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Forum Discussion
Solved
My Dropbox icon vanished from my taskbar, and I can't get it back.
I have had Dropbox for an eternity and it has never failed, until now.
The Desktop version has vanished. The icon is no longer in the Taskbar even though the program still shows within the Start menu and the folders show in File Explorer.
I have tried the following:
- A restart because that's the first thing you ask for.
- Running the application again from the Start menu (still no taskbar icon).
- Doing a standard uninstall, restart and re-install. This gets me an message an unknown error and a code the Chatbot thinks is related to 2FA which I don't have applied on the account.
- Do the Advance uninstall and re-install, which is:
- Restart the computer
- Uninstall Dropbox
- Restart the computer
- Open Registry Editor
- Delete "Dropbox" and "DropboxUpdate" folders from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (SOFTWARE, WOW6432NODE).
- Delete Dropbox folder from %LOCALAPPDATA%. It wasn't present in the other three locations.
- Download and Install the Dropbox Desktop app
- Linked through advance settings to its original drive and folder.
- Tried this twice. Both failed, still no icon, still no possible way to syncronize files through the Desktop App.
- Tried an earlier Stable Build (203.4.4857). This briefly worked. It recognized the install, connected to the Online Folder, started a sync and the icon appeared. THEN the app updated added the current build to the PC and I am back to no icon, no sync and No Resolution!
I have identified the issue on Windows 11. In Windows Security, under Device Security, there is an option for Local Security Authority protection. This is a simple on/off option though it requires a restart each time you change it.
If the option is set to On, then this prevents Dropbox from showing in the Taskbar and stops any attempts to re-install it with the current builds.
With Dropbox version 203.4.4857, the LSA protection setting could be on and Dropbox continued to work.
However, while it is possible to install the earlier version of Dropbox, as soon as the connection process completes, Dropbox also installs the latest version and this overrides the previous build.
- Mark
Super User II
Out of interest what version of Windows etc. are you using? Is it a standard Windows install? No junctions/external or networked drives etc.?
I am using Windows 11 Pro. Yes, it's a standard install. No networked drives or external drives. Don't know what you mean by "junctions".
I use the standard Windows Defender for Anti-virus and Firewall and the same configuration is on another desktop PC where Dropbox works like it should.
I have the same problem on ny MacBook. Extremely frustrating!
I encountered the same issue twice and attempted the same solutions without success.
I resolved it by reinstalling a repair version of Windows 11, as the problem was likely due to a corrupted system update.
I have identified the issue on Windows 11. In Windows Security, under Device Security, there is an option for Local Security Authority protection. This is a simple on/off option though it requires a restart each time you change it.
If the option is set to On, then this prevents Dropbox from showing in the Taskbar and stops any attempts to re-install it with the current builds.
With Dropbox version 203.4.4857, the LSA protection setting could be on and Dropbox continued to work.
However, while it is possible to install the earlier version of Dropbox, as soon as the connection process completes, Dropbox also installs the latest version and this overrides the previous build.
