Written for Synergy 3 (v3.7.2) and Synergy 1 (v1.21.4), checked 3 October 2026.
Operating system: Windows, macOS, and Linux
This article lists some of the common issues that you may experience, with workarounds and solutions until we fix them.
General issues
Problems that happen in both Synergy 1 and Synergy 3.
One big screen problem
Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 see all of the screens on one computer as one big screen, so keep this in mind when you arrange your computers in the layout. For the layouts that work and how to set them up, see: Multiple monitor and custom monitor positioning support
Synergy 3 issues
Background service error
If you see a background service error, see: Troubleshooting the background service
Synergy 1 issues
Computer name change
After you change the name next to This computer's name: in the Synergy 1 window, click the Restart button (or Stop, then Start). A running connection keeps using the old name until it restarts.
Non UTF-8 characters
If your Windows user name has special characters in it, e.g. ÜsérNäme, and Synergy 1 gives you an error, save the configuration file to a different path. For the steps, see: Windows profile usernames containing non-UTF characters