freenapse

Guides

Uninstall Razer Synapse and keep your mouse settings

The settings are in the mouse, not in Synapse. Write them once with freenapse, then remove Synapse 4; nothing on the mouse changes.

In this order

  1. Confirm the mouse answers, with Synapse still installed

    freenapse status

    Run it once from the folder where you put freenapse.exe. It prints what Synapse left stored in the mouse: DPI stages, polling rate, buttons, sensor and power settings. Keep moving the mouse while it runs.

  2. Write the settings you want

    freenapse config    # a config file built from those settings; edit it if you like
freenapse apply     # write it to the mouse

    Or open freenapse ui and change things in the window; each control writes to the mouse as it changes. Quit Synapse from the tray before this step, or it will rewrite the values within about fifteen seconds.

  3. Uninstall Synapse

    Settings, Apps, Installed apps, then Razer Synapse. freenapse needs no Razer software or driver: it talks to the standard Windows HID stack.

  4. Optionally start the tray at login

    freenapse autostart on

    Only for the battery icon, quick DPI and polling switching, macros and per-game profiles. The onboard settings do not need it.

  5. Check

    freenapse status

    The same values as before. Tested here after Synapse 4’s silent uninstaller ran: status, apply, polling switching, button reads and the tray all kept working unchanged.

What the uninstaller leaves behind

Folders
C:\Program Files\Razer, C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer, C:\ProgramData\Razer and C:\Windows\Installer\Razer stay, small and empty of anything that runs. Delete them by hand if you want.
Drivers
The signed Razer HID drivers stay in the Windows driver store. They are harmless and freenapse does not use them.
Processes and services
None. After the uninstall there was no Razer process, service, startup entry or uninstall entry left on the machine freenapse was written on.

Questions

What do I lose?
Synapse’s software-only features: cloud profiles, Sensitivity Matcher, bindings that launch a program or type text, and firmware updates (run Razer’s updater once if a firmware ever needs it). Macros and per-game profiles are software features too, and the freenapse tray app provides them.
Can I reinstall Synapse later?
Yes. It rewrites every setting from its own profile the first time it sees the mouse. Nothing freenapse writes is permanent, and it never touches the firmware.
Do I have to uninstall it, or is quitting enough?
Quitting is enough for the mouse. Uninstalling gets the memory and the background CPU back and removes the account requirement. Running both for long is the one thing to avoid.
Set the DPI and polling rate without Synapse
The commands for step two, one by one.
Razer Synapse alternatives
What else exists, on Windows, Linux and in a browser.