Google's Backup and Sync client doesn't allow PC to shutdown, fix incoming [update: v3.37 released]

Update 4 (October 23):

The issue continues to persist even after the arrival of Backup and Sync’s latest v3.37, as we are still facing the same.

Update 3 (October 20):

Google has released Backup and Sync’s latest v3.37, which will be auto-upgraded in a few weeks. A Google employee broke the news on one of the relevant threads:

Upadte 2 (October 12):

Google says the client’s next version (3.37) is expected to fix the shutdown glitch on Windows.

Update 1 (September 22):

We stumbled upon a few more threads on the official Drive forum, where users have shared their experiences with the shutdown interruptions created by Backup and Sync. Curiously, some of the new complainants are encountering a ‘googledrivesync.exe – Application error,’ as can be seen in the following screen shot (shared by a user)

Google addressed the issue in question by saying that

We’ll look into this

The company did not convey, as to how long they’ll take to fix the problem.

Original story below:

Quit the Backup and Sync client (for Drive and Photos) before shutting down your PC/laptop, or else the tool won’t let the shutdown operation succeed. Yes, you heard it correct.

Just a week following the client’s release, users started complaining about the problem, saying the application is inhibiting computers from shutting down. What’s being reported is, on shutting down the PC, a message pops up stating ‘Backup and Sync is shutting down. Please wait‘ with options to either ‘shutdown anyway’ or ‘cancel’.

Affected users note that when they wait for the app to close, they’re taken back to the desktop after some time. And this happens everytime they try shutting down their system. So effectively, you get into an endless loop.

While clicking the ‘shutdown anyway’ option works as expected (it force closes the app and shuts down the system), you’ll agree that not everyone likes doing a non-graceful shutdown.

The issue in question is being reported by Windows users for cases when the client is active and syncing in background. The problem disappears on pausing synchronization or quitting Backup and Sync before proceeding to system shut down.

The problem was first brought to notice on July 19 on the official Drive help forum. A few days later, an Google employee acknowledged the bug, saying:

Thanks for the report. We will fix this in the next version

It’s worth mentioning that we were also able to reproduce the problem at our end. Following screenshot shows the same screen (as well as options) that other affected users are talking about:

However, in our case the app showed inconsistent behavior. Basically, it displayed the message occasionally on shutting down. We’re not sure about the reason for this, but what’s confirmed is that the problem does exist.

So, yet another Backup and Sync issue can be added to the list already containing several other problems plaguing the tool. Most of these are expected to be fixed in an upcoming update that’s promised to arrive sometime in September.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3 | Source 4 | Source 5