Setup Synergy without IP addresses

Question

I have a Windows XP and Mac and would like to share my keyboard and mouse. I can setup Synergy using the IP addresses of the two machines, however when I restart any of the machines the IP addresses change, which means I have to configure it again. Is it possible to set up Synergy for using only the computer names of the machines?

Answer 1

Without setting up DNS, this is not possible. And setting up DNS is more complex than two other options you have:

1. If your router supports it, assign static IPs to your two machines. This requires no change on your Windows and Mac machines, it just means that your router will always give the same IP to each machine.

2. If your router does not support assigning static IPs, then you can do it manually on each machine. First, try to determine the address range your router uses when assigning dynamic IPs (192.168.1.100-192.168.1.150, for instance), then assign static IPs outside that range (so there's no possibility of conflict when you plug another machine into your network). For instance, 192.168.1.99 and 192.168.1.98, in this example.

Either of these will allow you to use IP addresses, since they won't change.