Fixing Problems with Synergy on Windows Vista
If you use the excellent Synergy application to share your keyboard and mouse between computers, you've probably noticed some weird behaviors in Windows Vista… especially when running any application that requires administrator permissions.
The problem is that Synergy is getting "locked out" while your admin mode application has the foreground focus. The workaround is to just run Synergy in administrator mode as well.
What is Synergy Again?
Synergy is an open source utility that allows you to share a single keyboard and mouse across multiple computers running different operating systems. This differs from remote desktop or VNC in that you continue to use separate monitors for each computer.
For instance, in my setup I have a keyboard and mouse attached to a computer running Windows Vista. On the left is a Mac Mini, and on the right is a computer running Kubuntu. I can move the mouse from one screen to the other as if it was a giant desktop with three monitors. (I'll post a picture one of these days)
For more information on Synergy you can check out the homepage.
Run Synergy in Admin Mode
The biggest problem I've had with Synergy is that I can't move the mouse between computers while an administrator mode application is open. This is easily remedied by simply running Synergy as administrator.
Right-click on the shortcut you usually use to launch Synergy, and then choose the Advanced button on the Shortcut tab.
Here you can choose to "Run as administrator", which will force the application to always run in admin mode. If you have UAC enabled, you'll be forced to accept each time.
Automatic Starting
You cannot use Synergy in "Start as Service" mode in Windows Vista because the new security model prevents system services from interacting with the desktop. You will have to launch the application as a regular startup item.
In order to make the services start up automatically, you'll have to follow these steps:
- Setup automatic Logon (Only necessary for Synergy clients)
- Disable UAC Prompting for administrators
- Make Synergy automatically start when you login.
I hope this information is useful to other people… it's been indispensable for me.
Nice tip! thanks a lot..
Thanks for the tips. After disabling UAC I haven't had any problems with synergy (starting automatically or cutting out). I would like to get my screensavers to sync but that still doesn't seem to work for me. I run my server on my XP machine and client on vista.
I tried running it as admin in Vista, and it works. But doing so (bizarro alert) crippled the mouse buttons on Virtual PC machines. I'm a geek and run two VPC's on my system. The mouse movement was fine, but the buttons would not click until I shut off Synergy. Also I noticed that running Synergy in user mode, if you minimize any window that is running in admin mode, you can move between screens. This whole process has me intrigued with IP KVM technology now. It's pretty fun really to see what's causing what.
All of these issues make me want to crack open the source code… I very well might, in fact.
Thank you! I have been having a hard time with this and there isn't much documentation about synergy.
My problem is that when I move back from the client (an Ubuntu computer) to the server (Vista), sometimes the keyboard acts weird. It will take one keystroke, and then make the top window lose focus. You have to keep returning focus to the window for each keystroke you type. On Emacs for Windows, it does other bizarre things. Finally, when on Vista, sometimes when I Alt-Tab, the Alt-Tab task switching window does not go away after I release Alt-Tab.
I like it enough that I put up with the inconvenience of restarting the server every time this happens… which is about 20 times a day.
thank you. it works on my vista pc!
One other good tip is how to have Synergy start with Administrator privileges on login without disabling UAC.
I figured out that you can use the Task Scheduler to launch programs elevated on login and it won't show a UAC prompt.
So for Synergy all you need to do is copy the cmdline it adds to the HKCR startup key, delete that key and add a task in Task Scheduler for it. Though for Synergy, it does appear to have the side effect of tray icon not appearing.
If anyone is interested I post more about how to do it.
Hi,
nice tips, but synergy often crashes on vista 64bit and mouse/keyboard-control has gone away. You cann still ctrl+alt+delete and use you input devices bit this does not help because going back to your login-session will hang the io-devices again. logout is necessary to resolv this issue.
jb
wow, been banging my head on my desk trying to get it to work with vista, the xp machine would say it was connected but vista machine showed nothing. disable the auto start and works perfectly
thanks very much for this!
Thank you!!! It took me a while to work out why the client said it was connected, and test mode worked fine, but it wouldn't switch screens.
Auto-start at login works okay for me but I have similar problems with auto-start as service ("when computer starts") as described above "XP machines says it's connected but vista shows nothing". I can auto-start synergy service at user login but not at computer start on Vista. XP runs as service at computer start which lets me login to XP using the keyboard connect to my Vista "server" seat but only after I first login to my Vista station.
Config: Vista as server, XP and Ubuntu as clients
Thanks a lot for sharing these tips !
When an application running with admin-rigths had the focus, my mouse was indeed locked on the screen… If I gave the focus to the desktop (for example), then the mouse could travel to another screen.
Now, since Synergy is also running with admin-rights, no problem anymore !
O.
I'm hoping someone can help me out here… I have an XP machine and a Vista machine side by side for testing and such. I can't get Synergy to do anything at all if the XP machine is the server, and when the Vista machine is the server, I can move over to the XP machine, but not BACK to the Vista machine. So I end up killing Synergy to release the mouse and kbd for my Vista machine.
Any help would be great.
-dave
Addendum to the above.
Configuration as follows:
XP machine is a docked HP laptop with a second monitor as the primary display
Vista machine is an HP desktop with single monitor attached
@Dave: The solution to that is simple. I made the same mistake at first too. You need to configure the server to list both computer screens in it's configuration.
So in synergy put:
MachineA is to the left.
MachineB is to the right.
Yes, that was it. Thanks for the quick response to my question.
I'm having trouble getting Synergy to install on my Vista laptop. It says: Installer corrupted or incomplete. This coule be the result of a failed download or corruption from a virus. If desperate, try the /NCRC command line switch.
I added the /NCRC command line switch and tried again with exactly the same results. Does anyone have any suggestions?
That usually means the download failed. You need to redownload it.