How to use SyncToy 2.0 with a Wireless (WiFi) notebook on your network

A few of my clients are using Mirosoft's SyncToy (versions 1.4 and 2.0) as a simple way to keep a notebook up-to-date when travelling. One of the common complaints I have is that the synchronisation fails because "SyncToy is unable to connect with the drive required for the synchronization."

The key to resolving this issue is simple yet often overlooked.

Before running SyncToy, check the following:

1. That you are connected to the Wireless of your network. You may have at one time connected to another wireless network close to your home/office and the WiFi has reconnected to that network by default. Otherwise, you may be using a WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) otherwise known as a mobile connection (O2, Orange, Vodafone etc).

To check that you are connected to your network just hold your mouse over your wireless connection. It should display the name (SSID) of the wireless router you are connected to.

2. If you are connected to your network then do the following: Open Windows Explorer (Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Windows Explorer). When Windows Explorer opens have a look in the left hand panel for "My Computer". If My Computer has a + sign to the left of it then click on the + sign to extend the My Computer section. If there is a - sign displayed the menu is already extended. Once extended look/scroll down until you see the drive that the syncToy is linked with. (If you are one of my clients it will be the probably be the W: drive which is a mapped drive from the main machine or server.)

If you see the W: drive, click on it. If the right hand screen gets populated with the usual folders from that drive your connection is good and ready for Synchronisation.

Once you can see the drive, open SyncToy and run your saved synchronization.

Why do we have to do this? Even though your computer is on the network it doesn't refresh the connection with the mapped drive. This is just a quirk of Windows XP / Vista and unless you physically go to that drive it does not seem to accept that the drive is available.