc/yum.repos.d/dropbox.repo' and added "priority=20" at the end of '/etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree.repo' to fix that. You might want to include that priority line by default in case other Fedora users have that repo enabled.

So it works! However, there seems to be a problem with running the `dropbox update` command. When I ran `dropbox version` after installing and before running `dropbox update`, I got

Dropbox daemon version: 241.3.4691
Dropbox command-line interface version: 2026.01.15

When I ran `dropbox update`, it showed the progress steps and reported "success!". However, running `dropbox version` now reports

Dropbox daemon version: 240.4.8493
Dropbox command-line interface version: 2026.01.15

I repeated this on my laptop and the same thing happened.