Dropbox upload failed: invalid character '<'

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

Rclone wont copy a file(s) to dropbox. I confirmed connectivity and access. running the LS or LSD command results in an accurate console output of my directories. However, copying or synching is not working. I validated that i can write using the touch command successfully.

jrodriguez9@FLL1008654L ~ % rclone sync /Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt dropbox:

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

2021/03/23 18:04:53 Failed to sync: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

What is your rclone version (output from rclone version)

I have tried on both rclone v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264 and 1.54.1 (current release)

Which OS you are using and how many bits (eg Windows 7, 64 bit)

I have tried on MacOS 11.2.3 and MacOS 10.15

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

dropbox

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone copy /Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt dropbox:

and 

rclone sync /Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt dropbox:

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[dropbox]
type = dropbox
token = {"access_token":"s....}

A log from the command with the -vv flag

2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : Using config file from "/Users/jrodriguez9/.rclone.conf"
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264" starting with parameters ["rclone" "copy" "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt" "dropbox:" "-vv"]
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt"
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : fs cache: adding new entry for parent of "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt", "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop"
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "dropbox:"
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : rclone.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/03/23 18:09:11 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:11 ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:11 DEBUG : rclone.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/03/23 18:09:11 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:11 ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:12 DEBUG : rclone.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/03/23 18:09:12 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:12 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/23 18:09:12 INFO  : 
Transferred:   	         0 / 0 Bytes, -, 0 Bytes/s, ETA -
Errors:                 1 (retrying may help)
Elapsed time:         1.0s

2021/03/23 18:09:12 DEBUG : 7 go routines active
2021/03/23 18:09:12 Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value

Can you repeat the transfer with -vv --dump responses --retries 1 --low-level-retries 1 and attach the log or put it on pastebin?

Thanks

jrodriguez9@FLL1008654L ~ % rclone copy /Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt dropbox: -vv --dump responses --retries 1 --low-level-retries 1
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : Using config file from "/Users/jrodriguez9/.rclone.conf"
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264" starting with parameters ["rclone" "copy" "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt" "dropbox:" "-vv" "--dump" "responses" "--retries" "1" "--low-level-retries" "1"]
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt"
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : fs cache: adding new entry for parent of "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop/rclone.txt", "/Users/jrodriguez9/Desktop"
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "dropbox:"
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : You have specified to dump information. Please be noted that the Accept-Encoding as shown may not be correct in the request and the response may not show Content-Encoding if the go standard libraries auto gzip encoding was in effect. In this case the body of the request will be gunzipped before showing it.
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : HTTP REQUEST (req 0xc00039d700)
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : POST /2/files/get_metadata HTTP/1.1
Host: api.dropboxapi.com
User-Agent: rclone/v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264
Content-Length: 107
Authorization: XXXX
Content-Type: application/json
Accept-Encoding: gzip

2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : HTTP RESPONSE (req 0xc00039d700)
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : HTTP/2.0 400 Bad Request
Content-Security-Policy: sandbox allow-forms allow-scripts
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 13:41:28 GMT
Server: envoy
Vary: Accept-Encoding
X-Dropbox-Request-Id: befaa25563d04aebbc477d76cb51d641
X-Dropbox-Response-Origin: far_remote

Error in call to API function "files/get_metadata": request body: path: The root folder is unsupported.
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : HTTP REQUEST (req 0xc00039dc00)
2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : POST /2/files/get_metadata HTTP/1.1
Host: api.dropboxapi.com
User-Agent: rclone/v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264
Content-Length: 117
Authorization: XXXX
Content-Type: application/json
Accept-Encoding: gzip

2021/03/24 09:41:27 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : HTTP RESPONSE (req 0xc00039dc00)
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : HTTP/2.0 409 Conflict
Content-Security-Policy: sandbox allow-forms allow-scripts
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 13:41:28 GMT
Server: envoy
Vary: Accept-Encoding
X-Dropbox-Request-Id: 3171a773627448d286c2c2b5e0d4655e
X-Dropbox-Response-Origin: far_remote

{"error_summary": "path/not_found/...", "error": {".tag": "path", "path": {".tag": "not_found"}}}
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : rclone.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : HTTP REQUEST (req 0xc000cce200)
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : POST /2/files/upload HTTP/1.1
Host: content.dropboxapi.com
User-Agent: rclone/v1.55.0-beta.5333.12cd32264
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Authorization: XXXX
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Dropbox-Api-Arg: {"path":"/rclone.txt","mode":{".tag":"overwrite"},"autorename":false,"client_modified":"2021-03-24T13:39:17Z","mute":false,"strict_conflict":false}
Accept-Encoding: gzip

2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : HTTP RESPONSE (req 0xc000cce200)
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect
Content-Length: 206
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Type: text/html
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 13:41:28 GMT
Location: https://content.dropboxapi.com.x.be494db20200304a1408abc0f8aab3823ff8.9270ee45.id.opendns.com/s/content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/upload?X-OpenDNS-Session=_be494db20200304a1408abc0f8aab3823ff89270ee45_iaGryRkS_
Server: Cisco Umbrella
Set-Cookie: X-OpenDNS-Session=be494db20200304a1408abc0f8aab3823ff89270ee45_iaGryRkS; Path=/; Expires=Wed, 24-Mar-21 13:46:28 GMT
Via: HTTP/1.1 a_proxy_mia

<html>
<head><title>307 Temporary Redirect</title></head>
<body bgcolor="white">
<center><h1>307 Temporary Redirect</h1></center>
<hr><center>Umbrella Cloud Security Gateway</center>
</body>
</html>
2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
2021/03/24 09:41:28 ERROR : rclone.txt: Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/24 09:41:28 ERROR : Attempt 1/1 failed with 1 errors and: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
2021/03/24 09:41:28 INFO  : 
Transferred:   	        11 / 11 Bytes, 100%, 106 Bytes/s, ETA 0s
Errors:                 1 (retrying may help)
Elapsed time:         0.7s

2021/03/24 09:41:28 DEBUG : 7 go routines active
2021/03/24 09:41:28 Failed to copy: upload failed: invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value


Thanks for the quick response Nick. Really appreciate it. =)

Do you have Cisco based VPN/enterprise security software installed, which could be interfering?

1 Like

yeah, let me try uninstalling it. See if that resolves the issue. Bad case of the Mondays, should have read the logs before i posted it. LOL.

That was it! Thank you!

1 Like

Last question/comment.

So far everything is been great. However, our on-prem system is still using Cisco Umbrella. Is there any advice or suggestions on to get rclone to understand how to use Umbrella's certificate during the HTTP intercept?

Or is Cisco Umbrella not supported? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am going to partner with our SecOps team and see if there is anything in Umbrella we can to make this work on-prem.

Rclone can be configured to use a proxy - that might help.

Sorry I don't know anything about Cisco Umbrella though.

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