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Question

All my BOX files have disappeared..

  • May 23, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 214 views
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I opened my box folder on windows tis morning, and it was empty!

I checked and they are still there on BOX online, but they've all disappeared from my hard-drive.

I have uninstalled BOX , and reinstalled, and keep getting the message that there are open files preventing BOX from opening:

 

There are open files that are preventing Box Drive from starting.

Please close all applications and restart Box Drive. If the problem persists, please contact Box Support to further troubleshoot the issue.

 

Yet nothing is open, I restarted the laptop and killed virtually everything I could think of, but the issue persists. right now the only thing I have open is my FF browser, but even with it closed box doesn't start.. the small icon in the system tray is grey and permanently says "connecting to box"

 

please advise..

    3 replies

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    I tried completely uninstalling once more, and installing an older version which autoupdated to the most current version, and still getting the same message that there are files open preventing box from starting.. I've no idea what files it is referring too as I've not opened any files..

    ____________________________________________________

    OK.. an update one day later:

    My files are back. Yet I did nothing except ANOTHER reboot which I had tried several times yesterday without success. So I don't know why, but things are working again and my files are all there.

    What I DON'T understand though, and would like an answer to, is what happened to my files, and why couldn't I access them? I believe that they actually were on my disk still, because once BOX was back up and running, all my files were there! I mean, there was definitely not time for BOX to have downloaded them all again from the cloud, somehow they were just there, were they always were, so why couldn't I access them????

    Adding further to the mystery, I had a full back up my C disk from a week earlier, but when I looked at that,the backup of my BOX files weren't there either.. I could see that the backup BOX folder was an inaccessible shortcut, to a volume that was unmounted(?)...

    I don't understand this, can someone please explain what is actually happening here?

    thank you..

    __________________________________________

    And why can't I add more than one comment? I tried to add the above update as an additional comment, but it never appeared! Something buggy about the forum?

     

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    Hi there, 

    Welcome to the Box Community!

    For me to check, may I please have the following: 

    • Does it show any error prior to experiencing this behavior?
    • Have you upgraded your account?

    This behavior only happens when you upgrade your account. The files are not available during the transition. 

    Thanks!

     

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    Hi Aira, as I have explained, in my comment above, I am no longer experiencing this issue. My BOX files are all back where they should be. Please read my previous comment.

    The only error message I got was the one I quoted in the original post..

    When you ask if I've upgraded my account, if you mean to a paid version then the answer is no I didn't/haven't.. If you mean am I using the most current version of BOX, then the answer is yes, as I always let BOX update to the latest version.

    Please read my previous comment, and answer the questions I put there..

    Thank you, appreciate you helping,

    Mango.

    PS I solved the problem I experienced of being unable to post another comment (mentioned in my previous comment), by switching to another browser.. for some reason, when I comment using firefox the comment gets swallowed up and never actually appears)..

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