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Forum Discussion
Can't remove dropbox folder icon from Win File Explorer
Since Dropbox recently limited free accounts to three devices I had to delete it from my desktop PC and a laptop. The deletion from the laptop went OK. The deletion from the desktop (Windows 10) occu...
I found a fix by using regedit to search the registry for the string "c:\users\peter\dropbox". If you use this, obviously the string would be the name that is in the Properties dialog box of your ghost system folder icon. It found one entry, "under" a clsid. See screen shot below. I searched for the string that is the clsid (the thing between curly braces), and found it in several places. One of them was here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{E31EA727-12ED-4702-820C-4B6445F28E1A} That contained these values:
Name Type Data
(Default) REG_SZ Dropbox
I figured from the other data similar to it in the registry that it is where file explorer finds the info it uses to display these icons over to the left. For example, the value right above that reg entry is similar and has "data" = "Onedrive", which is another icon in file explorer. I deleted the key and the ghost icon is gone. Now, since the clsid appears in other places in the registry I likely have some leftover, useless data, but I hope it is not harmful.
I see how to get a refresh now, but it did not help.
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi Isaksp00; I'm merely checking back with you on this. Have you been able to resolve your concern so far?
Thanks, no I have not found a solution. I am pretty sure it is a registry issue, but I have no idea how to fix it. I suppose I could reset the Windows OS back to factory config and then let it update, but that is probably too much of a hassle when I can just leave this ghost icon there.
- Walter
Thanks for the update isaksp02 (I guess you're the same person as Isaksp00 - right?)
May I have you follow some steps to see if they help with the matter at hand?
At this point, I'd like you to search for and delete the remaining Dropbox system folders (it's OK if you don't find a Dropbox folder in any of the following locations).
- Open a Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer).
- Type %LOCALAPPDATA% into the address bar and press enter.
- In the next window, delete the folder named Dropbox. A prompt to enter your computer administrator password (not your Dropbox password) may appear.
- Repeat these steps with the following folders. Deleting any of these folders will not delete the files in your Dropbox folder.
- %APPDATA%
- %PROGRAMFILES%
- %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%
Make sure to reboot your computer once you're finished please.
Let me know how it goes!
Yes, those are both my ID's - for some reason, to log in to the forum on one device, I had to create a new ID.
I tried the steps you cited. 2 of the directories did have the leftover dropbox subdir, and I deleted these and rebooted. The ghost folder is still there.
