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Synergy Business Silent & Automated Deployment (Windows)

Updated

Product: Synergy 1 Business
Operating system: Windows

Overview

Many IT administrators prefer to deploy Synergy 1 automatically (via Group Policy Objects, SCCM, Intune, or other software deployment tools). The silent install options below make that possible.

Prerequisites

  • Synergy 1 .msi installer (if available)

  • Administrator privileges

  • A deployment tool that supports MSI arguments (if using .msi)

Silent installation steps

  1. Obtain the MSI

    • From the Synergy website, or by contacting support if you need a specialized MSI build.

  2. Run the MSI with silent flags

    • Example command:

      msiexec /i "SynergyInstaller.msi" /qn /norestart ALLUSERS=1

      • /qn means no UI.

      • /norestart means do not reboot automatically.

      • ALLUSERS=1 installs for all users (required).

  3. Distribute via GPO or other tools

    • Add the MSI and the command line to your software deployment package.

    • Push the package to target machines.

  4. Verification

    • Check that Synergy is installed in C:\Program Files\Synergy (default).

    • Make sure Synergy starts without requiring user admin credentials.

    • If you deployed a locked settings file, open the settings window and check that the locked settings are grayed out.

     

Enforcing settings across the fleet

Synergy reads a locked settings file, C:\ProgramData\Synergy\Synergy.locked.ini, on every launch and grays out any setting it contains so users cannot change it. This is how to require TLS or disable clipboard sharing on every machine. The file format and the list of lockable settings are in: Lock down Synergy settings so users cannot change them

Deploy the file in a step that runs as SYSTEM and is ordered before the Synergy install: an Intune Win32 app or PowerShell script that the Synergy app depends on, an SCCM task sequence step, or a GPO startup script. The order matters because the folder must exist, created by SYSTEM, before any user launches Synergy. If a standard user launches Synergy first, Windows makes them the owner of C:\ProgramData\Synergy and they can edit or delete the locked file.

Example PowerShell for the deployment step:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "C:\ProgramData\Synergy" | Out-Null
Set-Content -Path "C:\ProgramData\Synergy\Synergy.locked.ini" -Encoding UTF8 -Value @"
[General]
cryptoEnabled=true

[internalConfig]
clipboardSharing=false
"@
icacls "C:\ProgramData\Synergy" /inheritance:r /grant:r "SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F" "Administrators:(OI)(CI)F" "Users:(OI)(CI)RX" | Out-Null
icacls "C:\ProgramData\Synergy\Synergy.locked.ini" /inheritance:r /grant:r "SYSTEM:F" "Administrators:F" "Users:RX" | Out-Null

The two icacls lines lock the folder and the file down to SYSTEM and Administrators, with read-only access for standard users. Skip the first of them if you use the "All users" settings profile, which needs standard users to write to that folder. The reasons, and the check for machines where the folder already exists, are in the article linked above.

Notes

  • You can combine the silent install with pre-configuring license keys or settings via the registry or config file.

  • Unattended upgrades follow similar logic, just change the /i to /update or /x as needed.

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