CODEWITHSUNDEEP
macososx-lion
Patrick Kenny
Patrick Kenny

Reputation: 6497

Run multiple instances of the same application (Firefox, Opera, etc.) on Mac OS X?

I know that I can do this via profiles in Firefox, but is there a simple way to set this up for multiple applications quickly and in an automated fashion, or a more general way for generic applications? I could have sworn there was a shareware utility that did this, but after a half hour of google searches I haven't been able to locate anything.

I need to be able to run multiple copies of the same application rather than multiple windows in order to test websites while doing other work (and keeping my personal browsing separate).

I'm running Lion.

Upvotes: 5

Views: 2229

Answers (2)

TheMaskedCucumber
TheMaskedCucumber

Reputation: 2039

I bet that the shareware utility you had in mind is SwitchUp, formerly named rooSwitch.

Upvotes: 0

thierryb
thierryb

Reputation: 3738

You can launch multiple instances of an app by using Terminal, but you have to launch the application binary which is in the Contents/MacOS/ folder

Launch Terminal then enter this command:

/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari &

It will launch a new instance of Safari.

But for Firefox, this trick will not work since Firefox will complain that it could be only one instance running at the same time. Other applications, like iTunes, will control this themselves as well to limit you to only one instance running at a time.

Upvotes: 3

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