For Box Admins: Changing the Default Location for the Box Sync Folder

This article provides details on how IT admins can customize the Box Sync folder location while deploying Box Sync 4.0 for the enterprise.

If you are not an Administrator in an enterprise and want to change your folder location, click here for more information.

Prerequisites and Limitations

• Sync 4.0 installer: If you've already installed Sync 4.0, you'll need to uninstall Box Sync before proceeding.
• Hard drive format: The Box Sync folder must be located on a local drive with a NTFS, HFS, or HFS+ file system.
• Moving the Box Sync folder:
• Do not move the Box Sync folder while Sync is installed.
• If Box Sync 4.0 is already installed, you must first uninstall this version before you can take the steps below to move the Box Sync folder location.
• Do not move the Box Sync folder to a shared network drive or an external hard drive.
• If your Sync 3 folder is already at a custom location, Sync 4.0 will place the new Box Sync folder (called Box Sync) next to the existing Sync 3 Box Documents/My Box Files folder at this same location. To allow this to occur, install Sync 4.0 over Sync 3 without uninstalling.
• If your administrator has customized the Box Sync folder location, you cannot override it.
• Do not try to manually create a "Box Sync" folder in your desired location. Doing so will block the automatic creation of the Sync folder by the application.

Customizing the Sync Folder Location

The steps below outline the process for customizing the Sync Folder location on either Mac or Windows operating systems.

Mac:

You can customize the location of the local Box Sync folder by specifying the folder path in a .plist file (com.box.sync.plist) that must be created in the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/ directory. In this procedure, the Box Sync folder is saved to the desktop.

Note: Sync 4 only supports plain text plist files.

To specify the Box Sync folder location in the .plist file, follow this procedure:

1. If you have already installed Box Sync 4.0 on your Mac and logged in for the first time, you'll need to uninstall Box Sync before proceeding.
2. Delete any pre-existing Box Sync .plist files in the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/ directory. Be aware that Box Sync .plist file(s) will exist if you previously tried to customize the Box Sync folder location.
3. Open a new text file.
4. Copy the following example and paste it into the new text file:
   <!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?--><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>SyncRootFolder</key><stri ng>/Users/<Username>/Desktop/Box Sync</string></dict></plist>
5. In this text file, update the folder string location /Users/<Username>/Desktop/Box Sync with your desired path. Be sure to include the entire file path. The greater-than and less-than characters, "< " " >" are special characters and cannot be used in the Box Sync folder path. The path is case-sensitive.
6. Save this text file as com.box.sync.plist (a .plist file) in the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/ directory (note that this directory is separate from the Users/userprofile/Library/Preferences directory). Be sure to save this as a plain text file. (You can save this file as plain text from the Format menu if you're using TextEdit on your Mac.)
7. Install Box Sync 4.0. Box Sync will now read the .plist file and create the Box Sync folder in the new location.

Windows:

To set the location of the Box Sync folder in Sync 4.0, you must set the registery key in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) software settings before logging in to Sync 4.0 for the first time. If Sync 4.0 has already created the Box Sync folder in the default location, you must uninstall and reinstall Sync 4.0.

1. If you have already installed Box Sync 4.0 on Windows and logged in for the first time, you'll need to uninstall Box Sync before proceeding. If you have not logged in to Sync 4.0, proceed to step 4.
2. Delete the following folders:
1. C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Box\Box Sync\
2. C:\Users\<username>\Box Sync\
3. Install Sync 4.0.

4. Open Registry Edit by going to the Start menu and searching for regedit.
5. In the left pane, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > BOX > BoxSync
6. In the right menu, right-click and select New > String Value. Name this new value SyncRootFolder.
7. Right-click the newly created SyncRootFolder value, select Modify, and set the Value data to the required path. End the path with the name of the new Sync 4.0 folder. For example: C:\Users\[username]\Desktop\[Desired Box Sync Folder Name].