How to delete a Dropbox folder from the Windows file system?

Question

I recently had to change my email address. Trying to adapt that in my dropbox account I accidentaly created me a second drop-box account. After finding out about my mistake I took a second attempt and then the email address change worked.&nbsp;
But: Due to that prior procedure I had ended up having now TWO dropbox folders in my Windows box's home directory. After carefully figuring out which one is the correct/active folder I deleted the other unused/unwanted folder (via Window's right-click --&gt; Delete). The folder disappeared from my home directory but turned into a zombie. I.e. it now sits in my recycle bin (still showing the dropbox icon) and seems to be undeletable, i.e. even having emptied my trash now multiple times that folder still sits in there and doesn't go away.
How can one completely remove a Dropbox folder deleted from the Windows file system?

Megan · Answer

Hey mmo let's jump right into this!&nbsp;
Just to double check here: when you access your app's preferences, and specifically your Sync tab where do you see your Dropbox folder being located?&nbsp;
You mentioned that the folder inside your recycle bin still shows the Dropbox icon. Can you attach a screenshot of that, in order for me to have a visual?&nbsp;
Also, I know this might sound trivial, but have you tried restarting your device at all?&nbsp;
Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

mmo · Answer

"Drop folder location" reads:C:\Users\mmo\Dropbox.That's correct and syncs fine with my original account (i.e. not the one I accidentally created).This is my otherwise empty recycle bin:&nbsp;It actually contains TWO such zombies, which stem from my multiple attempts to delete that superfluous dropbox folder. When I couldn't delete it I had restored it, renamed it (suspecting that the name caused an issue) and had tried again. I then ended up with TWO of them in my trash bin.&nbsp;

Megan · Answer

Hey mmo, out of curiosity, if you momentarily quit the app and try again to delete the content, do you notice the same behavior?&nbsp;

mmo · Answer

Yes - the behavior is the same. I have quit the application (from the taskbar icon) and I have also killed the afterwards still running Dropbox service (using Task manager) and then tried to empty the trash bin again. There was a short status dialog opening showing that the system (i.e. explorer) was first first counting the files to be removed and their total size. That dialog counted up to ~3 GBs but then the dialog just disappeared again (instead of showing these files actually being removed as they should be or as would be the case for "normal" files) and the two icons remained as shown in the above screenshot.

Hannah · Answer

Hey mmo, I hope it's okay for me to jump in here as well.
This is quite a strange issue.
To get more insight on the steps you followed, can you let me know how you connected the Dropbox application to the correct (original) account, after it was linked to the second one?
Are you able to access the second account on dropbox.com?
If so, can you check the list of connected devices on that account (from the security page in the account settings), to see if the particular computer still appears as connected to it?

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How to delete a Dropbox folder from the Windows file system?

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