Forum Discussion

jesper H.2's avatar
jesper H.2
New member | Level 1
10 years ago
Solved

How do I fix the Qt platform plugin "windows" error?

Hi,

My Dropbox is complaining!

New PC, due to work, and now dropbox gives me this error message:

This application failed to start because it could not find or load the Qt platform plugin "windows".

It worked fine, problem came up, I reinstalled, same problem again after a restart and redone the reinstalled and getting same problem again:

What to do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

  • I found the solution here on the qt forums.

     

    My problem originated with setting the environment variables to get anaconda working.

     

    QT_PLUGIN_PATH=c:\Anaconda3\Library\plugins\

     

    But by setting this it breaks everything else. So for now I've just gotten rid of the path variable.

    To check if you have the env variable set

    1. Press <windows key> + R 

    2. Type "Control Panel"

    3. Open system

    4. Open advanced system settings on the left

    5. Click on the environment variables button at the bottom

    6. Browse through the user and system lists to see if QT_PLUGIN_PATH has been set.

     

     

    [This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community.]

  • jesper H.2's avatar
    jesper H.2
    New member | Level 1

    Looking into similar problems for Linux QT based programs.

    solutions:
    Copy your AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\bin\plugins\platform folder, which contain the qwindows.dll file, into the AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\bin folder.

    So new structure is: @
    platforms\qwindows.dll
    other.dll

    Yours,

    Jesper H.
    Original poster

  • BIMBO O.'s avatar
    BIMBO O.
    New member | Level 1

    I have the exact problem but I dont know how to do that you said!  Culd you help me please?

  • jesper H.2's avatar
    jesper H.2
    New member | Level 1

    Hi,

    Look for the platform folder described above. 

    Mine is located at: C:\user\"myusername"\appdata and henceforth as described above.

    Take that platform folder and copy paste that into the bin folder.

  • andrea h.7's avatar
    andrea h.7
    New member | Level 1

    I have been trying to tackle this same issue all day. I followed your steps completely as described above. I was able to locate the "qwindows.dll" and copy it to the Bin folder, however this did not solve the issue. I have tried uninstalling and re-downloading a fresh application and restarted of course.........but no luck. getting frustrated. I don't know what I am doing wrong. :( Anybody else have the same issues even after following the suggested steps above???

  • Niklas K.'s avatar
    Niklas K.
    New member | Level 1

    Worked for me like this.

    1. Find the folder were Dropbox is installed

    2. Run the Uninstall.exe

    3. Delete the Dropbox folder if it still exists

    4. Download new Installer

    5. Install it

    6. Done

  • grandpotato's avatar
    grandpotato
    New member | Level 2

    I found the solution here on the qt forums.

     

    My problem originated with setting the environment variables to get anaconda working.

     

    QT_PLUGIN_PATH=c:\Anaconda3\Library\plugins\

     

    But by setting this it breaks everything else. So for now I've just gotten rid of the path variable.

    To check if you have the env variable set

    1. Press <windows key> + R 

    2. Type "Control Panel"

    3. Open system

    4. Open advanced system settings on the left

    5. Click on the environment variables button at the bottom

    6. Browse through the user and system lists to see if QT_PLUGIN_PATH has been set.

     

     

    [This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Dropbox Community.]