Windows 10 Sync Center Not Working - Fix or Replace It

You will learn to fix “Windows 10 Sync Center not working” in 7 different solutions, or use one more flexible software to sync network files to a local drive.

Ivy

by Ivy Updated on December 15, 2022

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Situations to Sync Center Windows 10 not Working

Do you sync files with Windows 10 Sync Center? If you sync offline files with Sync Center in home version, you may encounter Sync Center not working in Windows 10. The offline files feature is only available in the Pro, Enterprise, and Education edition. Besides, you may also encounter the possible situations in the following.

  • Enable offline files greyed out.

  • Windows 10 always available offline missing.

  • Windows 10 folder redirection offline files not syncing.

  • Offline files service cannot be activated Windows.

  • Files do not sync.

Fix Windows 10 Sync Center not Working in Different Situations

Before you start any operation, you need to create a disk backup for your computer. Some of the following operations may lead to data loss.

In addition to fixing "Windows 10 Sync Center not working" issues, you can use a reliable sync software as a replacement. It's much simple and easy to use.

# Enable offline files greyed out 

To fix this problem, you can choose to enable Opportunistic Locking or reinitialize the offline files cache. 

Solution 1. Enable Opportunistic Locking

Step 1. Press Win + R to summon the Run window, type regedit.exe in the box and then click OK.

Step 2. Navigate to following registry subkey and Create a new REG_DWORD titled EnableOplocks and set it to 1.

HKEY_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\

Enableoplocks

Step 3. Navigate to following registry subkey and Create a new REG_DWORD titled OplocksDisabled and set it to 0.

HKEY_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MRXsmb\Parameters\

Oplocksdisabled

Note: Create a new key titled Parameters if it does not exist under MRXsmb.

Step 4. Exit Registry Editor and Restart the computer.

Solution 2. Reinitialize the Offline Files Cache

Step 1. Click Start, type registry in the Start Search box, and then press Enter. If you are prompted for an administrator password or a confirmation, type the password or click Continue.

Step 2. Navigate to the following registry subkey, then right-click it, select New and Key from the context menu, type Parameters in the key box.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC

Reinitialize the Ofline Files Cache

Step 3. Right-click Parameters, select New and DWORD (32-bit) Value, then type FormatDatabase in the box.

Step 4. Right-click FormatDatabase, hit Modify and type 1 in the Value data box, then press OK to exit this window.

Step 5. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

# Windows 10 always available offline missing 

Solution 1. Do not use D-link network storage device.

If you use a network storage device which does not support offline files, Windows 10 always available offline will not appear on the context menu. D-link is one of the network storage devices which does not support offline files. If this is the case, you can choose to use a different storage device.

Solution 2. Remove Credential on your computer.

If you check Remember my credentials when you connect to a NAS storage device, Windows 10 always available offline will miss. Try  the steps below to fix it.

Step 1. Type Credential Manager in the search box and select it.

Step 2. Click Windows Credentials under the Manage your credential tab, select the credential for your host and Choose Remove option to delete the credential.

Manage Your Incredentials 2

# Windows folder redirection offline files not syncing 

If your network share enables continuous availability, then no users can make any shared folders available offline, not even manually and not just limited to redirected folders. To make files available offline, you should uncheck Enable Continuous availability in the Users Properties Settings.

Redirected Folder

# Offline files service cannot be activated in Windows

Step 1. Type Control panel in the search box and choose it.

Step 2. Click drop-down menu at the right side of View by option and choose Small icons, then select Administrative tools and Services option.

Step 3. Find Offline Files service, right-click it and choose Start.

Start Offline Files Service

# Files do not sync 

In Group Policy, there are some files that cannot be synced by default. These files are always with file extensions like .mdb, .ldb, .mdw, .mde, .db.

To sync these files, you can disable offline files not cached with GPO. The detailed steps are below. 

Step 1. Type group policy in the search box and choose Edit Group Policy.

Step 2. Find the following Group Policy setting in Local Group Policy Editor, right-click it and select Edit from its context menu, then disable the file extension.

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\Offline Files\Files not cached

Files not Cached

More Flexible Software to Sync Network Files to Local Drive 

Hope the above solutions can help you fix Windows 10 sync center not working. If not, or you want an easier way, try AOMEI Backupper Professional, the best file sync software. It allows you to sync network files to a local drive and access files you will use frequently, even without the internet. And you can enjoy the following advantages:

Different sync frequencies: It offers you 5 schedule sync options, including Daily, Weekly, MonthlyEvent triggers, USB plug in, and Real-Time Sync
Prevent any unwanted change in the destination: Its Mirror Sync method does not allow anyone to add new files in the destination or modify files in it. And these will be undone or overwritten at the next scheduled sync. 
Sync files and changes on both sides: Its Two-Way Sync will sync files from source to destination and then any changes made on one side will be synced to the other side. 

Please download the best file sync software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. If you want to synchronize files in Windows Server 2003, 2008(R2), 2012(R2), 2016(R2), 2019, and 2022, including the R2 version, you could try AOMEI Backupper Server

Download Free Trial Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Install AOMEI Backupper Professional and launch it. Select a sync method, here take "Basic Sync" as an example. 

File Sync

Step 2. Click Add Folder and Share/NAS to select files or folders you want to sync to your computer.

Add Folder

If this is the first time to sync network files to a local drive, click Add Share or NAS Devices at the popup window. Then, type the display name, network path, user name, and password to get access.

Add Share or NAS Devices

Step 3. After selecting network files, you can then select a local path to save them. To make this sync task run automatically, click Schedule Sync and select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. At last, click "Start Sync" to sync network files locally. 

Add Sync Destination

Notes:
• Don't modify the source folder name, otherwise the sync task will be interrupted.
•You are not allowed to sync files over 4GB to partition with the FAT32 file system. 
• The basic sync feature does not sync the deleted files automatically unless you tick "Sync the deletions in source directory to destination" in the "Options" feature.
•  The "Event trigger"and "USB plug in" are premium features on the professional version or higher. And the second one only helps copy files from or to flash drive

★ Bonus tip: protect PC files with AOMEI Cloud

As cloud storage is becoming more and more popular, AOMEI offers users its own cloud - AOMEI Cloud. If you have an AOMEI account, you can backup files to AOMEI Cloud for data protection. You'll get 1TB free storage for 15 days after you sign up for an AOMEI account.

AOMEI Cloud

Conclusion

"Windows 10 Sync Center not working" is a big headache for most users, but in this article, you can choose to fix this issue with  7 given solutions or replace it with a third-party file sync software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. It can not only help you sync network files to local drive, but also to external storage for disaster recovery. 

In addition, if there are some network files you don't need to use frequently but want to protect, it's suggested to backup files to external hard drive. All of them will be compressed to an image file and you can only see them after restoring. If it's on the network drive, please add network drive first. 

Ivy
Ivy · Editor
Ivy is an editor of AOMEI Technology, she covers backup & restore,hard disk & partitions management and cloud files transfer and so on for AOMEI. She is an outgoing girl and enjoys helping people find solutions to their problems. She loves traveling, eating, reading and so on. She usually hangs out with friends at her leisure time.