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Forum Discussion
Desktop Application Will Not Allow Existing Dropbox Folder to Be Used. Error: "The folder already contains a Dropbox directory."
I have been a happy user of Dropbox for years. Until recently . . .
Dropbox recently quit working properly. The latest issue today was that it failed to load the "platform plugin windows." The Dropbox popup suggested that I reinstall Dropbox. So . . . I dutifully reinstalled Dropbox as recommended. However, I do not like to have my Dropbox located in the default . . . Users/User/Dropbox location, but on a separate hard drive.
So as soon as Dropbox opens the first time, it starts syncing to the default location (yes, development team, that needs to be fixed too -- please include an initial inquiry on first startup after install to make sure you are using the directory the user actually wants!).
I paused the syncing, opened the Preferences, went to "Account" and attempted to select a different Location, as ostensibly permitted by the preferences interface. However, when I went to the drive that contains my Dropbox, it refuses to allow me to use that location, because -- wouldn't you know it! -- there is already a Dropbox folder there. Duh! Dropbox told me to reinstall the application, but I don't want to delete everything from my computer and re-sync the entire Dropbox. Of course I already have a folder called "Dropbox". Just let me point to it.
Please, please, fix this ASAP, and don't tell me that this is something you "are aware of and are working on." A decent programmer could solve this issue during his lunch hour.
Bottom line: Dropbox needs to allow the user to specify where they want the Dropbox folder to be or where it already is.
You should not select the Dropbox folder but the folder you wish Dropbox to be placed in. Then it will be installed in that folder.
If its on a 2nd drive and not in a folder, simply select the Drive in the chooser window.
At least this is what I am thinking based upon your post. I made this same issue at first when trying to move Dropbox all those years ago.
The installer will let you choose the location. It on the last screen before it closes under the advanced settings. Many users myself included think Dropbox was already being installed in the default location at this point in the process but it was still waiting.
Thanks, Tom, for encouraging me to try it again. I tried your suggestion and got it to point to the right location. The key, as you mention, is to not let the install process complete, but to click on the Advanced Settings on the last screen and then point it to the right place. If you don't do that, you are up a creek and have to reinstall (and also delete the incorrect Dropbox folder on your drive that it created, etc.), as the app settings do not let you repoint the Dropbox to an pre-existing location for some unfathomable reason.
Note to Dropbox Developers:
The happy, congratulatory "Take Me to My Dropbox!" click button on the congratulations-the-install-is-complete screen should be renamed as follows:
"Warning! Do not click on this button unless you want your Dropbox to be installed in the default location. If you already have Dropbox installed on this computer and it is not in the default location, clicking on this button will prevent you from accessing your existing Dropbox. Furthermore, you will not be able to point the application to your existing Dropbox through any later settings if you click on this button. Instead, you should click on Advanced Settings below. If you have read this warning and still want to click this button, you do so at your own risk."
There, that is more clear.
- This is such extreme common sense and yet Dropbox has YET to do it (over 2 years later). Let's spend our time making "paper" instead of correcting our HUGE mistakes in our core product. Luckily for Dropbox, Google Drive sucks even harder. Here's hoping to a better product in the future!
Seems like a pretty important one to fix!
Thanks, Tom.
I have tried it both ways.
When I select the drive, it does not allow me to use the Dropbox folder on the drive. It gives me a popup that says there is already a Dropbox folder on the drive. No other options; no way to tell it to use that folder. Just says you can't use the drive.
When I select the Dropbox folder itself, it will accept that, but then creates a new Dropbox folder under my existing Dropbox folder (c: . . . dropbox/dropbox), and starts re-syncing my entire Dropbox as a subfolder of my already-existing Dropbox.
As soon as Dropbox starts, meaning as soon as I sign into the Dropbox application it immediately starts syncing my cloud Dropbox to the default desktop folder (. . . users/name/dropbox). It is not waiting for any instruction.
I don't recall seeing an advanced settings option when I installed the latest .exe file from dropbox.com today, but I think your suggestion is worth pursuing. Maybe I'll uninstall Dropbox tonight and reinstall and see if there is an advanced settings option during the install that will allow me to point to an existing Dropbox. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll let you know what happens.
