[Solved] Dropbox not working any more on Cinnamon ext4

[DeltaTango]

Hello to all.

Like many other users I have been notified for a long time that Dropbox was not going to work any more except on ext4 file systems.

I use several computers:
- Computer A runs LM 18.2 XFCE with an encrypted home on an ext4 filesystem. The relevant installed packages are dropbox and thunar-dropbox-plugin.
- Computer B runs LM 19 Cinnamon also with an encrypted home on an ext4 filesystem. The only relevant installed package is dropbox (same version as above: 2015.10.28).

There is an /home/.ecryptfs/<my user name> folder on both of them.

On both computers, I have used a workaround to solve the problem that Dropbox had announced they would not work any more on encrypted file systems or folders (even if they are ext4): since there is no confidential data on my Dropbox account (and there should not be any: it's on the cloud !), I created a /home/<my user name>-unencrypted/Dropbox folder - so out of the encrypted folder - and moved my Dropbox folder there.

That worked fine ... till this morning.
It stopped working on computer B but not on computer A.

On computer B, I have window that opens at startup and asks that I move my Dropbox folder to a partition with a compatible file system.
If I quit and start Dropbox at the command line, I have the same window and cannot see any information that seems suspicious.

[redlined]

I created a /home/<my user name>-unencrypted/Dropbox folder - so out of the encrypted folder - and moved my Dropbox folder there.

That worked fine ... till this morning.
It stopped working on computer B but not on computer A.

On computer B, I have window that opens at startup and asks that I move my Dropbox folder to a partition with a compatible file system.
If I quit and start Dropbox at the command line, I have the same window and cannot see any information that seems suspicious.

hi DeltaTango!

I'm new to linux, and don't use dropbox...however I was curious as to How you "created" this unencrypted folder in your encrypted /home partition?

If I read it correctly I'm thinking you need to dedicate file storage space (this can be on same or other internal or external drive), just giving it a whole different partition from your dedicated (and encrypted) /home. This other space must be formatted as ext4, and we'll want to mount that plain unencrypted partition as a folder in your /home directory (or anywhere using /mnt or /media) then tell dropbox to sync a folder you create on that unencrypted ext4 formatted partition.

If this is indeed what you are doing already, then I apologize- I do not intend to waste anyone's time. If you are unsure of the setup and environment then please copy&paste then hit Enter in a terminal window the following command: inxi -Fxzd copy all those results from terminal window and paste into a code block created by tapping the </> button above your reply edit box. Thanks!

[DeltaTango]

I just tried installing the latest .deb version from Dropbox's web site (2018.11.28) : not a change.

[redlined]

I just tried installing the latest .deb version from Dropbox's web site (2018.11.28) : not a change.

hi DeltaTango, I believe this is by design since they want only unencrypted ext4 storage space. Please have a read of my other reply and let's sort out whether you have pointed dropbox at unencrypted ext4 storage space as they require. Thanks~

[DeltaTango]

Hello Redlined and thanks for answering.

Dropbox also stopped working on computer A this morning with the same symptoms, , so 24h after computer B. I guess it had nothing to do with a difference between systems after all.

On both systems, the Dropbox folder was originally in /home/(username)/Dropbox, so inside the encrypted home folder. But after the warnings about not working soon, I had moved them to /home/(username)-unencrypted/Dropbox/Dropbox and left a symlink at the location of /home/(username)/Dropbox pointing toward the new folder.

I created the unencrypted folder manually (sudo mkdir foldername followed by a sudo chown and a sudo chmod). It is not the entire partition that is encrypted , only a the home folder of the user, so any folder created out of /home/username is supposedly located on unencrypted space. At least, that is how I understand it.

I can't see what's the problem.

[gm10]

The symlink is on an encrypted filesystem.

[DeltaTango]

The symlink is on an encrypted filesystem.

Yes, but the symlink is only used by the human user (me) to access the folder, not by Dropbox itself: the folder has been moved or so it should be.
I am trying to check out if this is indeed the case. But I cannot find in which config file the Dropbox folder is specified. It is not displayed in the output when starting by the command line.

[DeltaTango]

I found the (new) workaround :

it seems that Dropbox considers all user folders inside /home to be encrypted.

So I created a /home-unecrypted/my_username folder and moved the Dropbox folder there and it works now.

[redlined]

I found the (new) workaround :

it seems that Dropbox considers all user folders inside /home to be encrypted.

which they are, including symlinks to folders to unencrypted space

So I created a /home-unecrypted/my_username folder and moved the Dropbox folder there and it works now.

Glad you got it sorted though, well done! Please edit your first post this thread and change Title to include [Solved], this will help others who may search for similar issues filtering by Solved. Thanks!

also, another forum member reported success for file system format issues, although not seemingly related to your encrypted storage issue his findings may be useful to bookmark for future reference; see dhdurgee post Re: New Disk format requirements for using DropBox

[DeltaTango]

There is a new workaround : https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/11/h ... -ext4.html
It worked for me with LM 18 XFCE and LMDE 3.