Running Multiple Instances of the Same Application in Vista

Question

How do I run multiple instances of the same application in Windows Vista? There is a tutorial online for running multiple copies of Instant Messenger but the application I would like to run does not have an obvious registry key.

Answer 1

no problem with Sandboxie. with the registered version you can create multiple sandboxes. now you can fool pretty much any program into multiple instances.

right click on the program shortcut, select run sandboxed, pick the sandbox you want to use for the first instance, repeat ths first to steps but choose diefferent sandboxes for each instance.

with the unregistered version you can only use a single sandbox, which will suffice for 2 instances (one inside, one outside the sandbox).

Answer 2

It's not up to Vista, it's up to the application in question. Many applications simply will not allow you to run multiple instances. They have to be written specifically to allow you to have multiple processes running simultaneously.

Answer 3

You can create multiple accounts in Vista, and each account can run its own instance. You'll have to switch accounts to control each--there's no way to make them appear on the same desktop.

If you happen to own multiple licenses you could install a free virtualizer like Microsoft's Virtual PC and run an instance in each virtual machine.