Tom_HSuper User alumni
You should not select the Dropbox folder but the folder you wish Dropbox to be placed in. Then it will be installed in that folder.
If its on a 2nd drive and not in a folder, simply select the Drive in the chooser window.
At least this is what I am thinking based upon your post. I made this same issue at first when trying to move Dropbox all those years ago.
The installer will let you choose the location. It on the last screen before it closes under the advanced settings. Many users myself included think Dropbox was already being installed in the default location at this point in the process but it was still waiting.
I was having the same issue. Thanks, Tom. Worked like a charm.
This does not provide a solution.
What I have now is one user re-uploading everything from the Dropbox directory into another directory called Dropbox (User/Dropbox/Dropbox) which is pointless.I cannot target the original Dropbox folder from the second Windows User account because the installer will not work unless it creates an entirely new Dropbox folder in a location where one does not already exist. I also cannot uninstall Dropbox from one Windows user, only all of them at once.
This should not still be a problem in my opinion. I don't know why I continue to pay for the service. I would be better off hosting my own redundancy at home.
The only solution I could think of would be if I temporarily rename the folder I intend to share on both users (_Dropbox_), install Dropbox to the intended share location by letting it create and name the Dropbox folder all by itself and immediately pause synchronization, then copy everything from the original folder (_Dropbox_) into the newly created one and hope that the synchronization doesn't break everything -- in which case I would have a temporary backup of the original folder, but that sort of defeats the purpose of paying for redundant cloud storage with a broken installer?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Tom & Eric !!!
And yes, this help me out very much !!!What's Eric suggest is CORRECT !!! it's would be better to develop team to make a note for us (user) as Eric mention in his testimony above.
:Note to Dropbox Developers:
The happy, congratulatory "Take Me to My Dropbox!" click button on the congratulations-the-install-is-complete screen should be renamed as follows:
"Warning! Do not click on this button unless you want your Dropbox to be installed in the default location. If you already have Dropbox installed on this computer and it is not in the default location, clicking on this button will prevent you from accessing your existing Dropbox. Furthermore, you will not be able to point the application to your existing Dropbox through any later settings if you click on this button. Instead, you should click on Advanced Settings below. If you have read this warning and still want to click this button, you do so at your own risk."
There, that is more clear.Once again, thank you Eric, you make my day brighten again hahaha :)
First, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. As I type this Dropbox is re-indexing 450GB -114k files on my machine. I'd just like to confirm that so far following the advice above seems to be working judging by the first few folders it has finished syncing. Hopefully, I've successfully installed Dropbox in a new user on my machine and connected it to an existing Dropbox folder.
The UI needs to be made a lot clearer, without this thread I doubt I'd have got through. Why can't the UI have an option for existing Dropbox users with folders already installed on their machines? Instead we have to fight with dumb software that tells us there's not enough room for the data, before we've even told it where we want it to keep it/or if it already exists...
Same as Luis here.... On Windows 10.
There is no was to configure this f...cking folder during the installation.
I've browsed the web and found people taking about this 3 years ago. I mean THREE YEARS AGO !
I found my problem,
If after you sign in you click "selective sync", the advanced option will not appear in the flow.
However, if you press "sync all my files", the advanced option appears as promised.
After that you can do your selective syncing as well.
Perhaps Dropbox should fix this flow problem and save some grief...
Hope this helps anyone else that did not understand what everybody here was talking about
Michael
It seems I spoke too soon when I said it had found the installation it was just wasting my time checking blank disk space.That It insists on setting up a fresh copy of itself and then dowloading all the files again which when it is 220Gb is no joke. So I read the advice here and used the advanced settings to point this new installation to the existing G:\Dropbox\Dropbox (which it insisted on creating last time as it would not install in existing G:\ Dropbox). And it seemed to have found the existing files and spent 20 hours downloading and syncing files... But then all of a sudden it creates a whole lot of new directories in G:\ Dropbox and starts downloading new files until it runs out of space. To say that in a year and a half of requests and having read hundreds of exactly similar problem requests Dropbox cannot solve this simple problem of searching for and using the existing installation files shows how poorly the support operation is for this product.
