Guide to Running Synergy

Running Synergy

Synergy lets you use one keyboard and mouse across multiple computers. To do so it requires that all the computers are connected to each other via TCP/IP networking. Most systems come with this installed.

Step 1 - Choose a server

The first step is to pick which keyboard and mouse you want to share. The computer with that keyboard and mouse is called the "primary screen" and it runs the synergy server. All of the other computers are "secondary screens" and run the synergy client.

Step 2 - Install the software

Second, you install the software. Choose the appropriate package and install it. For example, on Windows you would run SynergyInstaller. You must install the software on all the computers that will share the mouse and keyboard.

Step 3 - Configure and start the server

Next you configure the server. You'll tell synergy the name of the primary and secondary screens, which screens are next to which, and choose desired options. On Windows there's a dialog box for setting the configuration. On other systems you'll create a simple text file.

Note that when you tell synergy that screen A is to the left of screen B this does not imply that B is to the right of A. You must explicitly indicate both relations. If you don't do both then when you're running synergy you'll find you're unable to leave one of the screens.

Windows
On Windows run synergy by double clicking on the synergy file. This brings up a dialog. Configure the server:

Click the Server radio button
Click Add to add the server to the Screens list
- Enter the name of server (the computer's name is the recommended name)
- Optionally enter other names the server is known by
- Click OK
Use Add to add your other computers
- Using a computer's name as its screen name is recommended
- Choose desired screen options on the Add dialog
Use the controls under Layout to link screens together
- Click (once) on the server's name in the Screens list
- Choose the screen to the left of the server; use --- if there is no screen to the left of the server
- Choose the screens to the right, above and below the server
- Repeat the above steps for all the other screens
Use Options... to set desired options
If the server's screen name is not the server's computer name:
- Click Advanced...
- Enter the server's screen name next to Screen Name
- Click OK

Now click Test. The server will start and you'll see a console window with log messages telling you about synergy's progress. If an error occurs you'll get one or more dialog boxes telling you what the errors are; read the errors to determine the problem then correct them and try Test again.

Unix or Mac OS X
Create a text file named synergy.conf with the following:

    section: screens
       screen1:
       screen2:
    end
    section: links
       screen1:
           right = screen2
       screen2:
           left = screen1
    end

Replace each occurrence of screen1 with the host name of the primary screen computer (as reported by the hostname program) and screen2 with the host name of a secondary screen computer. In the above example, screen2 is to the right of screen1 and screen1 is to the left of screen2. If necessary you should replace right and left with left, right, up, or down. If you have more than two computers you can add those too: add each computer's host name in the screens section and add the appropriate links. See the configuration guide for more configuration possibilities.

Now start the server. Normally synergy wants to run "in the background." It detaches from the terminal and doesn't have a visible window, effectively disappearing from view. Until you're sure your configuration works, you should start synergy "in the foreground" using the -f command line option.

    synergys -f --config synergy.conf

Check the reported messages for errors. Use ctrl+c to stop synergy if it didn't stop automatically, correct any problems, and start it again.

Step 4 - Start the clients

Next you start the client on each computer that will share the server's keyboard and mouse.

Windows
On Windows run synergy by double clicking on the synergy file. This brings up a dialog. Configure the client:

Click the Client radio button
Enter the server's computer name in Server Host Name
- This is not the server's screen name, unless you made that the server's host name as recommended
If the client's screen name is not the client's computer name:
- Click Advanced...
- Enter the client's screen name next to Screen Name
- Click OK

Now click Test.

Unix or Mac OS X
To start a client, enter the following:

    synergyc -f server-host-name

where server-host-name is replaced by the host name of the computer running the synergy server.

Step 5 - Test

Clients should immediately report a successful connection or one or more error messages. Here are the typical problems and possible solutions:

failed to open screen (X11 only)
Check permission to open the X display;
check that the DISPLAY environment variable is set;
use the --display command line option.
already connected
Check that the synergy client isn't already running.
refused client
Add the client to the server's configuration file.
connection failed
check that server-host-name is correct;
the server cannot open the desired port, stop the program using that port (24800) and restart the server.

If you get the error "Xlib: No protocol specified" you're probably running synergy as root while logged in as another user. X11 may prevent this for security reasons. Either run synergy as the same user that's logged in or (not recommended) use "xhost +" to allow anyone to connect to the display.

When successful you should be able to move the mouse off the appropriate edges of your server's screen and have it appear on a client screen. Try to move the mouse to each screen and check all the configured links. Check the mouse buttons and wheel and try the keyboard on each client. You can also cut-and-paste text, HTML, and images across computers (HTML and images are not supported on OS X yet).

Step 6 - Run

Once everything works correctly, stop all the clients then the server. Then start the server with the Start button on Windows and without the -f option on Unix and Mac OS X. Finally start the clients similarly.

You can also configure synergy to start automatically when your computer starts or when you log in. See the autostart guide for more information.

Command Line Options Guide

Common Command Line Options
The following options are supported by synergys and synergyc.

-d,	--debug level	use debugging level level
	--daemon	run as a daemon (Unix) or background (Windows)
	--display display	connect to X server at display (X11 only)
-f,	--no-daemon	run in the foreground
-n,	--name name	use name instead of the hostname
	--restart	automatically restart on failures
-1,	--no-restart	do not restart on failure
-h,	--help	print help and exit
	--version	print version information and exit

Debug levels are from highest to lowest: FATAL, ERROR, WARNING, NOTE, INFO, DEBUG, DEBUG1, and DEBUG2. Only messages at or above the given level are logged. Messages are logged to a terminal window when running in the foreground. Unix logs messages to syslog when running as a daemon. The Windows NT family logs messages to the event log when running as a service. The Windows 95 family shows FATAL log messages in a message box and others in a terminal window when running as a service.

The --name option lets the client or server use a name other than its hostname for its screen. This name is used when checking the configuration.

Neither the client nor server will automatically restart if an error occurs that is sure to happen every time. For example, the server will exit immediately if it can't find itself in the configuration. On X11 both the client and server will also terminate if the connection to the X server is lost (usually because it died).

Server Command Line Options

    synergys [options]

The server accepts the common options and:

-a, --address address listen for connections on address address

-c, --config pathname read configuration from pathname

address has one of the following forms:

    hostname
    :port
    hostname:port

hostname is a hostname or IP address of a network interface on the server system (e.g. somehost or 192.168.1.100). port is a port number from 1 to 65535. hostname defaults to the system's hostname and port defaults to 24800.

Client Command Line Options

    synergyc [options] address[:port]

address is the hostname or IP address of the server and port is the optional network port on the server to connect to. The client accepts the common options.

	-a,	--address address		listen for connections on address address
	-c,	--config pathname		read configuration from pathname