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Forum Discussion
Dropbox keeps complaining about "Can't Sync 'System Volume Information'"
Dropbox Windows client 3.0.5, running on Windows 8.1
I have a dedicated partition / drive for Dropbox, and Windows created "System Volume Information" folder on its root directory.
Dropbox client keeps saying:
Indexing "System Volume Information"...
Can't Sync "System Volume Information" (access denied)
I tried to use "Selective Sync" to un-check this folder, but unfortunately it does not show up in the folder list.
Thus the Dropbox client never finishes syncing because of this folder.
Can Dropbox client be a little smart and don't even try to sync this system folder? it really does not make sense.
I sent a reply but it seems to have evaporated. Yes, changing permissions seems to have cracked it. I accept deleting the folder wouldn't help. And it seem to me you can't create a folder with the same name because the OS would just say that it already exists, yes?.
The takeown command was a new one to me; it may have been valuable but I can't tell. Certainly changing permissions was the important thing, and also de-selecting it once it was visible finally clinched it.
So thanks, guys, good work; I am grateful.
Reg A. : re "And it seem to me you can't create a folder with the same name because the OS would just say that it already exists, yes?."
IIt seems to me if people actually read replies they wouldnt write counter replies that are not applicable.
So again....
Selective sync works of the folders that are in the cloud, not the machine.
So I would expect you can just create the folder via the website, and then selectively unsync it.
Tested and works fine, no hassle no hardship.
I'm having this problem too and it seemed to pop up for no reason just recently. My root Dropbox folder does not even include the System Volume Information folder in it's hierarchy so why is Dropbox trying to sync it? It sounds like a bug with Dropbox.
Yeah, I screwed up. I thought it was referring to my "c:\System Volume Information" folder but I had recently mapped my z: to a folder in my Dropbox folder hierarchy which had created a "z:\System Volume Information" folder. Your solution above fixed it. Thanks.
I had a very similar problem. I have a couple of Dropbox folders mapped as T and W drives which many people on our system use. All fine until I upgraded to Windows 10 and on one PC I found I got the 'Can't sync "System Volume Information" (access denied)' message. With some of the ideas in this thread I was able to view the System Volume Information folder which was present on both of my mapped volumes. Interestingly this has never happened on other PCs which have been upgraded.
The file isn't required on mapped drives but it's hard to delete. I found a very useful tool called Unlocker (http://www.emptyloop.com/unlocker/) which enabled me to delete the System Volume Information folders. Once deleted Dropbox immediately fully synced. Problem solved.
I had this problem with my new Surface Pro running Windows 10. I ended up changing how I dedicate several "drives" to different folders using VSubst. I then had to erase the "System Volume Information".
First follow the initial part of Will T.2's advice and "Go to the location of the system volume information folder and right click -> properties -> security -> advanced -> add "users" with full access" - add myself. Then open the folder and do similar to the Volume Information file - right click -> properties -> security -> advanced -> change owner to myself, then close this and the properties slecting any "OK"s. Then right click -> properties -> security -> advanced -> add "users" with full access" - add myself.
You can then delete the folder and the file in it since it is not needed if you use VSubst to map folders to drives.
