INF: How to Use the Windows Synchronize Manager with Pull Subscribers

If you have Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Pull subscribers can use the Windows Synchronization Manager (WSM) to synchronize with the publisher.

This article documents the registry keys that are used by WSM. If the WSM is not able to open the properties of a subscription, or to synchronize with the publisher, check the registry keys documented in this article and the permissions to the key.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


The Synchronization Manager uses the following key to get a list of items to display (for example, Microsoft SQL Server 2000):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Syncmgr\Handlers

The preceding key has a subfolder for each item based on the class id (clsid).

To determine what to call when synchronization is invoked, the Synchronization Manager uses this registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\number\Inprocserver32

For example:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{08B0B2D5-3FB3-11D3-A4DE-00C04F610189}\inprocserver32

For SQL Server 2000 the value is:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\COM\Replsync.dll"

For SQL Server 7.0 the value is:

"C:\Mssql7\Binn\Replsync.dll"

The examples assume that SQL Server is installed on the C: drive.

Replysnc.dll is the SQL Server Replication Synchronization Manager Handler.

The registry key for the list of subscriptions is:

SQL Server 2000

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Replication\Subscriptions

SQL Server 7.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Replication\Subscriptions

There is a subfolder for each publication to which the client is subscribed . When you use Synchronization to view properties, Synchronization accesses the preceding keys to obtain all the values.

When the Synchronization Manager invokes the synchronization process, the progress status messages are controlled by these keys:

SQL Server 2000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\SQLEW\Replication

SQL Server 7.0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\SQLEW\Replication