This is how I start it as a system job with ubuntu (last LTS version, couldn't remember number) using upstart. 1. Create btsync.conf on /etc/init.d/ 2. file contains 2 lines: # home in my setup is another hard drive. start on mounted MOUNTPOINT=/home TYPE=ext4 # starts as non-root user exec start-stop-daemon --start -c myuser --exec /home/myuser/btsync 3. this satisfies my needs.