README

stctl - Syncthing Control

stctl is a Windows utility program for starting Syncthing without a console window, and for stopping it if it is running.

Author

Bill Stewart - bstewart at iname dot com

License

stctl is covered by the Mozilla Public License (MPL). See the file LICENSE for details.

Usage

Command-line parameters are case sensitive. The file stctl.exe must sit in the same directory as the file syncthing.exe.

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Start Syncthing

stctl --start [-p priority] [-q] [-- syncthing parameters]

The --start parameter starts Syncthing if it is not running. If Syncthing is already running, a message box will indicate this unless you also specify -q.

To specify the process priority for syncthing.exe, specify it after the -p option. The argument for the -p option must be one of the following:

• normal
• idle
• high
• belownormal
• abovenormal

For example:

stctl --start -p normal

This command will start Syncthing using normal priority. (The default process priority is belownormal.)

The -p option won't have any effect on the process priority if the setLowPriority option in the Syncthing configuration file is not set to false. This setting should already be set to false if you installed Syncthing using Syncthing Windows Setup. (See the Configuration Tuning section in the Syncthing documentation for more information.)

To specify additional command line parameters for syncthing.exe, append two dashes (--) and the parameters afterwards. For example:

stctl --start -- --home="C:\Users\User\Syncthing Config Dir"

This command will start Syncthing using a custom home directory.

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Stop Syncthing

stctl --stop [-q] [-- syncthing parameters]

The --stop parameter stops Syncthing if it is running. If Syncthing is not running, a message box will indicate this unless you also specify -q.

To specify additional command line parameters for syncthing.exe, append two dashes (--) and the parameters afterwards. For example:

stctl --stop -- --home="C:\Users\User\Syncthing Config Dir"

This command will stop Syncthing when using a custom home directory.

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Remarks

stctl is part of Syncthing Windows Setup (https://github.com/Bill-Stewart/SyncthingWindowsSetupp 1.27.3 and later when you install Syncthing in non administrative (current user) installation mode.

VERSION HISTORY

0.0.5 (2025-08-18)

• Added ability to append arbitrary command line parameters when stopping Syncthing (-- parameter).

0.0.4 (2024-11-26)

• Added -p (--priority) parameter.

0.0.3 (2024-10-23)

• Corrected runtime error issue (runtime error dialog would appear if stctl was started with invalid command-line parameters).
• Added ability to append arbitrary command line parameters when starting Syncthing (-- parameter).

0.0.2 (2024-01-29)

• Corrected typos in comments and docs.

0.0.1 (2024-01-28)

• Initial version.