How to Download, Install, and Use cwRsync on Windows

cwRsync is a Windows client that packages rsync, enabling fast remote file backup and synchronization.

Download the free edition from the official site (https://www.itefix.net/cwrsync), extract the cwRsync_5.5.0_x86_Free.zip archive, which contains binaries such as rsync.exe , ssh.exe , ssh-keygen.exe and required DLLs.

Install by running the provided cwrsync.cmd ; after installation a home directory is created to store SSH authentication information.

To use cwRsync, open a Windows command prompt, change to the bin directory of the installation, and run rsync commands similar to Linux, for example:

rsync.exe -avzP ./cwRsync_5.5.0_x86_Free.zip [email protected]::backup --password-file=./rsync.password

The command transfers the file with detailed statistics, e.g., 3,486,341 bytes at 21.11 MB/s, and reports a speedup of 1.00.

Verify the transfer on the server side with a command such as:

ll cwRsync_5.5.0_x86_Free.zip

The output shows the file with appropriate permissions, confirming that the Windows rsync client works correctly.

Directory structure of the extracted package (for reference):

cwRsync_5.5.0_x86_Free
 ├── bin
 │   ├── cygcrypto-1.0.0.dll
 │   ├── cyggcc_s-1.dll
 │   ├── cygiconv-2.dll
 │   ├── cygintl-8.dll
 │   ├── cygpopt-0.dll
 │   ├── cygssp-0.dll
 │   ├── cygwin1.dll
 │   ├── cygz.dll
 │   ├── rsync.exe
 │   ├── ssh.exe
 │   └── ssh-keygen.exe
 ├── cwrsync.cmd
 ├── README.cwrsync.txt
 └── README.rsync.txt