Box Drive encountered an error at initialization that requires you to manually move aside your existing Box folder

If you have received this error prompt please read through this article to understand the cause and how to resolve it.

When does the prompt appear?

Box Drive on macOS 11.5+ and beyond in File Provider Extension mode could run into an error at initialization if there is a pre-existing folder at ~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box.

This could happen if the Box Drive folder was not successfully cleaned up from the last time the Box Drive application ran.

How to resolve this error ?

Manually move aside the Box Drive folder by following the steps below:

1. Launch the terminal application from Spotlight

2. Copy paste the following command in terminal.

   sudo mv ~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box ~/Box-Box-Backup

   If the command above fails with the “Operation not permitted” error, follow the steps below to grant the Terminal applications the required permissions and retry steps 1 & 2 Go to “System preferences” Select “Security and Privacy” Go to “Privacy” tab On left menu scroll and select “Full Disk Access” Select “Click the lock to make changes” and type the password On the right list find “Terminal” and check it.

3. Restart Box Drive

4. Review the “~/Box-Box-Backup” folder for any unsynced files and either upload them manually or delete them to free up hard drive space.