How To Disable/Enable Sync In Windows 11/10 [Tutorial]

If you are using a Microsoft Account to sign in to Windows 10, the operating system synchronizes your preferences between all the devices you use. If you are not happy with this behavior, you can prevent Windows 10 from syncing its settings between your PCs or choose what to exclude from sync.

1. Enable Sync in Windows 11/10 by Control Panel The first method is also the most common method - you can let Windows enable offline files through the control panel. Here are the specific steps: 1. Press Win + R to open the Run Window and type control to open Control Panel, then click on Sync Center.

2. In the pop-up window, click Manage offline files from the left panel to continue 3. Click Enable offline files button and then click OK.

4. If you want to Disable Sync in Windows 11, you can click the Disable offline files button and click OK.

Then it may require you to reboot your computer to take the changes into effect. If not, do it manually.

Video:

If you want to sync folders Windows 10 or manage offline files on your local hard drive, the shared folder on a network server is required. So, here is the tutorial on how to create the shared folder on a network server.

Create a Shared Folder

1. Go to Network and Sharing Center and click Sharing Options.

2. Check the three options: Turn on network discovery, Turn on file and printer sharing and Turn off password protected sharing.

3. Then click Save changes to continue.

Once all steps are finished, you can begin to create a shared folder on the network server.

4. Right-click the folder you want to share and choose Properties.

5. Switch to the Sharing tab and choose Share….

6. Add Everyone to share with and give it Read/Write control.

7. Then click the Share button to continue.

8. Then go back to the Sharing tab and choose Advanced Sharing to continue.

9. Next, check the option Share this folder.

10. At last, click Apply and OK to save the changes.

Once all steps are finished, you have created the shared folder on the network server.

To sync files from the network drive or sync files to it, you also need to know the IP address of the network server.

Get the IP Address of Network Server

Now, we will show you how to get the IP address of the network server.

1. Open Command Prompt. Type ipconfig in the command line window and hit Enter to continue.

2.. Next, find your IPv4 address.

Sync the Network Drive to Local Computer

Now, we will show you how to sync the network drive to the local computer so as to manage your offline files.

1. Press the Windows key and R key together to open the Run dialog.

2. Type \\ plus the IP address of the network server and click OK to continue.

3. Then access the shared folder.

4. Select the files or folders you want to access at the local computer, right-click it and choose Always available offline.

5. Then wait for the process to be finished.

After that, you can access the files or folders on your local computer even though the network server is not connected. If you change either the source file or the synced files, both will keep the pace and display the same. After making it offline, you can edit it on your computer and then the source file will be synced.

How to Configure Files in Windows 10/11 Sync Center?

In this part, we will show you how to configure files in Windows 10/11 Sync Center.

How to Sync Schedule for Offline Files

In order to sync your files automatically, you can set scheduled sync for offline files.

1. Open Sync Center.

2. Right-click the offline task and choose Schedule for Offline Files.

3. Next, choose which items you want to sync on this schedule and click Next.

4. Decide when you want this sync task to begin. You can choose At a scheduled time or When an event occurs. Here, we choose a scheduled time.

5. Then set the time and click Next.

6. Name the scheduled sync and click Save changes to continue.

After all steps are finished, you have set the scheduled sync and it will begin to sync your files regularly as long as you do not remove it.

Change Windows Offline Files Disk Usage

The Disk Usage will show you the available disk space on your system as well as the disk space used for keeping the offline files. You can also modify it.

Now, here is the tutorial.

1. Open Sync Center.

2. Click Manage offline files on the left pane.

3. In the pop-up window, switch to the Disk Usage tab. 

4. You can see the available storage space on your system, the used space for the offline files, and the disk space for the temporary files.

5. You can also click Change limits to change it.

Encrypt Offline Files

In Windows 10 Sync Center, you can also encrypt it.

Now, here is the tutorial.

1. Open Sync Center.

2. Click Manage offline files.

3. Go to the Encryption tab.

4. Click the Encrypt button to continue.

Configure Windows Offline Files Network Settings

You can set your preferred time to check for slow connectivity and once a slow connection occurs. Windows will start working offline automatically.

How to Disable Sync Center?

If you do not want to use Sync Center, you can choose to disable it. To do that, you can choose to end the mobysync.exe in the Task Manager. After that, it will be disabled.

To disable it, you can also choose to do that in Sync Center itself. Open Sync Center, click Manage offline files and click Disable offline links. After that, the Sync Center will be disabled.

The above content is all about the Sync Center and shows how to use Sync Center to sync files from the network server to the local hard drive and manage the offline files. However, if you want to sync files to the network drive, how can you do it?

In the following part, we will show you the Sync Center alternative – MiniTool ShadowMaker. It enables you to sync files from a local computer to the external hard drive, internal hard drive or network drive. So, keep on your reading to find more detailed information.