Is there a method to force delete or uninstall an app (i.e. dropbox ) other than removing it from Software Center?

Question

So far I've tried of course the go-to area for newbies: Ubuntu Software Center.

Fail#1

I clicked on the "remove" button and I left it overnight and it's still 'pending'. It seems like the progress bar is on an endless loop.

Dropbox Forever Uninstalling

Fail#2

Next I tried to run sudo dpkg --configure -a

However, it would show that dpkg is locked and I can't proceed.

DPKG Locked

Fail#3

So I proceeded to remove the lock file supposedly involved via:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock

and then

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/lock

so that I can try

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

I was almost happy when it started downloading the app thru the terminal. And then after another overnight, it never happens. It just gets stuck at like 31% download or some random percentage number.

Fail#4 And so I tried the developer's website and downloaded the .deb file and tried launching it, but then there's an error message saying there's a conflict.

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Please help me force remove this app -or- is there still hope on how to successfully install it? Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Uninstall the desktop app on Linux

Depending on your operating system and the package used during installation, certain command lines inputted into your terminal window will uninstall the desktop app. Copy and paste the following commands one-by-one into your terminal window, hitting Enter after each command. If some of the commands listed produce an error, do not be concerned. By the last command, the desktop app will be successfully uninstalled from your computer.

dropbox stop dropbox status # Should report "not running" 
rm -rf ~/.dropbox-dist 
rm -rf /var/lib/dropbox 
rm -rf ~/.dropbox* 
sudo apt-get remove nautilus-dropbox 
sudo apt-get remove dropbox 
rm /etc/apt/source.d/dropbox

If this doesn't work, try;

sudo apt-get remove --purge nautilus-dropbox

Source: Link

ps. Afterwards you could try the installation again?