Written for Synergy 3 (v3.7.2) and Synergy 1 (v1.21.4), checked 3 October 2026.
Operating system: Windows, macOS, and Linux
To restart Synergy 1 or Synergy 3, quit it from its icon in the system tray (the menu bar at the top of the screen on macOS), then open it again. Closing the window isn't enough: the app keeps running in the background and keeps sharing your keyboard and mouse.
Restart your computer only if restarting the app hasn't helped.
Had to restart? Please tell us
Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 should keep working without a restart, so needing one usually means you've hit a bug. Restarting works around it but doesn't fix it, so please contact our support team when it happens and send us a diagnostic report from each computer (Synergy 3) or the log file from each computer (Synergy 1). That's what lets us find the cause and fix it. How to get these: How to get diagnostic info?
A restart helps because it starts a fresh connection between your computers and reloads your settings.
Keyboard or mouse stopped working after your laptop woke from sleep?
- On the laptop that woke up, restart Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 using the steps below for your version.
- If that doesn't help, restart it the same way on the computer whose keyboard and mouse you share.
- If it still doesn't work, restart the laptop.
When a computer goes to sleep, Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 close the connection, and they should reconnect by themselves when it wakes. When they don't, that's a known bug, and the restart works around it. Please report it each time it happens, as described above, so we can fix it.
Restart Synergy 3
- Find the Synergy 3 icon in the system tray (on Windows, click the arrow in the taskbar if the icon is hidden). On macOS it's in the menu bar.
- Right-click the icon on Windows; on macOS and Linux, click it.
- Choose Exit.
- Open Synergy 3 again, the same way you normally start it.
These steps are the same on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Choosing Exit from the icon stops Synergy 3 completely, including its background service. Closing the window, or choosing Exit from the Synergy 3 menu in the window, only closes the window; Synergy 3 carries on running.
Restart Synergy 1
On Windows
- Right-click the Synergy 1 icon in the system tray (click the arrow in the taskbar if the icon is hidden) and choose Quit.
- Press Windows+R, type services.msc, and press Enter to open Services.
- Find the service named Synergy in the list, right-click it, and choose Restart. You may need to be signed in as an administrator.
- Open Synergy 1 again from the Start menu.
On Windows, Synergy 1 runs a background service that keeps the connection going after you choose Quit, so quitting alone doesn't restart it. If there's no Synergy service in the list, Synergy 1 isn't using the background service on this computer: skip steps 2 and 3.
On macOS or Linux
- Click the Synergy 1 icon in the menu bar on macOS. On Linux, right-click its icon in the system tray.
- Choose Quit.
- Open Synergy 1 again, the same way you normally start it.
On macOS, use the menu bar icon rather than pressing Command-Q or choosing Quit from the Dock. While the When the main window is closed setting is Send to background (the default), those only hide the window and Synergy 1 keeps running.
Still not working? Restart the computer
If restarting Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 hasn't helped, restart the computer that isn't working, then the other computers if needed.
For more things to try, see: Basic troubleshooting steps