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Question

Box Desktop suddenly unavailable

  • May 23, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 24 views
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Hi,

My Box Desktop suddenly stops working.  Giving a notice saying

C:\Users\Box is unavailable. If the location is on this PC, make sure the device or drive is connected or the disc is inserted, and then try again.  If the location is on a network, make sure you're connected to the network or Internet, and then try again.  If the location still can't be found, it might have been moved to deleted.

I have made sure I'm connected to the internet, and haven't moved or deleted any folders at all.

Please have a look.

Thank you

Hannah

 

    1 reply

    C
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    Hi Hannah, 

    Welcome to Box Community and I'm here to help! 

    You may go ahead and reset your Box Drive manually, here are the steps:

    For Windows: 

    1. Exit Box Drive (if it is running). If necessary, use Task Manager to end the Box.exe process.
    2. Ascertain whether any files exist in C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been uploaded to Box. If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\ (such as your desktop). Proceeding with the steps below deletes these files.
    • You may need to show hidden folders to see \AppData.
    Delete this folder: C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box. From RegEdit, delete the registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Box/Box to clear Box preferences. Restart the Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    For Mac (File Provider Extension mode)

    1. Quit Box Drive if it's currently running.
    2. Open a Terminal window and run the following command: 
      fileproviderctl domain remove -A com.box.desktop.boxfileprovider; defaults delete com.box.desktop; rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Box/Box

      This command will:

      • Archive all files that are not synced (not uploaded to Box) from "~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box" and move it to a new folder at "~/Box-Box (Archive)

        Note

        If you already have a "~/Box-Box (Archive)" folder from a previous manual reset, the folder will be named "~/Box-Box (Archive) 2", or if that name is already taken, "~/Box-Box (Archive) 3", and so on.

      • Exclude from the above archive files that are “up-to-date” or synced on Box
      • Re-create the parent hierarchy of the archived files
    3. Restart Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    For Mac (kernel-based mode)

    1. Quit Box Drive if it's currently running.
    2. Navigate to your ~/Library folder: In Finder, click the Go menu, press and hold the Alt (Option) key, and then click Library.
    3. See if any files exist in ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been synced (not uploaded to Box). If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles (such as your desktop) before proceeding with the steps below, which will delete these files.
    4. Open a Terminal window and run the following command: 
      defaults delete com.box.desktop; rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Box/Box

      This command will delete Box Drive preferences and application data

    5. Restart Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    Once you restart Box Drive, you can review any archived unsynced files (File Provider Extension mode) or unsynced files you moved elsewhere (kernel-based mode) and either upload them manually or delete them to free up hard drive space.

    Relaunch your Box Drive application and log back in. 

    Hope it helps! Let us know how it goes. 

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