In this PowerShell azure tutorial, we will discuss how to fix the error, The term ‘Start-ADSyncSyncCycle’ is not recognized error. This error I got while running the PowerShell command to Manually Force Sync Azure AD Connect Using PowerShell ISE or while executing the Azure PowerShell sync command.
Table of Contents
The term ‘Start-ADSyncSyncCycle’ is not recognized error
Recently, I was trying to run the PowerShell cmdlet to manually force the sync Azure AD to connect. Then I got the error “The term ‘Start-ADSyncSyncCycle’ is not recognized”.
- Start-ADSyncSyncCycle
- The specified module ‘ADSync’ was not loaded because no valid module file was found in any module directory error
I was executing the below PowerShell cmdlet
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta
You can see it here, as below

The exact error message is
Start-ADSyncSyncCycle: The term ‘Start-ADSyncSyncCycle’ is not recognized as the name of a
cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a
path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
- Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta
~~~~~- CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Start-ADSyncSyncCycle:String) [], CommandNotFoun
dException - FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
- CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Start-ADSyncSyncCycle:String) [], CommandNotFoun
start-adsyncsynccycle not recognized – solution
Now to fix this issue, You need to follow the below steps
Step-1: Open the Windows PowerShell or PowerShell ISE with run as administrator mode

Step-2: Run the below PowerShell cmdlet to set the execution policy
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Step-3: Now the next step is to import the ADSync module using the below PowerShell cmdlet.
Import-Module -Name "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure AD Sync\Bin\ADSync" -Verbose

Check out the Path for ADSync installation. By default, the path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure AD Sync\Bin\ADSync. But cross-check the path in your machine before running the cmdlet.
Step-4: Now try running the below PowerShell cmdlet again,
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta

Now, you should be able to execute this PowerShell cmdlet successfully without any issues.
You may like to follow the below tutorials
- Vault Cannot Be Deleted As There Are Existing Resources Within The Vault
- CS1061 C# ‘HttpRequest’ does not contain a definition for ‘Content’ and no accessible extension method ‘Content’ accepting a first argument of type ‘HttpRequest’ could be found
- The specified module ‘ADSync’ was not loaded because no valid module file was found in any module directory error
Conclusion
Here, in this article, we discussed the fix or the solution for the error The term ‘Start-ADSyncSyncCycle’ is not recognized which I got while trying to execute the PowerShell cmdlet to Manually Force Sync Azure AD Connect. Hope this helps you to fix your issue !!!
I am Bijay, a Microsoft MVP (10 times) having more than 17 years of experience in the software industry. During my IT career, I got a chance to share my expertise in SharePoint and Microsoft Azure, like Azure VM, Azure Active Directory, Azure PowerShell, etc. I hope you will learn from these Azure tutorials. Read more