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How to reinstall Synergy 1

Updated

Product: Synergy 1
Operating system: Windows, macOS, and Linux

 

Reinstalling is one of the first basic steps you can take when experiencing problems with configuring Synergy. Sometimes, there might be a file in the installation that has become corrupt or invalid. Reinstalling is often a simple way to resolve this issue.

 

Try this first: In Synergy 1.17.1 and above, there is an option to "Clear settings"

 

If using the option above does not help, or you are on an older version of Synergy follow steps outlined under 'manually removing configuration files'.

 

Windows

  1. Uninstall Synergy using “Add or remove programs” (or Apps & features).
  2. Click uninstall. You will see a message saying “This app and its related info will be uninstalled”. Click “Uninstall” again.
  3. The message on display will then say that the app will need to be closed, and you will be asked if you want the app to automatically close, select this option and follow the steps. It should take less than one minute to uninstall.
  4. To re-install Synergy run the downloaded installer .exe by double clicking on it.

Manually removing configuration files on Windows

  1. Run regedit and delete these registry keys (if they exist):
    1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Symless
    2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Synergy
    3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synergy
  2. Delete these directories (if they exist):
  3. C:\ProgramData\Synergy
  4. C:\ProgramData\Symless
  5. C:\ProgramData\Synergy v2
  6. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Synergy
  7. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Synergy
  8. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Synergy
  9. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Symless
  10. If using "All users" setting;
    1. Delete config folder for Synergy.ini (or SystemConfig.ini), usually under C:\ProgramData\Synergy unless another directory has been specified
    2. SystemConfig.ini (older versions), usually stored under C:\Program Files\Synergy\SystemConfig.ini
    3. Note: In this case, you will lose previously saved settings.
  11. Reboot Windows to ensure that the hook DLL is completely unloaded.
  12. Install Synergy as you would normally.
  13. If you see the error "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable", then try the Microsoft MSI troubleshooter

macOS

  1. Close the Synergy app if it's running via the system tray icon (top right)
  2. Delete the Synergy app from the Applications directory.
  3. If you get the message 'cannot remove because it is open, open the Terminal app, and run the following command:
    1. sudo rm -rf /Applications/Synergy.app/
  4. Install Synergy again, as you would normally.

 

 

Manually removing configuration files on macOS

  1. Run these commands to remove the settings (don't worry if the files or directories don't exist);
    1. rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/Synergy
    2. rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/Symless
    3. rm -rf ~/Library/Synergy
    4. rm -rf ~/Library/Symless
    5. rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.symless.Synergy.plist
    6. rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.https-symless-com.Synergy.plist
    7. rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.http-symless-com.Synergy.plist
  2. Run this command to unload the preferences:
    1. killall -u $USER cfprefsd

  3. Delete config folder Synergy.ini (or SystemConfig.ini), in case used "All users" settings
    Location example: usr/local/etc/Symless/Synergy.ini

    Note: In this case, you will lose previously saved settings.

  4. Install as you would normally.
  5. Sometimes the 'cfprefsd' command fails silently, so you may need to retry the reinstall steps.

Linux

  1. Remove the Synergy package using your package manager (apt, dpkg, yum etc.)
  2. Example Ubuntu using apt:
    1. sudo apt remove synergy
  3. Install Synergy again as you would normally.

 

Manually removing configuration files on Linux

  1. Run these commands to remove your settings (don't worry if the dirs doesn't exist):
    1. rm -rf ~/.config/Symless/
    2. rm -rf ~/.config/Synergy/
    3. rm -rf ~/.synergy/
    4. rm -rf ~/.symless/

  2. Delete config folder Synergy.ini (or SystemConfig.ini), in case used "All users" settings
    Location example: usr/local/etc/Symless/Synergy.ini

    Note: In this case, you will lose previously saved settings.

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