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Forum Discussion

ilan1's avatar
ilan1
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago

Dropbox software needs installation on every startup

I am running Ubuntu 18.04 and on this computer every time I turn on the computer comes another request to install the proprietary software. This is annoying as it should know that the latest version already exists.

This morning I saw 2 Dropbox icons on the status bar, so perhaps it is the second instance which is causing problems? I looked on the computer and I have 3 progarms:

/usr/bin/dropbox

/usr/share/lintian/overrides/nautilus-dropbox

/usr/share/vrms/reasons/nautilus-dropbox

 

There is also

/var/lib/update-notifier/user.d/dropbox-start-required

 

Do I need both dropbox and nautilus-dropbox (in 2 locations)?

If I don't what is the proper way to dump the excess baggage?

 

Thanks,

Ilan

 

Desktop
Setting up the apps
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago

    Thanks for the info, I’ve forwarded this to our team for them to look into this matter further!

    • ilan1's avatar
      ilan1
      Explorer | Level 4
      7 years ago

      Hi Jay,

      Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the situation is worse than before.

      Not only does it constantly ask to install the Dropbox software, it can even say that there is trouble connecting.

       

      Still I think the basic idea in the advanced setup is good - clean out all the history.

      You have 2 lines which need to be fixed:

      rm -rf /var/lib/dropbox
      rm /etc/apt/source.d/dropbox

       Both of these require sudo to work as you are trying to change things in the Linux partition.

       

      I noticed your download file is from 2015. It could be that it just isn't working for 18.04.

      I've been looking around trying to fix this problem and others recommend using

      sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install nautilus-dropbox

      One of the several sources for this is

      (websiteforstudents.com/install-dropbox-on-ubuntu-18-04-Its-desktop)

      (It won't let me post the actual link.)

      It seems that others too have problems with the official software.

       

      What I may try is use the purge part of the commands and then simply do the install nautilus-dropbox.

      What do you think?

       

      Thanks,

      Ilan

       

      • ilan1's avatar
        ilan1
        Explorer | Level 4
        7 years ago

        I just did the purge part of the advanced setup - again clean out any history.

        Instead of install part I used

        sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install nautilus-dropbox

        It is much simpler and so far looks good.

        It has to reindex all my files, so it will take some time.

        When it has finished I will see if the situation is finally fixed. 

         

        Another nice thing is all the instructions appear in the terminal:

        Unpacking nautilus-dropbox (2015.10.28-1ubuntu2) ...
        Setting up nautilus-dropbox (2015.10.28-1ubuntu2) ...
        Please restart all running instances of Nautilus, or you will experience problems. i.e. nautilus --quit
        Dropbox installation successfully completed! You can start Dropbox from your applications menu.

         

        This problem of the official installation seems to affect many Linux users.

        The above work around seems a lot better.

         

        Ilan

         

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