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raizada's avatar
raizada
Explorer | Level 3
5 years ago

Surprising fix to linux account-linking problem: login via pure text terminal, rather than X desktop

Dear Dropbox folks,

 

I was having difficulty getting Dropbox to work on Linux (Ubuntux 18.04), and had removed and reinstalled the dropbox client without success. Even when I reinstalled the daemon with dropbox start -i, I still never was able to get the message:

Starting...
To link this computer to a Dropbox account, visit the following url:
https://www.dropbox.com/cli_link_nonce?nonce=[some string]

 

I had unlinked the Linux box via the web interface, and I had expected that completely deleting my Dropbox installation, folder, .dropbox and .dropbox-dist dirs would remove any linking info locally on my computer, hence prompting dropbox newly to set up linking to this machine when I started the daemon. However, that didn't happen. That was when I was logged in via a standard graphical desktop, which was a detail that I didn't think was relevant.

 

However, when I logged in remotely to the Linux box via a purely text-based ssh-window, and ran dropbox start from there, suddenly I did get the long sought after "To link this computer" message, along with the link, and that link worked.

 

It seems that somehow the dropbox client is better at asking for machine-linking via a text-only client than when it is run as part of a graphical X Windows desktop? This seems weird, but it appears to be what happened.

 

Anyway, I figured I'd post this, in case anyone else is having similar problems.

 

Raj

  • madisonpeople's avatar
    madisonpeople
    New member | Level 2

    Thanks Ria, 

    • Helpful, great example of just make it happen or hacking
    • I can't find a place that feel's just right for me as an absolute bigener, perhaps here at drop box
    • my spell check doesn't work at this point 

     

    Madpeeps (Madison People - Paul)

    • madisonpeople's avatar
      madisonpeople
      New member | Level 2

      Yes I was looking for that option

      • for me I had to ask
      • what is a Drop Box Client etc. etc.

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