Box Tools Not Recognized

Hi ​@austinrusson375, 

Welcome to Box Community, and we are going to help troubleshoot with your Box Tools’ download prompt!  

If you are prompted to install Box Tools  after your successful installation, please check out the following: 

1. You need to ensure that Box Drive is installed, running and enabled. 

Check Installation:

• Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
• Confirm Box Tools appears in the list of installed programs.

Check Running Processes:

• Open Task Manager (right-click taskbar > Task Manager or press Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
• Click the Processes tab.
• Verify both Box Edit and Box Local Com Service appear under Background Processes.

Check Startup Apps Status:

• In Task Manager, click the Startup apps tab.
• Verify both Box Edit and Box Local Com Service have a status of Enabled.

Note: If Box Tools was installed using the MSI installer by an administrator, Box Local Com Service runs as a Windows service (not listed in the Startup apps tab). Verify it is running via services.msc and contact your IT team if needed

• If one or both processes are missing entirely from the Startup apps list, follow “To fix Box Edit not showing in Startup apps menu” or “To fix Box Local Com Service not showing in Startup apps menu” below.
• If either process has a status of Disabled, follow “To fix Box Edit being set to Disabled” below.

2. Check firewall and other network security

• Box Tools v4 requires the ability to communicate with its Box Local Com Server by making requests to 127.0.0.1:17223 (or 127.0.0.1:17224 if port 17223 is occupied) over HTTP.
  • An exception may need to be added to any firewalls, proxies, anti-virus or security products, and browser extensions that could potentially modify this request to http://127.0.0.1.
  • The ability to communicate to 127.0.0.1 over HTTP is acceptable by the following w3c standard.
• See Configuring a Firewall for Box Applications and Services for complete list of domains/hostnames that need to be allow-listed for Box and its applications, integrations, and components to work correctly.

3. Update or reinstall Box Edit

• Download and install the latest Box Edit version from box.com/resources/downloads.

• If issues persist:
  1. Uninstall Box Edit.
  2. Reboot your computer.
  3. Reinstall the latest Box Edit version from box.com/resources/downloads.

4. Check for interfering software

• Temporarily disable antivirus, firewall, or endpoint security software that may block inter-process communication or protocol handlers.
• Ensure no group policy or enterprise settings are blocking installation or auto-launch behavior.
• Contact your IT administrator if enterprise policies are preventing Box Edit from running.

5. Test with another browser and user account

• Attempt the same sign-in workflow in a different browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge) to isolate browser-specific issues.
• Test with a different Windows user account or machine to determine if the problem is user-specific or machine-wide.

To fix Box Edit being set to Disabled:

1. Open Task Manager > Startup apps tab.
2. Click the name of the program (Box Edit or Box Local Com Service) that is Disabled so that it is highlighted.
3. Click Enable near the top of the window.
4. Restart your computer.
   

To fix Box Edit not showing in Startup apps menu:

1. Navigate to the Box Edit program, which will be in one of two locations:

   (The AppData folder is hidden by default. Open Windows search, type %localappdata% including the percentage signs, and press Enter.)

   1. Location 1: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Box\Box Edit
   2. Location 2: C:\Program Files\Box\Box Edit
2. Right-click the Box Edit executable and select Create shortcut.
3. Move the shortcut to: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
4. Restart your computer.

To fix Box Local Com Service not showing in Startup apps menu:

1. Navigate to the Box Local Com program, which will be in one of two locations:

   (The AppData folder is hidden by default. Open Windows search, type %localappdata% including the percentage signs, and press Enter.)

   1. Location 1: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Box\Box Local Com Server
   2. Location 2: C:\Program Files\Box\Box Local Com Server
2. Right-click the Box Local Com executable and select Create shortcut.
3. Move the shortcut to: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
4. Restart your computer.

For more details, please visit this article. 

Hope it helps! Please don’t hesitate to reply for additional questions.