Peterborough Linux User Group (Canada) Forum

Linux & Android => Articles, Tutorials and Tips => Topic started by: ssfc72 on January 01, 2018, 08:17:36 PM

Title: Dropbox - won't signin
Post by: ssfc72 on January 01, 2018, 08:17:36 PM
I have been using my newer Dell 14" Inspiron notebook lately, running the Mint 18.3 Distro.
I have encountered 2 program issues, with it recently.

The Dropbox program on the notebook, for some reason, stop being able to connect to the Dropbox, Cloud server.
I would get the login menu coming up, after starting my Dropbox program, and when i input my user name and password (these two are the correct ones, because I can log onto my dropbox account, using the brower0 , Dropbox would nag that the version of Dropbox was out of date and to install an up to date, Dropbox version.

But the version I have installed and the latest version for Linux, are the same version number.

I went ahead and removed the existing Dropbox and re-installed and I still got the nag about the Dropbox being out dated.

Apparently this is a known problem with the Linux Dropbox.  I even seem to recall having this same problem a few years ago, on another of my notebook computers.

The fix is found at this web page -
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/dropbox-can%27t-%27sign-in%27-or-install-newer-version-4175591810/

Basically you need to stop Dropbox, if it has been started and delete a hidden Folder (  .dropbox-dist  ) which is found in your Home, folder.
Then rerun Dropbox, from the command line with this command,  dropbox start -i

It worked for me! :-)

Bill
Title: Re: Dropbox - won't signin
Post by: Jason on January 02, 2018, 03:25:44 AM
Thanks for sharing, Bill. Bob used to have trouble with Dropbox, too. Not sure if it's the same issue, though.
Title: Re: Dropbox - won't signin
Post by: fox on January 02, 2018, 07:46:18 AM
Good to know; thanks for posting this, Bill. I can't recall having this problem with dropbox, but I have had it with other apps, most notably Mendeley reference manager. I think that the generic problem is that a newer version exists but is not yet present in your distro's repositories.