We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

Bert M.'s avatar
Bert M.
New member | Level 1
10 years ago

Desktop app is stuck 'Starting' when it loads up and doesn't sync

I am a paying customer and very frustrated with Dropbox. I am ready to drop DropBox and look for other alternatives. Since Friday of last week it has been trying to sync 100Gb in files and it is ta...
Desktop
Mac
Sync
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    Reading through this thread, everyone seems to be experiencing similar and yet slightly different issues, so I’ll go through the general troubleshooting steps to fix all of them. 
     
    Feel free to stop whenever your app begins to sync normally, not all steps are needed.
     
    Install the stable version:

    The first thing we need is to be sure you’re running the stable version of the Dropbox desktop application, and not the beta.
     
    To do so uncheck the box next to "Early releases" here. Then, do an advanced reinstall to ensure that all beta functions are removed fully. 
     
    Instead of the download link on that page, I recommend using the offline installers for this purpose:

     

    Confirm there are no symlinks

     
    Secondly, if your app is fine, but it’s still starting, then it could be stuck in a loop trying to parse your symlinks. 
     
    What are these? Long story short for those not in the know, these are files or folder that refer to another file or folder in your Dropbox account, or even outside the Dropbox folder.
     
    This can include, but is not limited to, iPhoto/Photos library on Mac, system folders such as Documents/Pictures/Music/Downloads, databases, programming code, and many more.
     
    Removing these symlinks is vital since they can cause these issues, high CPU usage, and permissions problems.
     
    Follow step 7 on this article in order to detect the symlinks in your computer and remove any from your Dropbox folder. Generally, moving the specific files or folders to another location should remove the links.
     
    Check your internet connection

    Hilariously, this is more common than you think. You have a stable WiFi/ethernet connection to the web, other sites work, and yet the app isn’t connecting.
     
    If multiple users are having this problem on the same network, there is a possibility that a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router issues that could be restricting traffic to the Dropbox domains. 
     
    We can’t really narrow things down for you, since you need to check this out yourself as there are so many programs out there.
     
    We’ve had cases more often than not about built in security software on routers for home internet users, meant to protect users and children, but in doing so preventing the Dropbox desktop application from loading.
     
    Using a remote login

    Getting a black or white screen on the Dropbox app when you’re trying to sign in is a different issue.
     
    This usually occurs when using a remote login or even a virtual machine to another device. The graphics for remote logins are usually reduced in quality, and since the Dropbox desktop application connects to the Dropbox site to sign you in, it won’t render the login page in the app while on a remote login.
     
    Best thing to do would be to access the machine directly to login from there.
     
     
    ---
     
    Overall, there are many reasons for this cause, however hopefully this post should help in resolving most of the issues!
     
     

     

     

    [This thread is now closed. If you have a similar or new question, you can ask here.]

Nate H.1's avatar
Nate H.1
New member | Level 1
9 years ago

Hello, 

I have exactly the same problem on my Mac. It takes ages to start up Dropbox and during this period, it completely sucks the lifeblood out of my computer. 

The number of files does not make any difference. 

Today I have a paid account with more than 500 GB of backup files in Dropbox. 

You may probably think that this is the reason, but it definitely isn't as I already had this problem months ago when I had al together only +/- 1 GB of files. 

After +/- 2 hours of immobility, when Dropbox has finally started up, the problem disappears and I can start working normal. However, as soon as I restart DB, the exact same thing happens again.   

Please advise on how to solve the problem. 

Thanks, 

Nate

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!