16

Every once in a while, when I start Synergy on Windows, I get this message:

failed to init synrgyhk.dll, another program may be using it

How can I resolve this? The only workaround I've found is to restart the computer, but is there a better fix?

Improve this question

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
14
  1. Download Process Explorer
  2. Run it, and search for synergy by clicking on the little binoculars
  3. Kill all processes using the troubling dll (synrgyhk.dll) - be careful here to not kill anything important
  4. I had to kill a process called splwow64.exe that had a handle on that dll for some reason, and everything worked great after
Improve this answer
5
  • Another note, I was experiencing problems after a while again, but realized the batteries in my mouse were dying this time!
    – capcom
    Oct 28, 2012 at 1:40
  • 4
    You can also try stopping/starting service in Services, and reset your settings (it's in Regedit, search for it.) With all these three, I managed to fix some weird issue... (no specific error, it just died on me.)
    – Apache
    May 19, 2013 at 11:34
  • 1
    In my case it was google chrome...
    – Allan Spreys
    Oct 17, 2013 at 1:16
  • Was google chrome here too...strange
    – patchie
    Feb 20, 2015 at 12:49
  • Had this occur on both my servers today. The first (Vista machine) I just uninstalled the program restarted and that fixed it. On my current machine (also Vista) I had to do as described here, and found dmw.exe to be the culprit (as well as iTunesHelper, and a bunch of other seemingly unrelated programs. Thanks.
    – gollumullog
    May 27, 2015 at 22:53
7

I couldn't find a solution from the synergy Q&A's site, but I found it here. Run services.msc and restart Synergy service. It should allow you to start the server now. Thanks Shiki for the suggestion. I, however, didn't need to reset the configuration in the registry. I'm thankful for that since my password is 30 digits and I don't remember it.

Improve this answer
3

Option A

  1. Go to Run, type services.msc
  2. Stop the Synergy service and start it again.
  3. Start Synergy app and voila! No need to restart PC.

Option B (on windows 8.1)

  1. Open task manager
  2. Go to Services
  3. Stop the Synergy service and start it again.
Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    Thank you for your answer. Can you provide any more context around why your answer fits the question? Why OP might be getting the messages?
    – CallumDA
    Apr 2, 2015 at 14:34
  • @CallumDA33, different versions of Synergy behave differently. Here's one useful thread in product support db, someone says, "several processes should be able to access the same dll. and they do so.. but sometimes Synergy Pro 1.7.4 (latest build) is troubling it.", and the best suggested solution is "Usually, the simplest way to fix that is to restart the Windows synergy service". I doubt anybody can tell more than this.
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Oct 20, 2015 at 11:19
0

Just download: Unlocker, and navigate to the installation folder of Synergy. Right click the synrghyk.dll, choose Unlocker and kill all processes with it. Then it should work fine.

Improve this answer
0

Happened on my Windows 7 64-bit Synergy Server today...

Possible trigger... the whole machine hiccuped briefly as I tried to access an external drive that had gone to sleep. When the machine resumed, Synergy did not.

Solution:

  • In Windows Task Manager I brought up "Processes, All users" and killed anything with "Synergy" in the name.
  • I then went to "Services" and did a "Start" on the Synergy service.
  • Then I restarted Synergy (the app) and it worked.

The order is important, because I tried to do those steps in different orders and it didn't work because the Synergy process keeps the Synergy Service from shutting down, etc.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .