Connecting to Dropbox in Vista after January 2018: How-to

[WinClient5270]

Important announcement for Dropbox users still running Windows Vista:

As of January 2018, the Dropbox desktop client will no longer connect to the Dropbox service on PCs running Windows Vista. However, you can work around this by running the application in compatibility mode for Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5), and the software should then connect to Dropbox just fine. Keep in mind, this was tested on the 41.4.80 version of the client, which was released on January 8, 2018. This workaround may be patched in newer versions, or newer versions of the client may not work in Vista at all, so I wouldn't count on this solution being a good long-term strategy. If/when this no longer works, you may simply use the web version of Dropbox (as long as you're using a supported web browser. View this post to see a list of web browsers as well as other software that still support Vista). 

Anyway, with that said, here's how to perform the workaround:

1. First of all, make sure all instances of Dropbox are closed. To do this, open Task Manager, click on the 'Processes' tab, and end 'Dropbox.exe':

2. Next, open Explorer and navigate to Program Files (x86 if on a 64-bit system)\Dropbox\Client and highlight Dropbox.exe:

3. Right-click on Dropbox, click Properties, and in the following dialogue, click the 'Compatibility' tab and choose Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5):

4. After doing this, click OK and you may then close out the Windows Explorer window.

Now, if you did everything correctly, Dropbox should connect just fine on Windows Vista, and you may use it normally! 

Edited January 19, 2018 by WinClient5270

[yousuckstoo]

Nice, works perfect! thanks for share this method

Im a noobish with DB, until very recently discover the desktop client for windows,but only shows "you need windows 7 or newer system to sync your account"

Edited January 20, 2018 by yousuckstoo