Dropbox: Frequently Asked Questions

Warning: NYU does not officially support Dropbox. Use with caution. 

Please note that this FAQ page is specifically regarding Dropbox on Linux machines. To install Dropbox on your Mac or Windows machine, please refer to the official Dropbox desktop application installation site. 

The page and its content provide information regarding a variety of issues that our users may have with Dropbox.

Dropbox Frequently Asked Questions Overview

Is the Dropbox application available on my CIMS Linux machine?

Unfortunately, no. As of October 2024, there is no official Dropbox application available for Red Hat 9, the official Linux flavor at NYU Courant. NYU's official cloud storage is NYU Box and NYU Drive. Any other cloud-based storage systems are not officially supported by NYU. Other cloud-based storage alternatives -- which to reiterate, are not officially supported by NYU -- include rClone and InSync. 

Note that on the official Dropbox Linux download page, .rpm and .deb files are offered for Ubuntu and Fedora Linux flavors, however there is no Red Hat 9 RPM available. Therefore, there is no official graphically-based version of the Dropbox application available on RHEL9 machines. 

If you insist upon using Dropbox on a Linux machine, then we would recommend using the web-browser version of Dropbox. 

That being said, one can install a "Headless" version of Dropbox on their CIMS machine. The "Headless" version of Dropbox is essentially a Terminal-based version of the application without a Graphical User Interface (GUI). For additional information, please refer to the question, "Can I install Headless Dropbox on my CIMS machine?".

Can you build the Dropbox application from the Source RPM? 

You may have noticed that on the official Dropbox Linux download page, a "Compile from source" option is provided. If clicked, this link will download the source RPM (SRPM) for Dropbox. While one could technically build a RHEL9-compatible RPM from this source file, we at the Courant Systems Group cannot condone nor endorse this approach.

Compiling an RPM file from source has its own set of drawbacks and vulnerabilities. In addition to manually requiring the management of dependencies, compiling from source brings with it a plethora of security vulnerabilities, as this compiled version would explicitly not receive official security patches nor updates from Dropbox's support team. 

Can I install the Headless Dropbox on my CIMS machine? 

The "Headless" version of Dropbox is essentially a Terminal-based version of the application that does not have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). While it is possible to install a "Headless" version of Dropbox on your CIMS machine, you should be aware that there are actually various risks and downsides for having your home directory in a network location instead of the recommended local storage.

The risks of utilizing Dropbox on your CIMS machine include (but are not limited to): 

  • The files synced from Dropbox will consume disk quota in your home directory and hitting your disk quota will make both Dropbox and your workstation dysfunctional.
  • The constant synchronization between Dropbox and our servers is traffic on our servers that can be mitigated.
  • Running Dropbox on multiple machines at the same time that mount your home directory leads to unexpected results in writing/syncing and can possibly lead to data corruption.

While the Courant Systems group does not officially condone nor support the installation of Dropbox on your CIMS Linux machine, there does exist a "Headless Installation" of Dropbox that can be performed in the Command Line/Terminal. 

The commands to install this Dropbox Headless version via Terminal/Command Line are as follows:  

  1. Open a Terminal window.
  2. You will need to create a folder in the /scratch directory that you will serve as a proverbial mount point for your Dropbox account. Change your present working directory to /scratch using: cd /scratch
  3. Inside of the /scratch directory, create a directory with your username using the following command: mkdir <USERNAME>
    • Please note that you may choose to rename this /scratch/USERNAME directory into something different (such as username_dropbox) in order to differeniate it from your /home/username directory. 
  4. Enter this following command to begin the Headless Dropbox installation: 

        cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -

  1. Next, run the Dropbox daemon from the newly created .dropbox-dist folder with the following command:  

        ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

  1. Once it is running, the Dropbox daemon will automatically open a web browser window, asking if you would like to connect your computer to your Dropbox account. Click on "Connect" or "Connect a different account."
  2. Once your Dropbox account is linked to your computer, re-run the Dropbox daemon with this following command: ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
  3. Since you are on a CIMS machine, within moments you will get a warning pop up message: "Move Dropbox to a supported location so your files can sync: Your Dropbox folder is on a file system that is no longer supported." In this warning window, click on "Move". 
  4. Search for and then select the /scratch/USERNAME directory that you had created earlier. Dropbox will create a directory called "Dropbox" inside of this /scratch/USERNAME/ directory. 
  5. Your Dropbox data will begin to transfer to the /scratch/USERNAME/Dropbox directory. You can use the ls command to list the items currently within this Dropbox directory to monitor its progress. 

How do I uninstall Dropbox? 

To uninstall Dropbox, please refer to the official Dropbox site on how to uninstall Dropbox on your computer. Please note that this link provides instructions for Linux, Mac, and Windows machines.