Just installed Windows 8, pinned Notepad to the start screen. When I press the Windows key and use the Notepad tile to run Notepad, it will focus on the currently open Notepad window. I'd like it to start a new instance of Notepad. Is this possible?
4 Answers
It actually is possible with a reg key to do this. it only works for desktop apps (not full screen win8 apps) though i imagine this is exactly what everyone is looking to do.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Launcher]
"DesktopAppsAlwaysLaunchNewInstance"=dword:00000001
Source here.
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My searches indicate that this does not work in 8,1. The middle click suggested by ronalchn does.– TecBratAug 13, 2015 at 8:48
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Use the Shift key to start a new instance of any application. Either Shift+Enter or Shift-Click, or else middle click.
Source: http://codeyarns.com/2012/10/22/start-multiple-instances-of-an-application-in-windows-8/
Other taskbar modifiers include:
Shift+Click Open a new instance of the program
Ctrl+Click Cycle between windows in a group
Middle Click Open a new instance of the program
Ctrl+Shift+Click Open a new instance of the program as Administrator
Shift+Right-Click Show window menu
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2Came here to say this, I always use Middle-Click to open a new instance, it works in Windows 7 too. Oct 27, 2012 at 6:33
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Microsoft should've made this more visible. I've searched for standard windows hotkeys and never found these earlier. Will use these a lot from now on. Feb 3, 2013 at 14:40
To make it always open a new window with a normal left click, change the shortcut target of the tile:
Right click on the tile
Open file location
. A File Explorer window should open, with aNotepad
shortcut in itRight click on the
Notepad
shortcutClick properties
Change the target to
%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start %windir%\system32\notepad.exe
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This works for programs that have no spaces in the path but not for something like Wordpad.exe. For that I use
%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows NT\Accessories" wordpad.exe
. Because the path has spaces it needs quoted, but ifstart
sees quotes in the first argument it treats it as the title of the new window. Here I use the/d
switch to specify the (quoted) path for the executable separately from the executable name. This works better for me than shift-clicking which can put new windows behind everything else--so far all new windows are on top.– User5910Mar 2, 2013 at 17:14 -
@User5910 You could (should) just put a set of empty quotes for the title - the
/d
method will fail if the executable name itself has spaces. I've actually answered a question addressing that very issue.– BobMar 2, 2013 at 17:20
Another rather tedious way to go about it is to right click on the tile & select "Open in New Window"
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In fact, this is usually the quickest way (for me) to make a new instance of an already running app. Opening the Start Screen, finding the app (however conveniently placed it may be) and Shift-Clicking it seems needlessly complicated (though I'm glad I've learned of it) compared to right-clicking the taskbar and clicking on "New whatever". Aug 26, 2013 at 7:46