Opening multiple instances of different programs and files can certainly boost your productivity. But unfortunately, we often run into limitations when we try. Don't worry, because there are several solutions to get around a program's restrictions when you try to open it multiple times. The platforms we'll list offer several methods to open more than one instance of a program in Windows.
To be clear, this limitation is put in place by the program's developer for security reasons, not by Windows. So you might ask: if we bypass this limitation, do we run any kind of security risk or could the program conflict? The answer is yes, it can happen. For example, in an online game the limits exist to ensure a player doesn't log in with multiple accounts and thus gain an advantage.
Option One: Open Multiple Instances of a Program
To open a new window of a running program, the simplest option is to hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click the program's icon in the taskbar. If the program allows it, several instances of the platform will open. For example, you can open several Word documents, or several CCleaner windows to run different scans, or open multiple FileZilla instances to connect to different FTP accounts at the same time. Simple.
Option Two: Open Multiple Instances of a Program
Developers use different methods to limit the opening of several instances of a program. One of the most common methods is mutex. The mutex is linked to your Windows user profile. To bypass this restriction, you only need to have two accounts on your computer, and in this way you can open multiple windows of a program.
Option Three: Open Multiple Instances of a Program:
For this option we'll use the program Sandboxie, which lets you open two instances of a platform on your computer for free (to open more than one instance you'll have to upgrade to the commercial version). During Sandboxie installation, you must accept that the platform is added to the context menu. What the platform does is create an Isolation environment, a space that is completely independent of your operating system, but inside the same system.
To open two windows of the same program, you just need to right-click the environment icon and select “Run with Sandboxie”. This will launch the program in a secure environment (the window's outline turns yellow when you hover over it).
The instance that opens with Sandboxie will use the same settings and data as the original program. For this reason, the data generated in the new window will not sync with the original window. There you may encounter problems when saving data in the Sandboxie environment.
If the program originally cannot open more than one instance, we recommend you use method two, because with method three you may face problems saving the data generated in the second window.
