3 Ways to Setup RSync Server on Windows

There are 3 options to run rsync server on windows, explained below with pros and cons and instructions.

Using DeltaCopy. DeltaCopy server comes with a nice UI. Unfortunately it expects windows setup with a domain server. I won’t startup on puny workstations. Essentially it looks for NT Logon service to be running. NT Logon will only run in domain server configurations. So for the rest of us DeltaCopy is not an option. However DeltaCopy client is still a nice UI application which you may want to use.

cwrsync - This is rsync with minimal set of cygwin libraries. This one is a winner. You need to setup rsyncd.conf with something similar to:


use chroot = false
strict modes = false

path = /cygdrive/z/backups/data/subversion
comment = Rsync storage area
read only = false


You can run the server from the shortcut it provides. This is probably the simplest.

rsysnc with cygwin installation. I already have cygwin, and so do many of you, which comes with tons of super useful Unix utilities. To use it you need to create rsyncd.conf as above and save it in cygwin’s etc directory.
Then you can run the server as follows:
cygrunsrv.exe -I "Rsync" -p /cygdrive/z/cygwin/bin/rsync.exe -a "–config=/cygdrive/z/cygwin/etc/rsyncd.conf –daemon –no-detach" -f "Rsync daemon service"

Note: This is just an example which may suffice for most purposes. Read the rsync manual for gory details.

Running the client is simpler. I use:
rsync -vrtz –delete /cygdrive/c/repository a.b.c.d::subversion