So I have the above setup and have pointed the new installation to it exactly using your advanced dialog and your advised solution so now what do I do...and dont tell me to manually copy 220Gb of files in several thousand directories from G:\ Dropbox\Dropbox to G:\Dropbox
Thankyou Eric A & Davis A for taking time to try to help here. I am not a beginner fortunately having been fighting with Windows since version 3 and the DX2 66 back in 1995 so at least I have the advantage of actually backing up to dataDVD everything I am not prepared to lose. It's a mixed blessing though as I can see Dropbox repeating the same mistakes as so many other software companies have since the days of IBM OS2 warp. Considering it's market penetration I am surprised to find this is program is still causing installation problems. It was about 18 years ago that windows introduced an operating system that inspected the disk structure of your PC looking for existing installations of windows. I seem to remember that also had problems at first.I think it searched for a particular marker file left by the previous installation containing an installation history and then gave you options to overwrite, create a new partition etc. It would not allow you to do anything stupid deleting, formatting or erasing things... well not after a couple of years and patches. Given the fact that dropbox is infinitely more complex in it's behavior, encryption and encoding it seems a little strange that such a fundamental point was missed unless it is some aspect of just these factors we are unaware of. Ideally when you install a new installation of dropbox on a computer it would look for a marker file in much the same way dropbox updater does and communicate between the computer and dropbox the installation history and historical & current status of the installation. It would offer intelligent choices like using the currently installed local dropbox or startng a new one on a bigger disk etc. depending on what you were doing and why. There really is only a couple of dozen reasons why anyone is reinstalling so it would not be beyond anyones ability to cater for all possibilities. logical dialog boxes to reassure the user that all is under control and then getting stuck in to reinstalling the application starting with uploading/downloading the newest additions so everything is safely backed up BEFORE checking and indexing 135,000 other files which are already safe in the cloud. Bill Gates once sent a bunch of coders to some mountain lodge somewhere with a bunch of old PC motherboards videocards soundcards and told them not to come back until they could install and update windows flawlessly... rumour has it some are still out there somewhere.
In my own case the problem was a simple one, reinstalling XP and therefore dropbox but keeping the 220Gb dropbox I already had on drive G:\Dropbox\Dropbox where the last installation put it. Using the new advanced settings enabled me to point it to G:\Dropbox\Dropbox but after spending several hours looking at this installation and indexing files it started a new installation in G:\Dropbox and then promptly stopped as it ran out of room on the disk... announcing to me free up some room or dropbox cannot be installed... like I said Intelligent installation???. In my case I just copied G:\Dropbox\Dropbox to G:\Dropbox and after a couple of minutes and then 24hrs while dropbox indexed following with uploading the 9 important pictures it was up to date. Given that i think dropbox is a genius program especially the way it sync's between Mobile's laptops and shared & work directories this needs a bit of attention. we should not be having this discussion it needs to be press and forget flawless and instant installation with lots of reassuring noises that your stuff is safe whatever you do...
- IMO, that I can't have a fresh install of my OS followed by a re-installation of Dropbox where I can point my new installation to my local copy, well that's just asinine. I should be able to point the installation wherever the #### I need to. It should be able to see the existing folder and recognize the account from what is in the folder. It should not have to resync unless at my direction or unless I change my sync settings.
Give me one good reason that this is not possible.
ckGo back to page one of this thread, and read Tom's post. This is how you get Dropbox to sync with your current Dropbox location.
WTF!!!!! You *FLOWERS* STUPID, *FLOWERS* dropbox developers, you *FLOWERS*, don't you know dropbix has to allow users to sync to an already existing folder instead of you *FLOWERS* default in C drive? Give me my *FLOWERS* refund and cancel my SUBSCRIPTION. I cannot sync again my 130 GB DATA.
Edit by ~thightower : Foul language removed and replaced with *FLOWERS*
Please remember inappropriate/foul language is not acceptable in the forums.
