Running Multiple Viewers

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DISCLAIMER from Linden Lab: this is one of the hottest questions we get, as noticed on Second Life Answers! However, we do NOT officially support running multiple Viewers for several reasons: in addition to this being a "debug" feature, Second Life is very resource-intensive, and having more than one instance competing for RAM, graphics card memory, and soforth fares poorly on many systems. So do NOT count on the below tips to work. But, we recognize the practical usages of running multiple avatars/accounts at once for inventory transfers, permissions testing, making machinima, and so on. Thus, best of luck, and PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The following platform-specific steps may enable you to run multiple instances of Second Life at the same time. Since you can only have each account logged in once, you'll need multiple accounts, one for each instance.

Also see Viewer parameters.

Windows

<videoflash>JI4jKwZBEqY</videoflash>

1. Make a new shortcut to SecondLife.exe.
2. Then in that shortcut go to properties.
3. Then in the properties find the Target box.
   • It will say something like "C:\Program Files\SecondLife\SecondLife.exe"
4. Just after the last " in that box put this in. -multiple
   • So it reads like this: "C:\Program Files\SecondLife\SecondLife.exe" -multiple

Lear Cale suggests:

Great video, but don't start out that way. Instead, just copy the shortcut on your desktop (right-click copy the icon, then right click desktop and paste, or right-drag the shortcut and when you release, choose "copy").

Rename the shortcut to whatever you want, EXCEPT the same name as the original.

Then follow the rest of the video, or the steps 2 through 4 above.

The way the video does it, you'll have to redo this every time you reinstall SL, because installing SL replaces the desktop shortcut with a fresh one. If your modified one has a different name, the fresh one won't clobber it.

Mac OS X

Video tutorial: <videoflash>7WqYkvsjUq4</videoflash>

To run multiple copies from the Finder:

1. Find the client in Finder (usually "Second Life.app")
2. Right-click and select "Show Package Contents"
3. Open the file Contents/Resources/arguments.txt for editing
4. Add "-multiple" to the "arguments.txt" file and save
5. Run the file "Second Life" found in Contents/MacOS instead of the app itself

To run multiple copies from the Terminal:

1. Drag the Second Life icon from the Finder onto a Terminal window
2. Delete the space that’s automatically entered at the end of the path
3. Type "Contents/MacOS/Second Life.app" -multiple

(An alternative method for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther or later (which may also work for Windows?) is to use different user accounts on your computer: this needs an initial set-up, but will then involve being able to run Second Life as multiples without any technical changes to Package Contents.)

• Set up (repeat for further multiples if desired):

1. Open System Preferences > Accounts
2. Click the lock icon in the bottom left and type an admin password to authenticate
3. Under Login Options, check Enable fast user switching
4. If you need to add an account, click the + symbol under the list of accounts
5. Give the new account a name and short name. For convenience, don't use a password, and do not give the new account Administrator privileges
6. Repeat as desired

• Regular use:

1. Log in to your main SL account under one computer user account
2. Use the Fast User Switching menu to switch to another user account
3. Log in to another of your SL accounts
4. (watch your computer slow right down!)
5. Use Fast User Switching to quickly switch between accounts

The disadvantages of this second method is that you cannot have both SL windows on your screen simultaneously. The advantage is that you can run both instances of SL full screen.

Linux

1. Find the file gridargs.dat in the Second Life installation directory
2. Edit the file and add '-multiple'