I've moved my Dropbox folder to another drive, but the new folder isn't syncing.

Question

I want to relocate the Dropbox folder from the C: drive to secondary storage.  This is on Windows where I have my computers setup such that there are none of my personal files stored on the C: drive.

When I perform the Relocate function provided by Dropbox it appears to function properly,  In that, it warns that it is going to move all of the files.  It spends a good amount of time processing and concludes by saying I've been signed out and need to sign-in.  When I sign back in it shows the folder location as being the same as it was before doing the move.  Interestingly, it has created a folder named Dropbox on the target drive and appears to have copied all of the files to it.  However, they are still in the same old folder on the C: Drive and I have no problem renaming the new folder created on the target drive, which implies that according to Windows is it is not being used.

Note:  This is not a new idea.  I've been using Dropbox for many years and have always located the Dropbox folder on a secondary drive (i.e., never on the C: drive).  In fact, that is how my other Dropbox computers are setup up now.

aeneas · Answer

While following the referenced instructions for advanced reinstallation I thought of something that might be relevant to this problem.  It occurs to me that I may be doing something different from the way other users operate their Windows computers.  I do not normally operate my computer using an account with administrative permissions.  However, administrative permissions are needed to install software.  Therefore, when running the installation programs I either sign-in with my administrator account or have to grant admin privileges while running my ordinary account.  As a result when I sign-in using the admin account Dropbox asks me to sign-in to a Dropbox Account but since I don't have one I simply decline.

It now looks like Dropbox is not even providing a conventional installer that can be downloaded.  Now when I attempt to install Dropbox from the website, to which I am not signed into, it wants me to first sign-in.  I should point out that this has never been a problem in the past but it is also probably quite some time since I've had to do such an installation.  Over the years I've had quite a few Windows computers that have used Dropbox without any kind of problem like what is being experienced now.

Note: I do have what appears to be a Dropbox installation program that may have been downloaded sometime in 2025.  It occurs to me that using that might to the best choice now, since I have not been able to figure out how to download an actual installer without performing a sign-in.

Jay · Answer

Thanks for the details.

As you have a rather small number of files, and moving the folder using the Dropbox interface isn't working, could you try performing an advanced reinstallation of the Dropbox desktop application using these steps?

When you reach the last step, choose a different location for the Dropbox folder to be located in the Advanced settings, namely the location you want to have the folder.

The app will then create a new folder there, and start to sync the files from the site into that new location.

aeneas · Answer

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by the term "drive" in my description of the problem.  In this case I'm using the Windows meaning of the term which I'd say refers to a different partition to which Windows has assigned a different drive letter.

A screenshot of the Sync & Storage window before initiating the move operation follows:

This time I measured the amount time it took to perform the move operation.  It looked to me like that would be 3 minutes and 33 seconds.  When it finished moving the files it displays a Window that says I've been logged out and asks to login.

I then opened the File Manager in order to verify that a new folder named Dropbox had been created at the expected target location.  A screenshot showing that follows:

When I do select the "Login in Dropbox" button it says I've been logged in without my having to do anything (i.e., no request for userid or password).  It says "Syncing" at the bottom of the Dropbox Window and also says it is processing 13 files and displays the names of those files.  This seems odd to me because no files have been altered and I'd expect that no syncing is needed.

Finally a screenshot of the "Sync & Storage" window after logging back int follows:

I did then copy a new file to a folder in the Dropbox folder.  That file does appear when I sign-in to my Dropbox account on the web and also the original Dropbox folder located on the C: drive on my computer.  Also, it does not appear in the new folder that was created at the target location for the move operation.